ML20039G250

Direct Testimony of DC Gandola Addressing ZAC-ZACK Contentions 21(b)(2).Related Correspondence

ML20039G250
Person / Time
Site:	Zimmer
Issue date:	01/12/1982
From:	Gandola C ZIMMER AREA CITIZENS - ZIMMER AREA CITIZENS OF KY
To:
References
ISSUANCES-OL, NUDOCS 8201150421
Download: ML20039G250 (8)

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cetv.ti5 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA .

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

'82 J!.!112 P3:27 ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD r

In the Matter of  : Docket No. 50-358-OL THE CINCINNATI CAS & ELECTRIC  : APPLICATION FOR AN COMPANY, et al.  : OPERATING LICENSE (Wm. H. Zimmer Nuclear Power  :

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DIRECT TESTIMONY OF CARL D. CANDOLA, M.D. ADDRESSING TH ( O ZIMMER AREA CITIZENS-ZIMMER AREA CITIZENF OF KENTUCKY CONTENTIONS 21(b)(2) RROEIVED' p,

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County of Clermont) g g Carl Gandola, being duly cautioned and sworn, states as follows.

The Ripley Family Health Center is located approximately 30 miles east of ~

e.he Zimmer Nuclear Power Station. My practice of internal medicine for the past 2 1/2 years has encompassed patients from 3rown county and eastern Clermont l County. Accidental releases of radioisotopes will effect this patient popula-tion either directly by exposure, or indirectly through ec:ergency public response (public health protective measures, evacuation, media information, .

etc.). As a phycician caring for this population it is necessary to be informed about these public health concerns, f)

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I grcduated from Case W2 stern Reserve University (CWRU) School of Madicin2 and have completed a retidency in internal medicine at CWRU, and have been certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Since 1979 I have -

l practiced at the Ripley Family Health Center. In 1981 I served as President of the Brown County Medical Society and Chief of Staff of the Brown County General Hospital. I have also recently served as a member of the Central Ohio River Valley Health Planning Agency (CORVA) Task Force on Radiation Safety. A copy of my curriculum vitae is attached hereto as Exhibit 1.

E I have~ been asked to address the role of potassium iodide in public health and safety planning for the Zimmer Nuclear Power Station. .

l A decision by the State of Ohio has been made not to make potassium iodide j

available to the general public in the case of an emergency at Zimmer Nuclear '

i Power Station. A letter from Dr. Ackerman, State Director of Health, has been appended to the state plan stating that potassium iodide will not be made .

available.

Release of radioactive isotopes of iodine can increase the risks of thyroid i malignancy and thyroid nodules. A safe agent exists to successfully " block" the

. concentration of radioactive iodipe in the human thyroid and reduce these risks

, immediately. after exposure. Use of this blocking agent should be specifically addressed in an emergency plan for a nuclear power plant. The Ohio State Plan 4 does this by stating that potassium iodide will not be made available. .However, state and county emergency plans are not. adequate unless the public is ex-plicitly educated as to the official recommendations regarding potassium iodide.

This education must take place long before an emergency to help ensure an informed, calm,. emergency response. Whether the government recommendation is a 1

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for or cgainst potcssium iodide cvailebility, the public must be educceed es to why potassium iodide will or will not be available, and if it is, how it will be used. As is well known, the public's distrust of authorities during the acci-dent at Three Mile Island was a major problem in emergency management (Fabrikant). The public is now aware of a " pill" which can be taken for

" protection" during a radiat ion emergency. The specific qualities of potassium iodide may not be known to this public. Yet if they remain uninformed, once again confusion and misinformation will lead to distrust and hinder smooth emergency management. Education can lessen this confusion. Th e St at e mus t specifically notify the public that potassium iodide will not be available and that the state feels the public's health will not be in jeopardy.

The State Director of Health was given the authority to decide the use or non -use of potassium iodide in the Ohio State plan. The issue is not an easy one - involving interpretation of much data in the area of medicine, epi-demiology, pathology, radiation physics, economics and public planning. Compe-tent, expert authorities have recommended that potassium iodide be availabel to the general public at risk. The President 's Commission on Three Mile Island recommended this, the state of Tennessee has distributed potassium iodide starter doses to families within.a 5 mile radius of the Sequoia Plant, and Britain has made potassium iodate available for years to the public at risk.

