ML20062J458

Responds to NRC 791009 Promise to Forward Info Re Effect of Quarry Blasting at Site.Nrc Should Not Rely on Util for Info.Requests Supportive Info to Determine If Foundation Under Reactor Bldg Is Adequate

ML20062J458
Person / Time
Site:	Limerick
Issue date:	08/01/1980
From:	Romano F AIR AND WATER POLLUTION PATROL
To:	Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML20062J457	List: ML20062J454 ML20062J458
References
NUDOCS 8010280070
Download: ML20062J458 (4)

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AIR and WATER Pollution Patrol BROAD AXE, PA.

Aun. 1, 1989 O

s_/ Dr. liarold 1;. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Nuclear Regulatotv Cornission b'ashington, D.C. 10535

Dear Dr. Denton:

The statencnt in vour letter to ne, of Octohor 0, 1070, stated tha' the inf ornation relating to the investigation of the ef fect of ouarry hlastinn at the "ontgonerv County Limerick 'Inclear Reactor as raised in -

nv letter to vou cf Anril 12, 'fav 14, and . Tune 10, 1970, veuld he forth-coning.

Subsennentiv ,nother letter to ne of .Tanuarv 29, 1080, stated that sunnaries of neetines, corrasnondanco, site visits, ranorts, etc., in-volvine Dhiladelnhia r.icctric connan~, relativo to tho blastine unuld he sent to me. Contes of the letter noro sent to canator nichard 9 Schnei-kor on iebruary 21, 109', and on February 14, 10"3 to "onrross.an I.a"rence Coughlin, both of when live in 'fontnanerv c ountv, Pa. -

As ner third naragranh of letter to Senator Feh"eiker, the statenont suggests the extent nf concern relative to the offect of dvnanitinc at the ad.iacont Tran Roch ouarrv consisted onlv of PFC0 nonitorinn "a (onc) .

blast in the cuarry and found the neak narticle velocity at 4000 feet from the blast to be 0,03 inches per second "at ground l'evel". One blast ,

is not at all a true test. No nention is nade of the size of the blast and the noint at which the ground level velocity was recorded is far -

greater than the reactor buildings sites. "evertheless as it reintes to -

the one blast, I ash that you send no a conv of the record, with date e and vritten confirmation by Tran Toch Guarry that PF.C0 "nonitored a blast I in the n uar*y" at a time that nredated PEco's construction nernit. I e.sk because in the sixth naragranh of the Februarv 21,1o89 letter to Senator [1 Schweiher, there is an an,araat confilet of in f ornation as to wherber PEr0 had nonitored a blast in the cuarry previous 06 ok t nininc a construc- f l tion pernit. In that naragranh tha 'Iuclear Renulatorv Cornission and l the U. 9 Geological Survey urote (on necenhor 18, 1970) nunte: "L'i t h i the cooneration of the Tran Roch Ouarrv of Pottsto"n, we obtained innort- 6 anc infornation on the blasting nothods used". I feel that not oniv the ['

"nothcds used" but the effect of 60 years blastina. should have been known i hefore any construction v;1s started. i Corroborating the negligence in not previousiv havine obtained that l i

valuable information, in the sann naranranh, nuote:" "onitoring records -

l taken by the Guarrv's seisnolorical consultants durinn nrevious blasts '

j at the quarrv vere available for our insnection". 'tv vere such nonitoring 3 i

d

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80102800f0

AIR and WATER Pollution Patrol BROAD AXE, PA.

(2) .

records, and inforna:1on not nourbt kv PEco in 1970 before construction began, instead of heine obtainnd by the "7C and Geolonical Survey in Decenhor 14797 And whv nas a construction nerni: issued without such infornation?

Onnission of tbc considera: ion for vibratorv notion fron the blan-tinr as it also relates to curing of concrete (whose dele:erious effect PECO kneu about), denonstrates a pattern of neglioenee, not only with '

concrete placinn, but also as ir relates to cracks and nossible fault shifts in the sub-roch under the allreade built containnent buildinr.

These effects could cause pinino runtures, with notential for a serious acciden 4n the future.

PECO's indication that vibration adversiv affects curina of con-crete, as per the seventh nararra,b of letter to Sonator s chneiker nunte: .

PECO "used a nrocaedure chich considara<' concrete curina time, size of blast and distance betraen the hinst and the concrete for those tinos -

when PECO. itself, conducted its o"n blaatina on the Li orich site','

But we charne such nracautions unre not tabon 'or 51asts conducted hv tne Tra, Rock Anarru oneration from lo74 to end of 1070 at times con-crete van niaced, unless such records are provided.

i*ou sta:nd, '1r. Den ton, in the same lottor to Senator Schreiker that the "".C Offico of Innnection and r nforco ent does been a control durina construction on recentl" placed concroce, as 1: nav he affec:cd .

by vibratorv notion. As nor section 2.20A of 10 CFR, therefore, I '.'ould .

like the "RC to send ne conics of that construction control for concrete ,

placed hv PECO fron 1074 to 1970, in narticular records of controlled I delays on the dates Tra, noch Ouarry blasted. If such records were p not n.ade, 1: nould renrosent five voars during chich the effects of vibration on curing and settline of concrete "are neither considered [r nor controlled. The only nention of anythinc aven unahlv annroaching I such con:rol as indicated abovc, is fron PECO's nontio- of havina "n.on- l 1 ored a blant in tne quarry". It has no" cono to our attention tha:

• nany tests are beins, conducted nov, indluding transducer checks on the I cooling covers, all of which should have keen considered nrevious to f design and construction. ,

i Further negligence,'as 1: relates to the "RC inproncriv relying I, on PECC for infornation, is evident fron the fact tha t it uns PECO who j called one day before to notifv ne of channes as to uhere the Dec. IS, -

la70 neering to discuss hlasting was to be held. Since I called for  ;

j the investination, and since I ashed that PECO he inves:igated, nroner T l

I AIR and WATER Pollution Patrol BROAD AXE, PA.

