ML20077D739

Forwards to State of CT Legislature,Energy & Public Utils Committee.Hearings Should Be Held Locally. Plant Cost Is Prohibitive & Future Problem Exists Re Final Disposition of Waste

ML20077D739
Person / Time
Site:	Millstone
Issue date:	07/21/1983
From:	Matthew Smith AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	NRC
References
NUDOCS 8307270110
Download: ML20077D739 (4)

Text

s , ,

O 9 =

1 q,

e v i 8- - 148 liigh St.

2 6 -

Mystic, Ct. 06355 r C C'N'.7 ;'.U.":Ei M $13 d"IY 21' 1903 L

p;,0 D. ; l'i".. T.0.. ...vu. -~ ~'""

. \.e$'[e e, O

O! #

Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1717 H St. Ns SERVED JUL 261983 unshington, D. G. 20555

Dear LtG:

z.nclosed is a letter to the Connecticut legislature's Energy and Fublic Utilities Gomtittee concerning Northeast Utilities and the nuclear industry.

.p I did not attend the recent local hearsing on etvironnental concerns re the licensing of millstone III. Once permission is granted to build the plant, licensing is foreordained. I understood it to be a hearing on the iapact of the plant on flora, fauna, the Sound, and the possibility of l

radiation contamination,on which even the experts disagree. Do not be nis-led by the light turnout. This was a specialized hearing for specialized concerns, perhaps to give the public the illusion of being heard. Why isn' t the finalOtnd all other hearings) hearing held locally, open to all? As I understand, it is to be in Washington and open o)y to special applicants.

Very convenient for NU, but not the citizenry.

There is considerable unease and disaffection with the nuclear industry and NU, and not only by the Conn. Citizens' Action Group. The citizenry is beset by a state government indebted to special interests, powerful ones such as NU. Governnent on all levels doesn' t protect the populace. Quite the reverse. Rather, we need protection from their depredations.

The enclosed letter is a smal part of considerable correspondence and information seat to the x:iU, auch f it on your role as monitor. I'm sure it is available to you should you find this of interest. I understand a congressional committee is now investigating the NRC for possible collusion,C dereiktion of duty, etc., which Thomas Devine had documented a few months ago before the City Glub Foruu in Cleveland.

The cost of hi11 stone III is prohibitive, the money better spent diversir fying. There will be the future problem of the final disposition of the unste, now stored on site, on which no one can agree. All out of our pocket.

To have a third plant on one densely populated site is irresponsible, given the tu1certain monitoring of a dangerous technology with increasingly un-answered questions. Yet, we have no redress. You have been secretive and possibly delinque.nt; you have not served the public first, and have been part of the problea, not the solution.

N Given the serious manifold problems nuclear power presents, and more E N surely to come, no further plants should be licensed until the populace

@@ has firm guarantees for safety, efficiency, accountability, and that the cJos pg of electricity doesn't become so prohibitive it is available only to the feu.

N The citizenry is outraged.

% Sincereiy , /M,/h23

@ I uns particularly takmuith Philadelphia Electric's campaign on behalf b.o of the nuclear industry to inf11trate the faculty and schools, providing f texts and slides in which all alternatives except nucicar were discounted; 8.c..

@@ teachers' manuals advised them to say "uindmills are unsightly"; child ren ma.I told to "go home and tell your parents what you'ver learned"; and ph' cologica paper on nuclear energy uns issued (tlod let us discover it just in time") -

(over, please)

, 73g3 (j) o n .ur a NIzc 05 e. % , %k m% na nu.a.w<pwres. wax

i a

1 j e .

J i

It sciacks of fascier.l. Not only does the industry want zo control our purseptringsandIffe-style,butalsoheartsandminds. All paid for by ratepdyers, who, as 1 tmderstand it, have brought suit, note pending.

t .

&k$ QGlVA ] $$l '

pqu i n t d.u c c th < r e (< tiers a f- /t c e,[r, ;

ry h <<r , n 7 , .

ni . A.

e' e e e e e *

++ p' s , ,= **

, - -+

• 4 m , y y 9 _

• • ^

. m- s e, e , '. _

~ ~ ~

6 ,

• 44 es e e y {

g

~

e D

1 .

t

=

$ O 1 .

~

~

4 i  ; - -

. t _

b ,

e 6

d w

. 8 . 8

• g . , .

' ~

. e 8 I s e J t

, 6 I

e o

me P i

e t 4

, , - - . , - - , . . , , ,. m . . . , - , . . , . . - . _ _ _ _ - _ , , . ,.-. . _ . _ . , -, , , m.r_., . . . . , ,_, , , , . . . , - . , . _ .. . . _ -. - - ~ _ _ . ..

~

= , ,

e'

.I I! D cD \ ,

\

i 4., \ 148 High St.

m-

..m . 4 9._.. ... .g. ...w s lT ko SO- Mystic,Ot.06355 p: auty 21, 1983 em .H  ;

7_

i A}3.,

J; '% ~ C:. /

\  % l'P Energy and i>ublic Utilities committee  % w~s:,, N l connecticut General Assembly N .4' State Gapitol Hartford, Ct. 06106 7

j y

b P

Dear Committee:

i Here are some addenda to my rece ket and letters on the nuclear

% jndustry } the Nuclear u t op sa and Northeast Utilities, and j tho hiliato milk ami_ g comp

- - a to allow them to continu o y

lic with yeg,t anoyJeg, $ g3fp*no D b ase~us from the

_ oouu4e monopoly of NU and single main source of power. Also i demani They are Freedomexceedinityofclosemouthed.

