ML20042B396
| ML20042B396 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 03/17/1982 |
| From: | Minnich J NRC - ADVISORY PANEL FOR DECONTAMINATION OF TMI UNIT 2 |
| To: | Palladino N NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20040D051 | List: |
| References | |
| ISSUANCES-OLA, NUDOCS 8203250275 | |
| Download: ML20042B396 (3) | |
Text
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- *%g THE ADVISORY PANEL. FOR THE DECONTAM! NATION OF
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o fg THREE MILE ISLANC, UNIT 2 i
8 E.
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,4 Chairman Nunzio Palladino f
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3 Nuclear Regulatory Conanis~sion
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E 1717 H Street, N.W.
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Washington, D.C.
20006 4,
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lith Floor
' DOCKET MUEn p; j @
Dear Chairman Palladino:
q0 PROD. 8. UTIL MC.
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The Advisory Consmittee on the Decontamindtioniof Three Mile Island our second to date, on our Unit 2 submits the following report, efforts and the findings that we have made based on our investigations. troubling We emphasize at the outset our most important and most The crippled reactor at Three Mile Island Unit 2 1.
constitutes a threat to the health and safety of the The race of prograss public until it is decontaminated.
on the clean-up at this time is inadequate to protect i
the public health and safety.
In.the absence of an expeditious clean-up, Unit 2 b5 2.
is binoming a de facto, long ' term storage facility for'high-leve1TadT5 active wastes which also constitutes ~
a threat to the public health and safety'.
7 to the public heal'th and our conclusion that Unit 2 constitutes a three le is known about can'ditions '
safaty derives primarily from the fact that li as been performed to determine inside the reactor, and no thorough evaluation Although the reactor facili whether and how long conditions will remain sta le.
i icy was presumably designed to withstand an' acci ont as severe as this one i
wr. know of no basis for believing that it was intended to remain in a damage j
~
You will understand that state for many years after the accident occurred. concerns in thi ke ~
the public of reactor vessel embrittlement and tube corrosion problems.
are arising in reactors that have not undergone the stresses that 'D(I-2 has faced during and since the accident, we fear that serious develop at TMI-2.
about the proper functioning and long--term reliability of the instruments within the containment building.,
The ability to remove this threat to the public health and safety depends We have reviewed upon a consniement of sufficient funds and other resources We have spent many hours obtaining infonnation from Governor Thornburgh's office, Congressman Allen Ertel, U.S. Senate staff personne legislacion.
i The transcrij the utility induscry, and citizens of South Central Pennsylvan a.
of our hearings contain the supporting documentation and the content of nany ora w e =
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March 28, 1982, vill mark the third anniversary of the M-2 accident, yet there has been insufficient progress in cleaning up the facility.
Although GPU submitted a budget on October 5,1981, calling for a six-l year clean-up schedule, GPU's Robert Arnold has stated that the schedule cannot be met due to the lack of funding, and that cican-up at the present j
rate may take 20 years or longer.
GPU is currently spending appron mately i
SS million monthly on M-2, which represents a significant reduction in l
l~
clean-up funding.
Should this rate of expenditure be further reduced, GPU can only undertake a housekeeping effort, with no progress in the clean-up.
l '.
that have surfaced thus far has provided any None of the funding proposals significant money for the clean-up, and none p-wides a real comunitment for:
sufficient funding in the future.
DOE funding is restricted to R&D activities and offsite disposal of SDS and EPICORE II radioactive resins. The Edison Electric Institute proposal has been called a " dead issue" by an Institute spokeswoman, and the Pennsylvahia Public Utility Comunission proposal cannot provide the necessary support because it depends upon the restart of TMI-1, which is months, if not years away given the growing inventory of serious deficiencies being discovered in that reactor.
Furthermore, proposals tied to M-1 restart have two unfortunate and potentially dangerous consequences
(
First, they sanction an open-ended and indefinite delay of serious clean-up efforts.
Second, they result in pressures to restart Unit l'that may be inconsistent with safety considerations.
At this point, there simply is no i{
significant financial commitment to fund the clean-up.
[U This committee adopted the following position on November 16, 1981, concerning ;
o 33y TMI -
I "The restart of the Unit 1 teactorishould be based solely on the basis of technological and safety considerations, and i
i not economic considerations with respect to the clean-up of Unit 2."
Based on the information available today, it is clear that IMI-2 has become a de facto long-term high-level waste storage facility.
Should funding levels be further reduced, storage can be expected to last for approximately 20 years.
As a result, GPU is in effect operating M-2 as a long-term vaste storage facility.
However, TMI-2 is not a licensed high level waste storage facility; i
it does not comply with the NRC's proposed criteria for the siting, design, or construction of such a facility; and the commission has not instituted licensing proceedings to determine whether M -2 complies with standards to assure the safety of vaste storage and disposal facilities. This consittes, and the public, endorse the NRC objectives in NUREG-0698 Rev 1, page 1-1.
In conclusion, given the long-term serious hazards posed by TMI-2, the lack of funding from any source to undertake a serious and expeditious clean-up effort, and the. lack of an effective couaniement on the part of the NRC, we are forced to conclude that the failure to make sufficient and timely progress toward decontamination constitute threats to the public health and safety.
The Coemission's action, or 1sek of action, in permitting this c'ondition i:o exist and to continue constitutes a violation of the fundamental requirement of the Atomic Inergy Act prcrtection of the public health and safety. We believe the Concission has both a moral and a legal duty to act immediately to insure that the clean-up of TMI-2 proceeds expeditiously in order to eliminate this threat to the public.
- As a final note. for your information, I am enclosing a copy of a sumanary of :he various TMf-2 clean-up proposala.
This sus:snary does not include those submitted to us by individuals.
Sincerely yours, T h%M hn E. Minnich Chairman.
i
-l Mvisory Panel for the Decontamination of Three Mile Island, Unit 2 JEM: mss a.
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