ML20039D204

Requests That NRC Not Commit to Restart of Facility Until Psychological Stress & Operator Cheating Issues Are Resolved

ML20039D204
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	12/10/1981
From:	Brown H, Gerard Jackson, Beverly Smith, Wambach P PENNSYLVANIA, COMMONWEALTH OF
To:	Palladino N NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
References
NUDOCS 8112310418
Download: ML20039D204 (2)

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'81 DEC 28 A8:13 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMONWEALTH oF PENNSYLVANIA 0FFICE 'J 5:.0F, HAR R rS B U RG 00CKETmG & SEinIU.

BRANCH December 10, 1981 Nunzio Palladino, Chairman g gg ,, , ,-' ." .go A g cf U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission - - ' ' ' - " ^  %

Washington, D.C. 20555 [tg Q

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Two years ago the NRC pl' edged to the people of Central Pennsyl-vania that it would not permit the restart of TMI-l without a full public hearing. We are writing you to let you know of our concern that your pledge be kept.

Our concern stems from your October 28 memo to the other Commissioners. It appears to us that the NRC is preparing to decide on the reopening of Unit 1 before several critical issues are fully resolved within the NRC and the judicial process. These issues are psychological stress and operator cheating.

We are writing to request that the Commission commit itself now to the position that it will not decide the restart issue until these issues are resolved. We believe that to do otherwise would be to violate your pledge of a full consideration of the issues , and that even though the legal requirement may be lacking, the NRC's word must be kept. To do any less would severely damage your credibility with the people of this area, who need assurance that all the safety issues have been resolved before a decision on re-tart is made.

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-. These issues are not trivial:

i ~* The Commission deadlocked 2-2 on the Psychological Stress issue.

Both the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recommended consideration of this issue. Moreover, the NRC Staff dealt with Psych Stress as a significant issue in i

its Programmatic Envir,onmental Impadt Statement on the decontamination of TMI-2 Several medical studies have concluded that significant strest remains two years after the. accident %(People Against NiiasfsibQa'rgue before Nuclear Federal Energy, Districta Court Middletown-based on November 17, group y ,lih a decision expected

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• Hearings on operator cheating began on November 10 and will continue during the month of November, with an ASLB decision expected in February. Inadeq:. tate training of operators was found to be a major factor in the TMI-2 accident. Further, the exam on which two operators were caught cheating happened to be on the " lessons learned" from the accident. It is clear that TMI-1 cannot be deemed safe to operate while the competence and integrity of its operators are in question.

Over the past two years, the NRC has been viewed by most residents as a cautious and fair arbiter of the TMI controversies.

To cast a

--' en that reputation now, with the restart decision so close, unfortunate.for the NRC and would increase the stress which many in the area already feel over the impending decision.

. We await your response to this request in the hope that we can work together to ensure '. full regulatory process and to maintain the public's trust in the fairness of the NRC.

Sincerely,

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ruce m2.

1 State Representative 92nd District

'Geo ackson State Representative 101st District r d.

Peter C. Wambach, Jr.

State Representative 103rd District IJarold L. Brown s 'l State Representative N 126th District t

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