ML20040E320

Package of Five Ltrs Supporting Shutdown of Facilities

ML20040E320
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	01/28/1982
From:	Burnham H, Camacho F, Jordan J, Joseph Kelly, Kelly M, Ladd B AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	NRC
References
ISSUANCES-SP, NUDOCS 8202040175
Download: ML20040E320 (11)

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Nuclear Regulatory Commission 7g, 4:#'74g, l'.

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n  ; .y i We strongly and without reservation advocate the " diatetom (:v,,fp' ..-

and permanent closing of the Indian Point Nuclear Power ating Complex, both Con Edison and P.A.S.N.Y. operations.

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These plants have a continuing operating record of accidents, mismanagement, security problems, and a "public be damned" attitude.

Press releases have been notable for erroneous information and public credibility is grossly lacking.

That such operations should be allowed to endanger the most densely populated area in the country is irrational. To debate the probability and degree of potential accidents is insane.

The human risks are too high to be balanced against economic con-siderations in some academic equation.

Evacuation plans are a bureaucratic sham and the arbitrary screening of yarticipants in your "public" hearing is an affront to decency in public conduct.

It is your responsibility to the public you are supposed to represent to end this menace now.

Yours truly, p-: t. ~ ,

u. . . .y Joseph and Marilyn F. Kelly 35 Old Post Read North Croton-on-Hudson, N. Y. 1u52v 1

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January 21, 1982 ton %ETn'E b [ d,7, go.stw:~ g 4gg 51 Atomic Safety and Licensing Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission c/o Civic Center Westbrook Drive Peekskill, New York 10566 re: Docket Nos. 50-247, 50-286 last January the Peekskill newspaper headlined a quote by a local official saying: "The thing's falling apart already."

He was referring to the evacuation plan, but ha might well have been talking about the five- and eight-year old Indian Point nuclear plants. In 1981 the plants were off more than on - and on and off, and on and off, again and again, all year long. With-in two weeks beginning November 11, IP 2 shut for 13 days to repair a coolant pump; then IP 3, which had been out between September 4 and November 15, werked 8 days, stopped for 7 hours8.101852e-5 days <br />0.00194 hours <br />1.157407e-5 weeks <br />2.6635e-6 months <br /> because heat drain pumps stopped, and shut again for a second time in 2 days when m. motor short circuited in the reactor coolant pump. (If my car operated like that, you can bet I'd get rid of it quick.)

All this on again/off again playing with these reactors makes me nervous. If I understand correctly the relationship be-D5o3 5

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Atomic Safety and Licensing Board January 21, 1982 re: L'ocket Nos. 50-247, 50-286 tween transition temperature and stress and the possibility for reactor vessel rupture, such a possibility is present every time one of these reactors is shut down or comes back on line. During that 2-week period in November, this risk was presented 6 times.

"In 1978, the NRC reported to Congress that the unresolved safety issue of reactor vessel rupture would be resolved by July 1979."*

It didn't and still hasn't. For God's sake, we don't fly planes or manufacture automobiles with acknowlecged unresolved safety issues -- how is it we operate nuclear plants with (an) unresolved safety issue (s).

Some toss the word " fear-songeria.g" around and claim our chances of being killed by nuclear power are slim compared to a car or plane accident. At least we have that choice. And our sole fear may not be death by that " incredible" nuclear accident at IP. I fear for my children and for all children exposed to the low-level radiation and the occasional 8,000+ gallon leaks into the Hudson?* Nobody swims in the river anymore, but we used to. I don't know what the statistics are, or if anyone does, but I hear

! of a lot of cancer amoung the young children in this area. I can't help but wonder why...and what the statistics will be like in future years.

• NUCLEUS , Vol. 3, No. 3, Fall 1981

• • The New York Times, 4/9/81 l

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l Atomic 3afety and licensing Board January 21, 1982 re: Docket Nos. 50-247, 50-286 I think all of us awoke from our apathy about IP with Three Mile Island, but some of us were really jolted into thinking sbout the possible consequences of an accident here in the summer of '77 when the lights went out and the sky lit up. Everyone thought there had been a terrible accident at IP. But the phone lines were out, or jammed. My husband and I had the misfortune of tuning into an area radio station that reported IP had blown up --

and after seeing the sky it was somehow believable. I was 4 months pregnant and physically shook until dawn, when I heard the birds outside. I have never known such anxiety and don't wish for anyone ever to kgain.

If there were an accident at IP temorrow, how would we know, where would we go, what would we do? The utilities have promised a public information pamphlet since early summer. There are sirens looming over tree tops, their direction changing with the wind...if there were an accident tomorrow, would they announce it?

Local officials are still doubtful about evacuating the area. Does that lead us back to the original recommendation by 3rian Grimes, Director, NRC Emergency Preparedness Task Force in January, 1980: It =ay be = ore practica l for persons living within 10 miles of IP to take shelter in their homes than to atte=pt to flee in the event of a major accident at the nuclear ecmplex 'n Buchanan. He said evacuation simply may not be practical for IP.*

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• The Evening Star,1/16/80 i

4 Atomic Safety and Licensing 3oard January 21, 1982 re: Locket Nos. 50-247, 50-286 Here we are, 2 years later, much poorer, having spent so much for a full investigation into the feasibility of evacuation at every level of local government in 4 counties; a millian dollar emergency evacuation plan - " lacking" from the start - "98% the same"*in its revised form; sitting a few miles from 2 nuclear plants known to suffer from warning light malfunctions, floods, rusting tubes, short circuits, cracked discs on the turbines, occasional bomb threata, occasional earth tremors, mismanagement, and, God help us, human error. We pay the highest rates in the country -- and, it's my guess, the world -- for what?

