ML20076K772
| ML20076K772 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Shoreham File:Long Island Lighting Company icon.png |
| Issue date: | 07/11/1983 |
| From: | Cuomo M NEW YORK, STATE OF |
| To: | Cotter P Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| References | |
| ISSUANCES-OL, ISSUANCES-OL-3, NUDOCS 8307180082 | |
| Download: ML20076K772 (2) | |
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L JUL i 41983 > y STATE or t'tw Yong ExecuTivc CHAMBcR Manso M. CuoMo ALBANY 12224 gggg&W' p
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D July 11, 1983
Dear Mr. Cotter:
i The safety of our residents has been and continues to be my principal concern in the evaluation of nuclear power plant operations in New York.
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t I was, therefore, Regulatory Commission'sshocked last week by the Nuclear (NRC)
Long Island Lighting Company ~(LILCO) opinion which states that the is " entitled" to a low power license "despite existing uncertainties about off-site emergency planning".
The determination that the Shoreham reactor could be allowed to fuel was made in the absence of an acceptable evacuation plan and in the
' the real possibility that the plant may never be permitted to face of operate commercially at full power.
R the absurdity and inconsistency of currentI believe the NRC action makes ap R
E federal regulations governing nuclear cowar aparations.
The NRC's action demon-f strates again the crying need for clarification of the federal government's responsibility and accountability to those who must bear the burden of its regulatory scheme.
m" the initiative I have undertaken with the appointmentThe NRC's actio H
r of
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economi,c issues associated with the future of the ShorehamSpec
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facility.
Both the NRC and FEMA
(,the Federal Emergency B
Management Agency) have been participating in the Panel's ig deliberations.
The NRC has seen fit to make a premature y
s jucgement'concerning the ultimate ability of State and local g
governments to implement an emergency p'lan for Shoreham.
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h may be less than that for full-power operation, there isWhile the m gi nevertheless a substantial new measure of risk which should E!
have been but was not addressed by the NRC.
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_2-I am relieved, however, that the Commissicn did nct actually. direct its Atomic Safety and Licensing Board te issue a low-power license for Shoreham.
I believe further that the Board has acted prudently in seeking reasonable assurance from the utility that an emergency off-site plan would be approved before fuel loading was permitted to begin.
Accordingly, I ask that the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board now refrain from recommending the issuance of a low-power license, at least until the Shoreham Fact-Finding Fanel has ccmpleted its work.
In any event the Board's action will not prevent the Panel from conducting a complete and thorough examination o.f the, safety, econo ~mic and energy issues sur-rounding Shoreham.
'In implementing any authorization to operate at low power, I echo the NRC's dicta that LILCO's management would do so entirely at its own risk.
There may be significcnt costs associated with low-power test'ing and operations.
The allo-cation of these costs is entirely a matter for determination by the Public Service Commission.
The PSC would have juris-diction to examine the propriety of a management decision to load fuel and conduct low-power testing in the face of, to use NRC's own words, " substantial uncertainties about ful.1 power operation of the plant".
I urge your most careful consideration of this important question.
S.ncerely, l?
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Honorable Paul Cotter Chairman Atomic Safety and Licensing Board East-West Towers Building 4350 East-West Highway
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Bethesda,, Maryland 20555 1
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l cc:
Dr. Sunzio J.
Palladino, Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Mr. Charles R.
Pierce, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Long Island Lighting Company e
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