Debate continues in assessing the risk of I131 to the public. Reasonable interpretations exist on both sides. Yet serious, practical public health decisions hang in the balance. Reasonable recommendations can only be made after careful, formal, multidisciplinary review by several informed physicians, as well as physicists, economists and planners. Such a taak force should present a re; sandation and periodically review the evolving data on this e

question. The Stcte should dasonstrcte that such a ccreful process has baan instituted in coming to its final conclusion.

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Data on the health ef fects of I 131, are best summarized in the reports of two advisory panels (BEIR 80 and NCRP No. 55). In brief the best risk estimate for thyroid malignancy in adults after I 13I exposure is around 4 carcinomas"p,er sillion people per year per Rad exposure. The best estimate of risk for benign-thyroid adenomas in adults after I I3I is around 12 adenomas per million people per year per Rad exposure. To debate here the balance of this ri,sk versus the

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benefit, costs, and safety of potassium iodide would be a long, detailed review.

Engineering safeguards and containment have been successful as a first line effort to minimize the publics risk of exposure to I 131 Yet, the public perceives a health risk and is partially informed of a potential protective It is the State's ciear duty to keep the public informed of the govern-agent.

ment 's posit ion on this protect ive agent , potassium iodide.

As a practicing physician concerned for'my patient's collective health, I ~

recommend the following as essential prior to licensing of the Zimmer Station:

1. The emergency use or non-use of potassium iodide should be clearly delineated in the State and County nuclear emergency plans.

2. Th'e public should be explicitly educated as to the availability or lack '

of availability of potassium iodide. This education should be ongoing and emphasized within a 50 mile radiu's of the power station.

3. The State should demonstrate that a formal mult i-disciplinary g'roup has reviewed the regional population risks and determined the most safe and effective plan regarding potassium iodide. This group should consist of several informed physicians, as well as representatives from the areas of health physics, epidemiology, and other planners, and should periodically reassess the States recommendation.

A copy of my reference cited above is attached hereto as Exhibit 2.

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1 Carl Gandola, M.D.

Subscribed by in my presence and sworn to me this day of January, 1982.

Notary Public l

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CURRICULUM VITAE CARL DAVIDSON GANDOLA Ripley Family Health Center 14 North Second Street Ripley, Ohio 45167 Phone: 513-392-4382 (office)

, Social Security Number: 289-44-8526 .

t License .

State of Ohio, 43698, expiration 12/31/82 '

Board Certification American Board of Internal Medicine 9/79 Education Rocky River Public Schools, Rocky River, Ohio The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio. BA, 1972 Case Western Reserve University. MD, 1976 3 Postgraduate Training University Hospitals of Cleveland: Residency in. -

Internal Medicine, July 1976 - July 1979

, Geographic Medicine Clinical Rotation: Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi / Kenya, Jan - April 1979 Present Position National Health Service Corps Physician (August 79 - )

Appointments .

Brown Count General Hospital, Georgetown, Ohio -

Active Medica] Staff' University of Cincinnati, Department of Intern'al Medicine - Clinical Instructor Societies Ohio State Medical Society, member Brown Coun'ty Medical Society and Medical Staff, president 1981

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Civic Appointments Brown County Board of Mental Health, secretary 1980-Brown County Heart Association, board member 1980- ,

CORVA Task Force of Radiation Safety, member 1980-81 American Heart Association, certified instructor CPR I

Publications

- Kazura JW, Gandola C, Rodman HR, Mahmoud AAF.

Deficient production of the lymphokine eosin- .

ophil stimulation promotor in chemically in-duced and mutation diabetes meliitus in mice.

J Immunol 1979;123:2114-2117.

Gandola C, Butler T, Badger S, Cheng E, Beard S.

• Septicemia caused by Capnocytophaga in a granulocytopenic patient with glossitis.

Arch Int Medicine 1980;140:851-852.

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REFERENCES Fabrikant JI Health effects of the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island. Health Physics 1981;40:151-161 Report of the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island. Washington, DC. 1979 National Academy of Sciences, Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation. The effects of pop-ulations of exposure to low levels of ionizing rad-iation. (BEIR 80) National Academy Press, Wash DC, 1980 National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

NCRP Report No. 55: Protection of the thyroid gland in the event of releases of radioactive iodine. ,

NCRP, Wash DC, 1977 e

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