ML20059F363
| ML20059F363 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Claiborne |
| Issue date: | 01/02/1994 |
| From: | Notz K AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | Jim Hickey NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9401130300 | |
| Download: ML20059F363 (1) | |
Text
y 6c10 168 Henley point Kingston, TN 37763 January 2, 1994 Mr. John W.
N. Hickey Office of Nuclear Material Safety & Safeguards Mailstop 4-E-4 U.
S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission i
re: Claiborne Enrichment Center
Dear Mr. Hickey:
I support the CEC.
As a retired chemist who spent most of his professional career at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (working j
iirst on improved nuclear fuels and then on the disposal of radioactive wastes) I have a solid technical understanding of the relative risks of industrial operations.
properly constructed and operated - which the NRC oversees - the CEC will add miniscule risk to the area.
I suspect that the largest risk of concern is traf fic hazard as workers travel to and from the job site and as trucks supply material, but even this risk should be significantly less than for any other industry with comparable economic benefits.
Uranium enrichment is a very low-risk operation, especially for low-level enrichment.
This has been shown via 50 years of experience at Oak
- Ridge, paducah, and portsmouth, including centrifuge development and demonstration at Oak Ridge.
The realous anti-nukes will claim negative social and economic impacts due to the " perception" by "the public" and even by other industries. This is exactly OPPOSITE to what really happens, as is easily documented for every nuclear-related installation in this country, including 3-Mile Island.
The Oak Ridge nuclear complex has brought prosperity to eastern Tennessee and continues to do so despite the recent, grossly overblown scare stories about mercury in the ground, plutonium and cesium-137 in Watts Bar Lake (I live on the shore of this lake at mile 557), and storage of radioactive wastes.
Similar situations exist at Richland, Savannah River, Idaho Falls, and elsewhere.
Even Rocky Flats has not resulted in an exodus nor has it created a wasteland.
Concerning 3-Mile Island (which was finally given a clean bill of health by the state of pennsylvania), the visitors center there had to quadruple their staff after the accident to handle the influx of visitors.
My only request is this: please continue to be guided by the facts, which I am confident you will be.
My purpose in writing is merely to let you know that there are some of us on the side of reason.
In fact, I believe the majority of people fall in that category.
9401130300 940102 PDR ADOCK 07003070 Yours tru1y, C
PDR 1201.:2 Q
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