ML20084H503

Requests That 2.206 Petition on Georgia Tech Reactor Be Granted

ML20084H503
Person / Time
Site:	05000276
Issue date:	05/18/1995
From:	Blockeyobrien AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	Taylor J NRC
Shared Package
ML20084F555	List: ML20084F551 ML20084H503
References
2.206, NUDOCS 9506050340
Download: ML20084H503 (8)

Text

. - -

T he Bentive flirur+re, I ' '

15 Ma:Saar RegLdatzzy n medsmi,wn, ,

lemtd gtsm, D.C. ,

Mme My 2.26 Petitism cn the Gm:rgia 'Duh amutar etc. *Y 1883* N l

Dear man *it e Lima:

tsr, _

As you lamana't humed futa am flar atrat a armth, I did n:t 1ert ytm to edde that "all was quiet on the acuttummtman fut:4" regardire nr =64*4~' Althcq$1I have rut arleed a single cr+y frua MC cf my massamos to ar petiticn fran my other parties, I as ammunirg that thats must have bort man. Furthannuem, I fasci cat toder by arv4etre that there iam a ramtur I andd an11 to  ;

get andas of asame ducannte from MC free, idich to one ever trad me. So I an wnducirg det is gdry on or, daupita pEras mamunparious fton MC to tie cxztrat*/, if ny petition is zumily being talen auriounty, and that scarlem an. Betraps muine cculd revier the dune sitaation. He ase rurudrq cat of em tdme nonded to gut everythirg ok, cf that.1 retched imp of a r==r+rr an$ building becore ttan OL)updos ytaa amu.

1. Mth sqpcd to the Em2 tint Dr. Encan told an in Om past est otMr smivuosities time the rautzz's I let thus fird their anst e=<414&4==- Sa=1<taa. one cri staty In:isse aginnerirg withtxt havirg a sautor -

cn tra campus It la ny mhrmten$ing dmL theen is a paraitili'rf that the trdversities use the amuser fcr frem, if so, it will be re firancial loss the Gnocgla ".txt if it is remova! ate. m=Idum, finemma 1 should not influmnon innen health and erwisorsental cxrtaminathm b=ena.

2. Nith rutaed to it tadrg raised at the lancing dat GUE huS, ar$ in ny onn crrwettations itith 12. Itussi l that cnu c:and do the um$icalAxsut rautum castatie stuff 11wre are in proper medirst M14*d== -

f. tar tamens thsee et, the reach, getting assanely ill/tirg pat:ierta in and cat of that dLap in a daart and annitary murar prr**y waach't 1ctk. It tes rrt hahmd to have a veut medk:mt sann', ,

private patiert anas, aber11e latdant atans ( cart:nr ptients cbviamly have seriamly <tg====d  !

irsune systcss and ace vtAruembla to all anarner of im.nbi health presen and infiscLicrus). 1 aruvastre, aoxrdirg to the vary latant; rmanarrt (see Sderne Mme April 22,195) )in my radi*len j pertups within 15 mLrutas cf a patients agitsute to Grafustfat tmetant " awrn* 4 n2 henter l tisuus rot, to tN crer4c is l' *1mmurt, tratrsd, ruinnd, and ttssy mrt int $c cn first finding a ter 3 to try ard rectify uut. It adaptr in't 1sroperly ontfitten j;,9 bg a_ medical .gg3aga.

3. With regard to t.ha reactor / facility itself being a rrieserch reactor on a univer-sit,y carapua a recast Associated Press reports detail that many university labs at northern universities in particular, have what an NBC inspector is quoted as a "cavaliar" attitude regarding the radioactive material they handle. I would lilta NRC to check out all the lab facilitiets at the reet'tcr and on campus for similar probloou , and not just at Georgia Toch, tr.tt at s11 other Georgia labs / facilities even hapitals, which fall under NRC jurisdiction. Se northern colleges mentioned were Dcxston Collego, Harvard, Brandeis, tMase-Andi ertt.

4. With regard to earthquatco inforrmation in the southeast which could affect the Tech reactor (and power reactors) : recently there was one lo utiles northwest of Charistco 50 with a regnitude of 3.9 , there was alen one measuring 4.1 in 1992 which was felt too miles away in Augusta. Bis recent sarthqinke va:s centered near the epicenter of the catastrophic 1896 earthquake which killed 110 people . I told yoa in earlier correspondance a Chariston one is overdue. Bis recent one is the 5th cart 1 quake recorded in the area this year according to a detailed report in

" Alternatives" Hay 1995, p. 8

5. M 00BhLT -60 IN M REACTOR AREnfP00L IB 7852 W W 15 DWB B M M, M Gt EFf M 5E355 TJeNIEN't IT. M. ERM 9tKA DE N Bf PREE III M Phsf M I MS AMUDE M 70Def TIIRS' IE MERID*MI, OF ITT M a8wun1d step top-duurdag around thett.

