ML20081J767
| ML20081J767 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Midland |
| Issue date: | 12/28/1982 |
| From: | Rau P MIDLAND DAILY NEWS MIDLAND, MI |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20079G637 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-83-397 PR-821228, NUDOCS 8311090110 | |
| Download: ML20081J767 (3) | |
Text
pt. or emergency-plans
~ .
at n-plant postponed
~
"F'*
By PAUL RAU. * .
DailyNews staffw riter A -
O - -
The full-scale test of ernergency plans
~ for the Midland nucicar plant has been E7t7, '
-3, ,
$ . M k( N illl(
postponed fmm Manh 8-9 at the request 1 'N , -
nfConsumern Power Co'., nk @,
.Noclear
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.The federally-supervised test of the f' plans mum s t'ke place within a year prior
, ,/
U -.N ar -.
L Q '% gg
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July to fuel 1983 load, for Unitwhich had b*n 2 and Dwember whw!uled for 1933 " '-'[h- fh@
5
~ y , Mc.-E!jp M.m1 . 1
- for Unit L - .m
% 3k'2E'3'M -
By requesting that the plans not be -
s .
tested until the fourth quarter of 1983 er week later,in testimony to a'U.S. Nuclear the firs'. quarter of l 9 M , Consume rs Pow- Regulatory Commissiin licensing board, lear units wi!! be finished an er appears to be tacitly admitting that an attorney representing the utility fuel until plant workers gain experie with chmplex work to add new founda .
. agreed that construction of Unit 2 will not tions tosome plant structures. -
fuel 1983 or load will nof take p7 ace until late . be complete until *>ome months" early 1934. beyond A rasjor portion of that work to correct
-' At a Nov. 9 news conference, Consum. slipped. July 1983 and that the fuel load date had . previous' soil p ers omeials would not admit that the July ,
approved by the NRC. Consumers said it Consumers Power has consistently said 1983 fuel load date cannot be met. But a that it cannot 'will' issue new estimate estimates when theoftconstmetio wo nuc
-- . completion, fuel laad and commercial op-era tion during the firsi quarter of l083.
' Npelear plant ' spokesman Norman Saari said Consumers requested the post-ponement "rather than have other agen-cies commit significant resourtas to a date (March 8-9) that may not be applic-ablein the end."
Agencies to be involvedin the emerEen-cy plan test, formally called a full-scale joint excitise, will include the Federal Emergency Management ' Agency -
(FEMA)and the emergency management division of the Michigan Department of StatePolice. -
The emergency plans involve notifying and protecting residents in the 10-mile Emstgency Planning Zone (EPZ) during accidents at the nuclest plant. Since the
-EPZ overlaps all or parts of Midland, Saginaw and Bay. counties l federally-approved emergency plans are, required [
.in a'.lthree counties. '
,.
- e i
Durin~g the FEMA cupervisedjoint ex- i ercise, all three county plans will be acti- *
- vated along with the Michigan emergen- ,
cy' plan. A hypothetical" plume"ofradia.
tion will escape the nuclear plant, sirens 3 -
will blare and teams with radiation moni-
, tors will fan out in the community to take
! .moch readmgs. . .
"There would be no sense having'one (an exercise) this March if they.will not -
hav'e fuel load within a year, because we '
would have to do it all over again," said l .
. Lt. James Tyler, commanding ~omeer of '
t .
the State Police Pre disaster Services ~;
' ,' Section in Lansing. .
t
.He said the Midland postponement ~ l "should not be th at dimcult for us. It'sjust i a matter ofregheduling." t He said a full scale test'of emergency '
plans for Consumers' Big Rock Point nue.
PDR FOIA8311090110 B30809 lear plant scheduled for 1934 likely will ,
GARDE 83-397 be moved'up to July 1983 since the Mid-PDR . landplanswon'tbetested. .
i Also to te postponal and rescheduled s will be a variety of trainirq drills in the
. ccunties surrounding the Midland nue-lear plant that had teen scheduled for February and March,Tylersaid.
y e
m&\ eceu esad egweeg -
t Nope? delays mark yeaf ByPAUl'RAU A
DailyNewsstaffwriter jg A *
' The Midland n.iclear' plant son't be N; "
done in time to meet th'e latesfconstrue.
