ML20059D541
| ML20059D541 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Claiborne |
| Issue date: | 01/07/1994 |
| From: | Spinrad B AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | Jim Hickey NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9401070357 | |
| Download: ML20059D541 (1) | |
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70 4 070 Bernard I. Spinrad Professor Emeritus 18803 37th Ave. NE Seattle, WA 98155-2713 (206)365-7148 l
John W.
N. Hickey Chief, Enrichment Branch Div. of Fuel Cycle Safety and Standards Off. of Nuclear Material Safety and Standards Mailstop 4-E-4 Washington, DC 20555
Dear Mr. Hickey:
This letter is written in support of the findings of the Draf t Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Claiborne Enrichment Center (CRC) to be located in Loui'siana.
According to the DEIS, the CEC would be a competitive national source of enrichment services, which is needed to supplement or to replace the old and expensive plants previously built by the former l
-l
- USAEC, Further, the CEC would be an asset to its neighborhood, I
providing jobs and an increr. sed tax base to an impoverished area.
I suspect that antinuclear activists are already flooding your mail with letters proclaiming the danger of this nuclear facility.
Undoubtedly, many will provide exaggerated views of the hazards of radioactivity from the material being processed.
I should like to comment briefly on this point.
While uranium is radioactive, it is only very weakly so.
In fact it is less radioactive by far than uranium ore, and -its radioactivity is extraordinarily easy to contain. An ordinary con-tainer or any other material barrier will shield the alpha partic-les released by uranium completely.
It is a constituent of-most soils, but the uranium is nevertheless a minor source of background radiation to the public.
Therefore, the operations of this plant would not be a hazard to anyone near it.
Therefore, I believe that the DEIS should be approved without any significant modification.
Sincerely,
.A' W '
Bernard I.
Spinrad 060167 9402070357 94o307 ADOCK 07003070 sh 0
. DR -
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