6. With regard to the reactor being on unstable ground.: I was benught a copy of a :J March 4th 1994 Memorandtaa to Dr. Karam from Donald Alexander, Manager, Facilities I Engineering at hch. it states that they examined constructica docummets and remosdr o earth bore testing reports, er===tation destatim, cmastructica specificationsmed visited the building to irampact it for crasses den to strantaral steiftlag etz:. etc. ,

and blah. Amrage een go over old am and looft at it. The place uns not X-rgudi  !

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2 the floor won not either neither were welds, and so on 'they may the ocntractor was directedto put f,wmidations on firm undisturbed SOII, , hiah, blah, and that "

"this indicates the building footings were placed on the weathered rocic". a) I am not interested in " indications", I want FACTS. WAS IT, OR WASN'T IT ? b) the dittrian-ary/ geological definition of to weather (as in weathered rock) is "(esp. geol.) to affect surface of, to disintegrate (rock &c.) by action of rain, wind &c." so it

{ is " indicated" it was ppaced on " weathered rock" after the contractor was directed

} to put the foundations on firm, undisturbed " SOIL"....and what is the definition of I " soil" in the dictionary ? You guessed it " The surface earth or top layer of I

ground in which plants grow, consicting of loose, hroluna doun roc $t, and decayed organic, chiefly vegatable matter; reculd." The wretched thing is on the Wahoo Creek formation and I told you whwat that is, totally unsuitable. The elevation noted in the e norandum mo3ns nothing. For one thing, Atlanta is ouite high up. There is more in that memorandum but they think thn sewer line and the footings are sitting on the same rock shol.f and conclude that " if the earth was eroding from under the building ,l (i.e. REAC'IOR building) it would ba supported by the weathered rock formation." l With all the backflooding in the area up the sewer lines for years and area flooding, !

plus the other information on the sewer lines I sent you, there is probably one hell I cf a mass under there which you must establish by X-ray, perhaps angled borings, ultra-sound type stuff new fangled technology can determine what is below it. If even my local plumber has a thin tube with a tiny tv camera on the end , NRC can do the same sort of inspections below ground.'Ihe area groundwater was hign as I told you, and they DID have that sink. hole years art next to the reactor building, whether or not any formal record can be found, osewitness was Dr. Boyd (who pulled the guy up who was falling in) another testified at the GANE hearing, verbally, that he saw it as he lived in the area at the time.

7. With regard to the issue of Terrorimma which I have raised concerning the Oly g - 4 ics ( or even absent the Olympics) I have been informed by Mr. Mendonca that NRC probably wont even consider that part of my petition right now, but will look at it l after the Administrative Judges have made some ruling in the GANE petition. But it l

SHOULD also be looked at now, even absent the Olympics. no terrorist is going to ones l up and tell anyone what tivey are going to do in advance, as i told the NBt men at the i

meeting with him and the 750. I have a suspiscion that everyone at the NRC lives in an ivory tower on this issue after having read their rulemaking on upgrades in case of vehicle bomb attacks. The other day, I sent my husband out to go to the nearest

, store and grab ANY of those gun magazines they love to sell . I suggest you do the same '

l as what is in them is stomach churning and quite terrifying. For one thing, it seems you can buy books that show you how to build your own claymore mines, your own weapons your own mortars etc. etc. cosity, in your own backyard. This is truly awful. I also phoned a huge gun dealer to ask about weapons fired from distances and pens W hion power of such weapons and did other research. 'Ihc bottm line is, you could have the entire US Aned Forces surrounding EN. reactor / cobalt-60/ cesium-137,a mile deep and scxne crack-pot could take it out (aJ the gwi dealer phrased it) from a few miles away, no problem... Wow this is absolutely awful. It would ba terrible at a power reactor too, fortuneately they are of ten a bic of a discanco frcan heavily populated areas (though not always) and in case of accident /terrorian etc.one might be able to save a few poor souls, but, (for the millionth time) this reactor is on a campus in the heart of a city with now, about a million visitors coming in for the olympics. Atlanta can't handle what it has now, and went potty when about 200,000 students came to Atlanta recently, God kn4ws what they'll do when the Olympics gets here. Even NORSE, tonight, on the local news, (Channel 5, WAGA Atlanta) was a major report on a man and his girlfriend, wham polico arrestod for having a pipe bcknb in his car af ter stopping him for another reason, and een they searched his home, they found an arsenal of weapons making equipment and pundtions and 360 degree photos of a military facility and now he is har*=d on suspiscion of terrarian cinarges. Ask the FBI. I mean, this i . _ _ _ _ ___ - - _ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---- -

3.

this a fellow frra Griffin, Georgia for crying out loud. NRC has an obligation to protect hunnn haalth and the environment, and any attack on the reactor etc.

certainly would have the ;nost grave consequences to human health and the environ-mont, to cay the least.