'"1 -,
~
- Mh3;j(j
- tion schedule- again. That's the major '
E ,, -, g conclusion from a yearJam. packed'with e .
,', Q,h.gg-news abou t the local n uclear project. rm.
Fro 7 f
' pages,m whistleblowers to work stop< d g*, l3 UIII soilproblems to system turnovers nuclear plant news set a da:ymg pace m, 1982 as the plant accelerated toward Con-
%k ~[ _ ( ,
M_ y., 1 {
+M q,c-sy3 sumers Power. Co.'s goal of, commercial operation orthe two' units in late 1983 aud ""
mid 19S4.
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~
But several apparently insurmount- , able obstacles still block that goal..The main one is a body of work needed to cor , - rect soilproblems and the flaws they have . . causedin planibuildings. . was that the c6mplex foundation work , This' work-unprecedented in the U.S. will " impact" the construction schedule' likely won't be loaded by March 1984.
"to some extent /' And by asking that the test be moved to nuclear industr3 - involves tunneling under some buildings and adding new A week later, attorneys for the utility- late 1983 or early 1934, the utility is su foundations land mest resembles a min- verified what Cook couldn't bring himself gesting that the. Unit fuel load inight
, ingoperatici ~
to say - that there would be no fuel load take plam any time between those dates i in July 1983. andlate19M orearly1985. . Beca use no U.S. nuclear plant has ever , been underpinned," no one kno~ws how . One sanario that apparently was put i longitwilltake.Inroughestimates, Con-- THE QUESTIONS NOW have become to rest in 1982 was that Dow might opt to i sumers figures it will take IS months to how long will the delay be, and when will break its steam contract with Consumers. - add a new foundation to the plant's auxili- the plant operate and begin sending nue- 'That can occur if steam isn't avail
" ary buildmg and 12 months to underpin lear. generated steam to its . industrial the contractual deadline ~ ofDec. 31,1984,. . , theservicewaterpumpstructure. customer,Dow ChemicalCo. but Dow would have to pay for the steam-There aren't clear answers yet. Con- generating equipment installed in the Consumers announced in January that -
sumers plans to issue new forecasts of plant. That cost would be massve - ab-
,,itwasreadytobegintheformerwork,but it took ndirly a year to'obtain the-U.S. , construction completion and commerc out one-quarter of the plant's total cost Nuclear Regiilatory Commission's seal of operation'in early 1983, after workers (now an estimated $3.39 bi!! ion), accord--
ing to Cook. approval.The work began Dec.13. ~ haeshown how fast they can perform the Meanwhile. the next major milestone. complex foundation work. ,
- loading of nuclear fuel into Unit 2 in But an indication surfaced recen.tly DOW DECLINED requests to talk ab - 8 July 1983-approachesrapidly. ~ when Consumers asked federal and state out the nuclear contract this year,'but 8
-Consumers Vice President James W. 4 ofTicials to postpone the full +cale test of indication's are. strong Dow will wait 8 Cook ought to be considered for Optimist emergency pla is for the nuclear plant the steam no matterhowlongit takes. I of the Year for his refusal, during a . from this March to late 1983 or early . First, Dow has not pursued alterna-,'
19E4: tives such as replacing its aging coal: fired November news conference, to admit that , the July fuel load date had become un- 'To be valid. the test must be done with- . powerhouses with modern facilities. 3 reachable. The most Cook would allow , in a year prior to fuelload; by asking for a Second, Dow told the federal government I , delay, Consumers was indicating fuel in a court +upervised consent agreement .I ! her uxu vsoevwww Muu" 1'sansvaa -- - - - -
- that it will wait fdr the steam and then *
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taidiund Doh in e,ndknd,t.'Ahgan e, . . . n '
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. Fridgy,Dscamb:r 31,1962
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, Pags ;3 DT fiBMCIOU -
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- - QT@'ect a . L shut down one ofits powerhouses, using Report in May and its first supplement in the other only as a backup.
'
- The March opening of the Nuclear October. .