(3) nroceedure for last ninute chanaes vould have the "RC, not PECO contact-inn ne for anything relating to the neeting. As it relates to the ex-clusionairv nrocedural rulen of the 'mC, no uhnre in those rules does l it state that PCCO should notifv no.

1 .

It uns further chvious that the "RC was inoronerly depending on PFCG to predetermine the question of the Dec. 13, 1079 neeting relative -

to blastinn uhen, following the ncetinn (which I hovcotted because PECO and not "7C was annarantiv runninn the shou) the Pottstown 'fercury of Dec. 10, 1070 heaan its renort of the neetine hv stating that, "On the l hasis of infornation sunnlied hv 'CCO, thn "nC conculded there was no adverse effect hv the cuarry blastinn on the foundation of the I.' erick reactor buildinq". Therefore, nithout su,nortina data, or daferred ansners which PECO nronised "nC to sunniv by .Innuary 1930, (but ubich I have not vet seen fron 'inC) neither our groun, nor the public can possibly evaluate the conclusion hv Nic, nanciv that there has been no .

adverse effect relative to cracks under the f.incrick reactor foundation

due to 60 years of blastinn hofora the reactor construction, and five vears of dynamite concussion since start of the reactor construction.

At no tine since the 7ec.13,1070 meeting has PECO or NRC provided any infornation whatsoever on the true stability of the rock structure under the nou-huilt nuclear reactor buildinn.

• • a Fron the nany fornoing factorr, we feel the ""sC, in depending on data fran PECO, is neolinent, and anparentiv has not nado the safetv of the nublic its first responsibilit" as is its dut". '!e avait an- ,

suers to nuestions raised above, there' ore, in a continuing effort to insure the foundation under the non-huilt reactor buildings, consider-ed adeouate" by the Bechtel Conoration, are nore than just adequate. [

j-tJe ask for nroof through supportive data and records uhich you are re-quired to make public. g I

'!gv trulytour,s, ,

~ eb. 3 ,

4 Frank 9. Ronano, Chairnan i Air & Yater Pollution Patrol )

, 61 Forest Ave. [

Anbler, Da. 10002

• FRR/j ch

[

• • Including material in enclosed letter, f, I

G e

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AIR and WATER Pollution Patrol BROAD AXE, PA.

June 10, 1980

Dear Editgr:

Im=ediatedly after the U. S. Genlogical Survey experts concluded that  ;

reduced ru=blings indicated che improbability of a volcanic eruption, all Mt. Saint Healens broke loose.  ;

l And three months ago, with an even greater improbabilityg the Abington-  !

Glenside area shook and sent a shocY. vave through the Conshohocken area of '

the Schuylkill and one hundred miles beyond. Recognizing what might have happened if the reactors at Limerick were in operation, a Pennsylvania univ- 1 ersity geologist stated that if those rea' tors c were being built in the Consho-hocken area, he would publicly protest their completion. But another 3.7 mag-nitude earthquake, moving j*tst ten degrees more westerly, e.ould send shock l waves through, and possibly activate three dor = ant earthquake faults in the '

im=ediate reactor site area.

• One of them, the Sanitoga Fault, is within 1300 feet of the area, with  ;

fault lines running directly beneath the now in-place reactor vessel. This unbelievably hazzardous condition can be seen in the Bechtel Corporation draw- -

ings supplied to Philadelphia Electric before construction began.

As if that was not sufficient for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to rej ect the site, the Pottstown Trap Rock Quarry is today, as it has for the past 60 years, dynamiting the same rock upc t which the reactor buildings sit.

As a result of our group having questioned the NRC relative to the effects . ,

of dynamiting on the foundations of the reactor buildings, P.E. has been ordered to conduct tests. These tests should have been donebefore construction began. -

. Our group charges the NRC with negligence in giving P.E. a construction permit '

without adequate studies on the faults, in particular, as these foundation de-fects have been affected by continued blasting since construction began in 1974 ,

i In spire of the many objections to that site, Vincent Boyer,'Vice President of

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P.E., told Congressman Peter Kostmayer's Subcon=rittee on Energy and Envirenze,nt . l that he is opposed to conversion to coal,:and that "an.evacua. tion plan would  ?

only be window dressing". Apparantly knowing that the increased cost of such j l a plan to save lives vould make nuclear power more costly than coal, Mr. Boyer , i said an evacuation plan wasn't needed "because there would never be an accident".

, p i

But nothing other than converting L1=erick to coal can prevent a nuclear I. I disaster at that site, because only God could devise the evacuation plan which l l would prevent the death of thousands on the night Montgomery County's Mount t Saint Helens Limerick reactor shakes loose. .

Frabk R. Romano, Chairman h FRR/je ,, Montg. Co AWPP -

61_ Forest Ave.A:6 er, Pa. ,

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