I am 30 disgusted with having to argue the obvious to the NRC and FBI that I don't even feel like putting down a lot more points I was going to raise. EVERY regular person T have spoken to about the issues cannot believe that NRC , Georgia Tech, the State, the DOE etc. hasn't gotten off their chairs and gotten that whole reactor and related mess out of Atlanta already As I told one of NRC Atlantas staff the other day, I thought I would just explain everything to the NRC otc. and naturally the'd as the wisdom of it and say of course they'd get it all out of there, instead it has turned into a co:tplete nightmare and is taking forever. I have a daughter in the wind-path of that <'amaad reactor, plus many friends, and cna of my colleagues asked me renths ago to alsa represent her interests to NRC as Shc is not far from it either.

I have been trying to get, something dona about this dumn since about 1981, and I tell you all right nov, if you all finally corne to your senses up there in Washington and agree with me, I would like you to insert in the Federal Register that you are doing aa.mthing about it becau;Ao of what I raised, just for the record, and sand ue a copy.

The fact 1*, if I hadn't raised the issues, NRC wouldn't hm ev n !com about, or looked at most of the issues.

Finally, today, to my sorrow and outrage, I found out that the NRC's own lawyors are arguing in assence against the welfare of the people concerning the possibility ,

that the reactor etc. could be a target for terrorists or sabotage, even though the NRC; in the federal register of August ist,1994 Vol. 59 No.146 , 38894 bottom of first colu a spaks of the ranges of threats , including borth thre.ats against reacters.

This all givco now, clearer meaning to the admonition to lawyers by Jesus of Nazareth, ,

" Woe unto you also, yo lawyers ! For ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourscives tcuch not the burdens with one of your fingern." (St. Luke,ch.11, Verse 46,New Tectament, Holy Bible)

Rabbi Moses bon l'aimon ( Maimanides) said Perversion of justice is rendering a decision ecutrary to what it should be. After all this, I hope that the NRC is not going to deny my petition, as that would be a perversion of justice. What I have put before the NRC is for tha velfare of all. All my issues raised lead to the velfare of.

all. FLease grant nry petition in full, it.s not hhat hard to see its m2rits.

C bh Pamla Diockey-O'Drian.

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112lAMEl A BLOCKEY-O'BRIEN GulJen \ allg. Dougl,%)le, GA A)lu Ib: My 2.206 Fetiticn al t?n Gxxgia ' Itch Ractor etc. Pty 18th, 1995 Dmr Extative Dinctcr, As you hwm't hard fmn ne for atout a nmth, I did nct ent, you to think tlat "all ms quiet cn tln southmstern frtnt" myrding my petiticn. Altlurjh I haw rot ra:ieved a single apy frtm E of any 1.egims to my piticn fmn any oder parties, I an assuming tlat there utst hwe tan scre. Fud6uwe, I fomd out tcrby by aa:idat tlat there es a tutter I could call to gt, ocpim of sme charamts frtm E free, which to cne ever told ne. Sb I an w21dering dat is cping an or, ckrpite phme assurranam frtm E to the a2trary, if my ptiticn is rmily inirq takm seriously, an$ tint mtries ne. Ibdaps sateme cmid review tle wtule sitmticn. Ma are nming out of tle tine noeth3 to get everything out of tlat wretcha$ chip of a mctor ard hiilding before the Olynpics,you see.

1. With myrd to the fact that Dr. Kamn told ne in the past that otinr tniwrsities me the rmator:

let than find their own facilitis. Desicbs, cne mn stn3y rurlmr engireerity witrat laying a rector c cn tle cmps. It is my tadersamling tlat tlere is a Whility tlat tin miversities tm the motor for frm, if so, it will be to finarcial loss tie Georgia 'Rd1 if it is mttNed etc. Ibsidm, firances

2. struid rot influmm hran 1mith ard mviruuudal crntamraticn issms.