Training Center (NIC), a facility near
, Third, the cost ofpaying for the steam - These thick documents outline the safe . the nuclear plant which is 1 cing used to generating equipment wems prohibitive ty and environmental parameters within train operators for Consymers' thrc'c if nothing is lo be received in return.
though Dow's payment would be less if Without.them. es en " which the nuclear plant must operate. ' pfichigan nuclear plants. Contr61 panel-the plant would not be simulators are to nrrivein 1933.
*Consumers cannot satisfy contract ierms. - licensed. A utihty spokesman called the
/ ~-
. ;. I
- Litigation betw een the two parties has SER and FES the "Old and the'New been mentioned before. The Testament on the plant."
- Probess by contractoriin complet-Consumers relationship has,Dow- ,been ing systems and turning them over the strained since things began going wrong
. . ' Consumers for testing. The plant is now with the project.and there was noindica-
- A June letter. issued by the' Advisory 85 percent complete,'and 60 percent ofits tion at year's end'that t!!e relatio'nship ' (ACRS)which Committee on Reactor Safeguards .*S50 systems have been turned o'ver for saidplantoperation up to 5 testing. - -
had improved. - percent offull pow er will create no und'u e "We sim ula te everything ex ce;it a n ear: rikk topublic health or safety, thquake"*during the test program, OTHER SIGNIFJCANT nuclear plant developmentsin1982 include: But the ACRS - which studies exclu. according to plant site manager Donald
. sively safety issues and adviv.s the NRC B. Miller. .
- The lavoffofm' ore tisan 1,000 Bechtel -~. deferred its approval of full-power op -
l Pdwer Cork manual workers in early De- eration until an audit of the plant's quah-cember. The stunning news chme on the' ., ty is condpcted and sent to the ACRS for
- The continuing controversy over the heels of an NRC: inspection"which dis- review. state wastewater discharFe permit issued clodd that Quality Assurace (QA) preb' to Cons u mers in November. Three pa'rties lems still exist m sev eral plant areas. . The letter said other safety issues also are attempting to contest the pe'rmit The NRC did not order the layoffs, but must be resolved becau.e the Midland through a state hearmg procedure; they appears to have stimulate 3 Consumers to pla nt is located in "one of the more dense- cl im added pollution may restrict.in-radically revie its approach to fimshing . populated' nucicar plant sites. with dustrial development downstream and the nuclear plant.l " thousands of Dow wore f rsee adverse environmental impacts dents 6nly miles away. .ers and area from resi-the millions of gallons of treated Faced with the inspection results, Con .
sumers decided to halt almost all safety- <
- An outside investigation orthe plant w stewater which daity will enter the-related construction while . teams reins- by the Government Accountability Pro; - Tattabawassee River once the plant oper-pect previous work. That meant there jeet t. GAP) cf Washington. D.C., which ates. .
would be nothmg for the1,000 workers to culminated in late June with~a nu ber of . - do for an mdefinite period. Some of them alle ations of faulty construction ing . To add to the tonfusion. a stateattorney won't berwalled to theirjobs.^ . . q.. si* filed with the NRC' says oc pumt bn t kgaHy. exist be-cause a special clause prevented it from After installed work is inspated. con ' GAP's relatioiship with Consumers becoming' final if parties attempted to struction teams will go back to work and has been strained. to say the least. Simi- contest it. These issues may not be re-tinish rverythingthe else plant in >This plan,industry.; the nuclear like nearly'. lar safety-related
. halting' GAP charges work.were instrumental at the Zim- cedures. in solved in 1983 d uc to lengthy hearin has an acronym - CCP. for Construction mernuclear plantin Ohio: ' ' ' ' ,* . , , .
Completion Plan. . --" 2 Consumers Power claims GAP is not AS 1982 ENDS, plant ofTicials are '
- The NRC'sissuance 6f seieral docu'
- nedded to assu/c the plant's safety, but asking employees to pull together and <
nen ts critical to the plant's licensing: The appears resigned to the fact GAP is here banking on the Construction Completion Draft Environmental Statement in .to stay. Said plant spokesman Norman Plan te achieve the goal ofcompleting the February and the Final Environmental Saari "To be objective,a significant event nuclear plant. The only problem is that no 3tatement in July, the Safety Evaluation ,4f the year was G AP's involvement." one kr.ows when that willhappen. e 9 O _ . _ . _ _ . . . . _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ . _ _ _ . . _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ - . . - - -}}