ML20041B569
| ML20041B569 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 02/18/1982 |
| From: | Kammerer C NRC OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS (OCA) |
| To: | Specter A SENATE |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20041B570 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8202240279 | |
| Download: ML20041B569 (1) | |
Text
C.'C".Y Sc..S.Y o.
FEB 181552 82 FP 19 P2 t9
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The Honorable Arlen Specter
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Q United States Senate
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< <cf.Do Q3 Washington, D.C.
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Dear Senator Specter:
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Thank you for your letter on behalf o our constituen++ John Kovalic, regarding radiation from Three Mile Island.
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At the present time neither reactor at Three Mile Island is in operation.
Clean-up of the results of the accident at Unit 2 is underway within guide-lines imposed by the Nuclear Regulatory Co: mission (NRC) to protect the public against unnecessary radiation exposure.
NRC has an office at Three Mile Island to oversee clean-up operations.
A Licensing Board on December 14, 1981 issued a partial initial decision in the TMI Unit i restart proceeding required by the Commission.
The Board detemined that THI-l could restart and operate at up to five percent of its design power pending the Board's decision concerning the matter of cheating by several former TMI operators on HRC operator licensing examinations.
The Board specified a number of requirements which must be met prior to restart. A Special Master, appointed to. preside over the hearing on the cheating matter, is expected to issue his report this month.
The Board estimates that its final decision on the cheating matter will not be issued until March or April 1982.
However, the NRC has not yet permitted restart of Unit 1 despite the Board's favorable decision.
On January 7,1982, the U.S Court of Appeals essentially
' ordered the NRC to keep THI-l shut down until the Comission conducts an environmental assessment on the effect of psychological stress on the people in the vicinity of the plant.
The Commission is considering various courses of action to address this development.
In addition, in late November 1981, steam generator tube leaks were detected in both steam generators at TMI-1 during the licensee's testing of the plant.
An intensive program has been underway since that time to determine the extent and cause of the failures. The problem is major and will orobably require plugging or sleeving of several thousand tubes.
It is estinated that repairs to the steam generator tubes will result in at least a six month delar in the readiness of the reactor for restart. The full extent of this problem is not yet known.
However, its correction is at present the pacing item for plant readiness for restart.
Sincerely, DSS 3
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