ML20054E596

Informs of Info Re Unsafe Conditions Because of Earthquakes. Info on Seismicity of Plant Requested

ML20054E596
Person / Time
Site:	Satsop
Issue date:	06/13/1982
From:	Mahr T AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
Shared Package
ML20054E597	List: ML20054E596 ML20055A489
References
NUDOCS 8206130019
Download: ML20054E596 (3)

Text

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Juna 13,1982 Chairman The Nuclear Reg 61 story Commission Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir,

The Washington Public Power Supply System recently sent you a copy of their 7000-page report on the safety of their number 3 plant located at Satsop, Washington.

I believe the report is called " Final Safety Analysis for WPPPS Nuclear Plant Number 3." According to new information, the Satsop nuclear plant may not be safe.because of earthquakes.

By cracking the containment structure around the reactor, an earthquake could release lethal amounts of radiation, rerwiering parts of Washington State uninhabitable for centuries. State seismologist Linda Nolson states that a "7 5. (Richter) scale (earthquake) could occur anywhere in Western Washington (see attached article)."

If the Satsop plant is not designed for a 7 5 Richter scale earthquake, then it should be redesigned to withstand an earthquake of this magnitude.

Mr. Chairman, could you please help , ne find out if the Satsop nuclear plant is designed for a 7 5 scale earthquake? I suspect the above safety analysis report would answer answer my question. However, I have not been able to see a copy ,of their safety study. WPPSS has not answered any of my numerous written requests for information. Could you please help me get a copy of this study, so that I could determine whether the Satsop #3 plant is designed to withstand a 7 5 Richter l

scale earthquake?

Thank you very much for your help and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

. Sincerely yours, gg, Theodore Mahr 3441 Mud Bay Road, S.W.

Olympia, Washi ston 98502 phone (206) 357-4828 8206130019

U U. N '

pia aShington ,

j A Gannett Newspaper a 4

State prime target for major quake

, By MIKE WALES called subduction, Weaver said. _

quake at a 10-mile depth can be far more severe than a Olympian Staff Writer The instability along the zone where the two plates 7.5 magnitude quake at a 30-mile depth. .

)i If you fled California and came to Washington be- collide can cause major earthquakes of 7.5 or higher- The shallower the quake, the more intense it is; the -

4 cause you believed that someday an earthquake would on the Richter scale; Weaver has warned. deeper the quake, the broader the area it will cover. )

cause the sunshine state to slide into the sea, you came Quakes occur when monster shifts of the earth's That is the reason considerable alarm was raised by  ;

i -t crust along such fracture lines or cracks release ten- the discovery of the relatively shallow St. Helens area

' k oWhile the wrong place.

no one is predicting this state will shake loose sion. The released energy jerks the earth's crust in a fault.But it is not the only worry.

. from its foundation, some scientists suggest that West- series of hammering shocks that vibrate the surface ,,A 7.5 quake could occur anywhere in Western

! , ern Washington is in for a devastating quake that .like a huge bell.

These shocks can travel at speeds up to 8 miles per Washington, ' Ms.Noson said. ,

could spread death and destruction over a vast area. ,

Craig Weaver, a U.S. Geological Survey seismolo- second. When one asks if there isn't some way to come up

' l gist who works at the University of Washington geo- The Richter scale is a logarithmical measure of with a hint of where the next devastating quake will physics laboratory, has said that quakes of a magni- earthquakes, which means that a quake of 5.0 is 10 strike, he discovers he is asking for determinations in tude of up to 6.5 on the Richter scale are pcssible along times more powerful than a 40 and so on. An earth- a science that is stillin three-cornered pants.

! a previously undiscov'ered fault 56 miles long, bisect- quake of 3.5 on the Richter scale can cause slight The horror of it is that most of the small cadre of ing Mount St. Helens. damage. A 5.0 quake would cause considerable dam- scientists attempting to discover the key to quake pre-That fault, which runs from a few miles south of age. A 7 Richter reading would signal a major quake, dictions firmly believe an 8-plus magnitude quake Yelm to about 20 miles south of Mount St. Helens, is capable of widespread heavy damage, and an 8 is a eventually is bound to strike somewhere in the coun-similar to the infamous San Andreas Fault in Califor- cataclysmle quake. try.

. nia. According to Weaver, previous earthquake haz- Linda Noson, a state seismologist, said Washington Such a quake could claim tens of thousands of lives, l ard assessments failed to detect this fault line. also is prone to quakes that occur beneath the surf ace, injure hundreds of thousands, and cause property i

The earth's crust in the fault zone is being squeezed some of them 30 miles deep. damage in the billions of dollars if it hit a city the size

- a process called stress loading - and pushed An observable fault line, such as the San Andreas of Seattle, a very real possibility.

toward the northeast. Fault, can be plotted on a map, and precautions can be The direction of the squeeze suggests that Western taken to minimize damage around it. A deep quake, _ ,

Washington's land mass is colliding with the offshore however, can strike anywhere, and there is nothing on What could happen if an earthquake hit and Juan de Fuca plate. The offshore plate, in turn, is the surface to indicate its faultline. what did happen when one did are described on l being forced beneath Western Washington in a process The effect depends on the depth. A 6.5 magnitude Page Bl. l l

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