Information for the public in every aspect of their operat j Clippings od' various pertinent subjects enclosed.

e Af ter the recent firing $[1%Ydnapecified reasons,which SU refused to 9

3 divulgo, NU absolved itself of any responsibility for t .c 5 not SU employees. After the recent surveyors' strike (they struck for the y petty reason of quibbling over assignments) NU declared itself not responsib i but 6 tone ami ' debater. 3,500 other employees honored the picket line also  ;

g Iet, under the agreement the legislature negotiated we nust pay for strike ,

14 tort stoppages or other expenses not under NU's control . They assume y 1ently, no responsibility, but we must. (Clipping on subject in recen,t conven-pack After the guard firings, a ' vandalism' j %a,'c< cut cables f rom the control room to the intake building drawi incident at Millstone III occur red g

ng cooling water Fj for the reactor. After the firing of inept guards, they still can't secure th e y oite. Where were the guards? Don't they learn from experience? Who pay j Personnel are obviously not trained or supervised properly (again history 1 cf industry on all levels). Is security even possible, ~ esp. air and-sea?

A Against July 20,dedicated

'83: a saboteurs? Or even neighborhood kida? Clipping 3 officials acknowledge ' latest incident of insider sabotage'=, The Day

} (a national problem 1 mentioned in recent letter), this incident at LaSalla Plant of wiring to a key piece of safety equipunent swHohea, ine reversed wirir in a switch controlling part of the emergency bact~g system cooling the reactog E

Officials of NEC and utility a were reluctu.*

3 the point made or collusion, brushius off or coverpling up problems'in myTo use word 9

a 'or' careless welders, etc., not discovered for years perhaps, not t 3 faulty design, construction ami other recurring problees.

? 'c$1ders at TM1 bought into the union, someone else took their t(Recent newsThat ests). piece-. is the caliber of personnel at all. levels? Guards, management with me-generation E othics,

- and executives with old robber baron publioe %ed -instincts.

As to the corroded reactor shield problems E their removal and' storage?-

y problem, why are they not needed now, but were n,eeded before? The liulustry has 3 been playing it hy ear and learning on the job since its beginning, and in S a dangerous aimi expensive enterprise. Why so many plants with the same problem?.

j And the same manufacturer. But the RRC has once again changed the rules to-acnamunndate the industry,said shield no longer necessary, another 4

9 av previous letters, which also documents their cutting- c(orners. ) point in.

5 Millstone is similar in design to the eight plants with cracked cooling

~

pifes szn ytPes thate+37*

cold lead M u 4totmmeltdown.

<. Milla*ana 6$ 'J;iped<2 ih%t one/5

,,,_,,..,p, y , ypc , a_gw n e. .vLc-s e e-

& Mf'T -

6 ,  ; - . .

m4m m .n, m = .u=.a =

I

)

cafety of,ficer bowed to plant owners and GE, the manufacturer, (see king clip s

and allowed a delay until industry sponsored laboratory tests on crac

g. (I dustry polices itself -see revious letters) ea e face of a lot of I

co 1 ioner linsky is qu ed, a (s e P ng), the NRC after Davis uncertainty." The Days t nc Bessert TMI, wants au omatic shutdown (and a possible fourth-Florim op ant) systems upgraded . Salem had classified such inciden i f circuit breakers armi 1

e when the firs dinadequa circuit br akers as non safety equipment.1 ? This would not have come to 11

- on whistleblowers.) We have "liilt""" gad , t$rogr;e W'; %/"o'ni' '07r gy;s7tgJi' ** ":*>"d ,

3 ot qa y inept or ve 1s c t nate the whole denscly populated uell be a time m " 9a and the surrounding cwntrys ty v1 lationy ri c is now investinati ' "(*[o te h ,

e on1 r compu a on, 03 3

falsified records a A ,,,, ,, ,,,,1

__. a + ta..baa becomh2Mldt$nc!cnowted e. But, as you caneswil$rolhoutoprote lj he never hear a word, a quote, froa the NRC inspector at Millstone.

[jjj ei uhy isn't doun to the he smallest accessibic to the public. Why doesn't he keep the public infor detail?

d As I have written previously, there have been problems with the industr q

since its inception: the NRC's role as an arm of the industry, and its relue-

@ to inform or take action; on plant design,; manufacturers' equipctent; qualit' a control; construction defects and problems; repeated failures of equipcent y

g and personnel; cluutging and relaxing the regulations af ter the fact; poor 13 training or supervision of personnel; nussels in the water intake system d that could have serious consequences; and even, at Millstone, the hiring procedures and quality of personnel at least a few of whC A are functional t illiterates and have been given a year to learn to read, two sources have informed me. (The illiterates are, I assume, in lesser positions but are required to learn to read rather sophisticated officialese and in a yearl Onc wonders why they were hired in the first place.)

i admitting?We only They know have ofnever the problems been informative. the industry admits to. khat are they not We must par for every mistake or miscalculation by NU, which takes no

~

responsibility for its actions and takes no risk, NU and its shareholders get a free ride at our expense. I didn't quite understand the doublespeak in the news piece on the UFUG-directed audit of NUT the utility and is included in the rate base for customar bi h ="the audit is paid for by ~ - -

q j

we pay for everything directly or indirectly, I would like to know how much replag a s fuel we have paid for since

uillstoneIfirst went on line. Why must we pay? The responsibilips so diffust no one is accountable directly to us; yet we are accountable and must pay.

I Dhat can the legislature do to see to our safety and selvency?_

f Sincerely, cc to DPUC, NRC, Consumer Counsel Zitser, CFf7

-en

-e w.., --.-.9,.7 g 7-,.- ,,,,_.-,,.7 .m, . , , , , . , _ _ - , ,,_y-9w..oc, . , . . . .- _ . , . ,_-,-,.y  %,. , . - . ,__,.,,pi.--w- __,_m.,-.w_,,,. .,e,- , , . - - - - , . _-.