With n$ard to it beirg raised at the hearing tint GANE lad, ard in my own crnverstials with Dr. Karan tlnt orn amid cb the udim14xxtn rmtrtn capture stuff : 'Ihere are to pttper nalical facilities far lutarrs tJute at tie Imator, getting samtely ill/ dying patients in and out of t?at chip in a daa:nt ard snitary nanner prttably woulch't mtk. It as not cbsigned to lave a vast nedical staff, private piticnt arms, sterile patimt arms ( carrer pitierts obvicusly lave mriasly igumi innune systars and are vulnerable to all ramer of arrndary imith pttblets ard infecticns).

Ebrtheanze, acxIrdirg to tle very latest rescarth (see Ebiern thws 1tril 22,1995) )in any radiaticn pedap3 within 15 minuts of a pitients exprum to the"radiaticn trmtztmt a surmnding tralthy tissue rnKt to the carmr is inflamed, satred, ruined, and tley nust work al first firdirg a my to try ard rectify tlat. It simply isn't properly outfitted to be a medical center.

3. With regard sity campus :

to the reactor / facility itself being a research reactor on a univer-recent Associated Press reports detail that many university labs at northern universities in particu17.r, have what an NRC inspector is quoted as a

" cavalier" attitude regarding the radioactive material they handle. I would like NRC to check out all the lab facilities at the reactor and on campus for similar problems , and not just at Georgia Tech, but at all other Georgia labs / facilities even hospitals, which fall under NRC jurisdiction. The northern colleges mentioned were Boston College, Harvard, Brandeis, UMass-Amherst.

4. With regard to earthquake information in the southeast which could affect the Tech reactor (and power reactors) : recently there was one lo miles northwest of Charlston SC with a raagnitude of 3.9 , there was also one measuring 4.1 in 1992 which was felt loo miles away in Augusta. This recent earthquake was centered near the epicenter of the catastrophic 1886 earthquake which killed 110 people . I told you in earlier correspondance a Chariston one is overdue. This recent one is the 5th earthquake recorded in the area this year according to a detailed report in

" Alternatives" May 1995, p. 8 5.

THE COBALT -60 IN THE REACTOR AREA / POOL IS PART OF WHAT IS DONE AT ME REAC11R, MIEMIER OR NOT HIE STATE LISCINCES IT. DR. KARAM 'IOLD ME IIIMSELF BY PfI]NE IN PAST MIIN dancing I WASthat.

around ARGUING UIE POINT WIAT HE NEEDED"ALL OF IT" MHO should stop tap-

6. With regard to the reactor being on unstable ground.:

I was brought a copy of a March 4th 1994 Memorandum to Dr. Karam from Donald Alexander, Manager, Facilities l

Engineering at Tech. it states that they examined construction th - ts and recordi earth bore testing reports, foundation details, construction specificatip visited the building to inspect it for cracks due to structural shifting etc. etc.

and blah. Anyone can go over old records and look at it. 'Ihe place was not X-rayed,

F

'- ,c ,y 2

the floor was not either,neither were welds, and so on.'1 hey say the contractor  ;

was directedto put foundations on firm undisturbed SOIL , blah, blah, and that 4 I "this indicates the building footings were placed on the weathered rock". a) I am not interested in " indications", I want FACTS. WAS IT, OR WASN'T IT ? b) the diction-ary/ geological definition ofito weather (as in weathered rock) is "(esp. geol.) to affect surface of, to disintegrate (rock &c.) by action of rain, wind &c." so it is " indicated" it was placed on " weathered rock" after the contractor was directed to put the foundations on firm, undisturbed " SOIL"....and what is the definition of j

" soil" in the dictionary ? You guessed it " The surface earth or top layer of t ground in which plants grow, consisting of loose, broken down rock, and decayed I organic, chiefly vegetable matter; mould." The wretched thing is on the Wahoo Creek l formation and I told you v1Wat that is, totally unsuitable. The elevation noted in the memorandum means nothing. For one thing, Atlanta is quite high up. There is more ,

in that memorandum but they think the sewer line and the footings are sitting on the i same rock shelf and conclude that " if the earth was eroding from under the building l (i.e. REAC'IOR building) it would be supported by the weathered rock formation."

With all the backflooding in the area up the sewer lines for years and area flooding, plus the other information on the sewer lines I sent you, there is probably one hell of a mess under there which you must establish by X-ray, perhaps angled borings, ultra-sound type stuff new fangled technology can determine what is below it. If even my local plumber has a thin tube with a tiny tv camera on the end , NRC can do the same sort of inspections below ground.The area groundwater was high as I told you, and they DID have that sinkhole years ago next to the reactor building, whether or not any formal record can be found, onewitness was Dr. Boyd (who pulled the guy up who was falling in) another testified at the GANE hearing, verbally, that he saw it as he lived in the area at the time.