By continually lengthening deadlines and dragging out these hearings, the NRC is buying time for the nuclear industry while wasting our time, money, and risking our health.

• Earvey Harth, 4-County Consultant, The Reporter dispatch, 11.16/81

-5 Atomic Safety and Licensing Board January 21: 1982 re: Docket Nos. 50-247, 50-286 I

This statement is respectfully submitted with a deep concern for the future health, happiness, and well being of my husband and kids, my parents, grandparents, brother, sister and family, in-laws, aunts, u n le, cousins, and friends...everyone I love and care about in this world lives within the 10-mile radius surrounding Indian Point. Please, turn it: off.

Sincerely, v

Barbara ladd

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Ei.C;l The Indian Foint Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Muclear Regulatory Commissicr Cortlandt Civic Center _ ......___ o a g t <. 5 8 Uestbrock Drive Peekskill, New York, 10566 nou a ..-:-

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Please enter my following statement into the record of your hearings for January 14-16, 1982. I hope you will give it every consideration.

We are all increasingly aware of radiation hazards - the irreversible and cumrulative effects which result in genetic disorders and fatal disease. A serious accident at Indian Foint could cause thousands of irrediate deaths, to say nothing of subsequent disease. Remote and unthinkable as it might seem, the possibility of such an accident is all too real.

Already we have witnessed many, many mishaps. Three Mile Island care to within one hour of a meltdown, according to accident reports.

A plan for in.iediate and total evacuation in tne event of an e.Terge.7cy would seem necessary, at the very least. Yet the more I think about it, the more irrossible and self-deluding it seems.

'#cw long would it take to get everyone out of the 10-mile D5d none surrounding Indian Foint? We are a po;.ulation of well

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over 300,000, and many of us are disabled or without 1.cediate /D transportation. The deaf won't even hear the sirens. '!h a t about all our children? They are the : ost susceptible to t ne dangers of radiation. 'let according to existing plans, schcol stiiIdre:t' are;:to be-ctransrotted do tareas-deis ethan 130 'rfilds-sway." -

(Death and bl.ch defects can occur to people exposed over 100 miles frok. a plant.)

I understand that Westchester County has no authority to order school and transit bus drivers to participate in an evacuation. I wonder if they would do it voluntarily. Few of us have exrerienced a real crisis and we are totally unprepared. We haven't even had public drills. (:Jever mind, T.ost of the warning sirens aren't working anyway.)

How can we imagine that there would be an orderly mass evacuatien? Our roadways were never built for such a thing.

I fear that traffic would be at a standstill and panic would prevail. It could take days for all of us to leave, and the damage would be done.

Personally, I know that I'd be making every effort to find my children. I?d want to take them f ar away. Existing plans would have them taken; to three se;arate schocIs in Port Chester. I don't think I could reach them. I'd be trapped along with hundreds of thousands of other ;eople trying to escape.

Even if the evacuation were effected, 'cu long would .;e have to wait before returning to our homes? Years? Ever again?

. Must we face such as eventuality? Please, for the sake of all of us, close down the plants at Indian Foint..fie truly cannot tolerate ther.

Sincerely ypurs, Jkdl . d,fu

(: irs . ) Judith S. Jordan

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'82 JAN 28 P S1 Sg a.m !Roa & m.m.. 46-4 74;s4,9V sic u- ; r -I i ZEF' ' 131 Old Post Road North ,

Croton-on-Hudson, N. Y. 10520 January 12, 1982 g & I z, i N 9' Atomic Safety and Licensing Board S 8[&qq.

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Dear Sir:

, p We are Westchester county residents and our home is within miles of the Indian Point nuclear power plants . We are writing this letter out of our deep concern for some of the recent events involving the above plants. .

We feel that these nuclear plants are unsafe and strongly believe that they should be shut down. Many accidents continual-ly occur involving the Indian Point plants as reported in the newspapers. We know at least one employee who was aware of other accidents that have never been reported to the public.

We know that the Indian Point nuclear power plants have been plagued by a long history of mishaps and breakdowns. We

' constantly worry about the ever-increasing amount of nuclear wastes being stored at the plants.

There has been no dissemination of public information in regards to means of notification about an. accident, available shelters or routes of evacuation. We are ' as tonished and---- --

indignant at the fact that no realistic reliable evacuation

! plan has been made in case of a nuclear accident. The present ,

highway system in this area cannot accommodate the traffic  ;

that would ensue if an evacuation of the area was,necessary.  ;

As a physician and a research technologist, we are very -

! conscious of the health risks linked to radiation exposure. .

There is no known safe level of radiation exposure. We are i aware of no monitoring system for radioactivity that . .

i periodically samples the air we breathe or the water we drink.  ;

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+ Page 2 For all we know, the community around the Indian Point nuclear power plants is being exposed chronically to levels of radiation which could have a great deal of influence on the quantity and quality of its future existence.

We beg you to closely investigate the safety record of these power plants and urge you to review the sresent evacuation plans. At that time, you will realize that closing the nuclear plants is the only way to protect our community.

Sincerely yours,

- Barbara Camacho Research Technologist Divis on of Hematology, Montefiore Hosp.

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A, N N Director of Clinical Research Department of Oncology Montefiore Bospital & Medical Center Bronx, New York FJC:rg i

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