7. With regard to the issue of Terrorism which I have raised concerning the Olymp-ics ( or even absent the Olympics) I have been informed by Mr. Mendonca that NRC probably wont even consider that part of my petition right now, but will look at it after the Administrative Judges have made some ruling in the GANE petition. But it SHOULD also be looked at now, even absent the Olympics. No terrorist is going to come up and tell anyone what they are going to do in advance, as T told the FBI man at the meeting with him and the NRC. I have a suspiscion that everyone at the NRC lives in an ivory tower on this issue after having read their rulemaking on upgrades in case of vehicle bomb attacks. The other day, I sent my husband out to go to the nearest store and grab ANY of those gun magazines they love to sell . I suggest you do the same as what is in them is stomach churning and quite terrifying. For one thing, it seems you can buy books that show you how to build your own claymore mines, your own weapons your own mortarc etc. etc. cosily, in your own backyard. This is truly awful. I also phoned a huge gun dealer to ask about weapons fired from distances and penetratiG power of such weapons and did other research. The bottom line is, you could have the entire US Armed Forces surrounding the reactor / cobalt-60/ cesium-137,a mile deep, and some crack-pot could take it out (as the gun dealer phrased it) from a few miles away, no problem...Now this is absolutely awful. It would be terrible at a power reactor too, fortuneately they are often a bit of a distance from heavily populated areas (though not always) and in case of accident / terrorism etc.one might be able to save a few poor souls, but, (for the millionth time) this reactor is on a campus in the heart of a city with now, about a million visitors coming in for the olympics. Atlanta can't handle what it has now, and went potty when about 200,000 students came to Atlanta recently, God knows what they'll do when the Olympics gets here. Even WORSE, tonight, on the local news, (Channel 5, WAGA Atlanta) was a major report on a man and his girlfriend, whom police arrested for having a pipe bomb in his car after stopping him for another reason, and when they searched his home, they fourxl an arsenal of weapons making equipment and munitions and 360 degree photos of a military facility and now he is booked on suspiscicn of terrorim charges. Ask the FBI. I mean, this

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h NRC has an obligation tdutur a fellow from Griffin, Georgia for crying out loud.

to protect human health and the environment, and any attack on the reactor etc.

certainly would have the most grave consequences to human health and the environ-ment, to say the least.

I am so disgusted with having to argue the obvious to the NRC and FBI that I don't ,

even feel like putting down a lot more points I was going to raise. EVERY regular j person I have spoken to about the issues cannot believe that NRC , Georgia Tech,,the State, the DOE etc. hasn't gotten off their chairs and gotten that whole reactor and related mess out of Atlanta already. As I told one of NRC Atlantas staff the other day, I thought I would just explain everything to the NRC etc. and naturally th d see thewisdomofitandsayofcoursethey'dgetitalloutofthere,insteadithaqs turned into a complete nightmare and is taking forever. I have a daughter in the-wind-path of that damned reactor, plus many friends, and one of my colleagues asked ,

me months ago to also represent her interests to NRC as she is not far from it either. !

I have been trying to get something done about this dump since about 1981, and I tell '

you all right now, if you all finally come to your senses up there in Washington and agree with me, I would like you to insert in the Federal Register that you are doing something about it because of what I raised, just for the record, and send me a copy.

The fact is, if I hadn't raised the issues, NRC wouldn't have even known about, or looked at most of the issues.

Finally, today, to my sorrow and outrage, I found out that the NRC's own lawyers are arguing in essence against the welfare of the people concerning the possibility that the reactor etc. could be a target for terrorists or sabotage, even though the NRC!

in the federal register of August ist, 1994 Vol. 59 No. 146 , 38894 bottom of first column, speaks of the ranges of threats , including bomb threats against reactors.

This all gives new, clearer meaning to the admonition to lawyers by Jesus of Nazareth,

" Woe unto you also, ye lawyers ! For ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, -

and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." (St. Luke,ch.11, Verse 46,New Testament, Holy Bible)

Rabbi Moses ben Maimon ( Maimonides) said : Perversion of justice is rendering a decision contrary to what it should be. After all this, I hope that the NRC is not going to deny my petition, as that would be a perversion of justice. What I have put before the NRC is for the welfare of all. All my issues raised lead to the welfare of all. PLease grant my petition in full, its not hhat hard to see its merits.

Pamela Blockey-O'Brien.

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