ML20084Q616

Advises That Representatives of Govt Accountability Project, Lone Tree Council,B Stemaris & M Sinclair Attending 840427 Meeting Do Not Represent Midland County or Majority of Residents

ML20084Q616
Person / Time
Site:	Midland
Issue date:	04/30/1984
From:	Chatterton R MIDLAND COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP.
To:	Dircks W NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
References
NUDOCS 8405210367
Download: ML20084Q616 (2)

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SECY Qtket Files 50-329, 330 ggg , ,

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Mr. William J..Dirck. f Nuclear Regulatory Comission ..

l 7735 Old Georgetown Road

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Washington, D.C. 20555 . . .

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Dear Mr. Dirck:

On April 27, 1984 there was a meeting held between Consumers Power Company and the Nuclear Regulatory Comission. Also in Attendance, as indicated in the paper, were persons specifically representing GAP, Lone Tree Council, Barbara Stemaris, and Mary Sinclair, all of whom oppose the Nuclear Power Plant Project. Further this group alleges to be " representing the community" while in fact they represent very few in the community.

( Was the meeting held on April 27, 1984 open to the public? Or, in other words, could we have had representatives attend this meeting who would have truly represented the majority of the people in the community? If there are future meetings of this nature may we have a representative attend?

The groups I mentioned above are self-appointed or appointed by a very small group, and for the most part are not from the community that they allegedly represent. They should not be in any way considered as represntatives or spokepersons for the Midland County comunity, for they DO NOT.

Their concerns on safety has already been addressed and their statements on economics are short ranged, inaccurate and in some cases absurd. ,

1 The County of Midland, the State of Michigan, and in fact, the United States l

cannot afford to allow a small but vocal group to continue to interfere with the well being of their great Country. ,

1 Sincerely, MIDLAND COUNTY ECON ICDEVELOPMENTCORPbRATION l ROBERT B CHATTERTON President RBC/sm 300 Rodd Street Ididland, Michigan 48G40 Phone 517/839 0340 FC05:10367 840430 PDR ADOCK 05000329 H PDR

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. Mein. ....g Le excerpted from severa1 sources,

-s *f..*M t. . "'T ". .' .h. % v sAg3y small handful of scientists Whd have been trying to a-Be Electronic Ns? in

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. and provides supporting views f.or the articlein thisissue . frighten the public about the dangers of. radiation. effort Dy l

" of the PEl lndustry Forurr,,'." Safety and.the Energy ln- "Joumalists frequently make implicit judgments on . ,contractoy

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issues " he said, " treating them like political or social issues on which everyone is entitled to an opinion.

. Membeq PEERshou.

I Twe'nty fiv'e Co0ntries now'p'r dd'uce nuctear generated ' 2 They do not recognize that a sdentific consensusis based .ID9 Inform

' electricity. Ten more plan to do so by the end of.the

' on vast amounts of data, technloues and experience, and r . h . e. -

• decade.The intemational growth of this energy source is normally agreed upon by over 90 percent of those .ce, ,@; o

. raises Questions about wnat,if anything, America stands ' possessing these. The public wants and is entitled to be . p r.g - -

to lose if it falls behindJn nuclear energy development. - Informed of the scientific consensus,(but instead it gets 7- 3

.. .' America helped ploneer the technology of the wor 10's the opinions of joumalists.'.W.*p m :r.O 87 n a ~~ m

-nudear

• plants. Nudear generated electricity in the U.S. * "Are the estimated dangers of' radiation larger now . .

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grew to a record 283 billion idlowatt-hours last yea. - ' tnan they were 10 years ago ? The scientific consensus is a . ..  :

dose'to 13 percent of the nation's total electricity pro- resounding 'no', but the media have fold the public that ,p .

' duction. Eighty-four plants are noit licensed to operate ' , it is 'yes' Note that this is a strictly SClentific-Question, across tne country, and 56 more are being built. in terms with,no.foontfor por.ltical considerations Cohen said... w

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of total nudear electric generating capacity, America re ' - , in conclusion, Cohen s2id that these failures.cf jour- M

. 'mains numoer one.w .: ".w.-u w.M m'> "-

nalism are costing our nation thousands of unnecessary '. v ..,e* t

But since 1978, America has undergone a time of na- deaths and wasting billionscot. dollars every year. 4.t w;/

. tional hes!tation. For five years now, no new nuclear Moreover, they have Quadrupled the InflatlorKorrected a b . . power plants have been ordered in the U.S. During this cost of new electric power in the U.S. making it twice as 7 What 00_

, same period, there have been orders for at least 40 such expensive as in Europe or Japan. "We can only surmise a use for?

< plants in other parts of the world, even with the global ing to get

' economic slump. France, tne Soviet Union, and Japan are wnat economic havoc this will wreak in the next few NSPE/PEl; decades," he added. .

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• among the many countries committed to nuttear elec- Will we have to play a costly game of catch-up in the cessful In

' tricity as an economic, secure alternative to oll-fired and competition ahead? America runs the risk of doing just. committe

' ' coal-fired power, as reported by the U.S. Committee for

' that - If they ignore the growing intemational reliance. _. contact th Energy Awareness. ~ ) r # ~ '" ' ~

on nuclear energy, and the reason behind the growth. dinate ths The national hesitation that presently exists is due, ac- The National Academy of Sciences has stated that" coal Theidea =

,' cording to.Bemard L Cohen, professor of physics at the . and nudear power are the only economic alternativen Board of C University of Pittsburgh and author of Sefore it's Too for largescale appilcation in the remainder of this cery " and attrac e- Late: A Scienust's. Case for Nuclear Energy, to an tury." Nudear generated electridty is a secure, depend. - being for.

> . American pub!!c.which,has been badly misinformed. able, economic energy source for mil;lons of people in match.JBQ

.f "As a consequence of this misinformation," Cohen many countries. And they plan to use more of it in the ment. -

' states, "we are spending hundreds of millions of dollars ' years to come. . -

. . . The clea

per life saved by protecting people from radiation, while

• The accident at Three Mlle Island prompted reforms in . lege comr,

' we are disdaining to spend one thousandth of tnat safety, nuclear regulation, and plant operations. Besides not affort

-: amount to protect people from disease, automoblie ac- plant safety, another big contem has been nuclear but in ma cidents and other common dangers." ' waste. Animportant step toward solving the waste prob. have acce it has been found that more than 80 percent of the lem is the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 which directs , vantages :

public believes that nudear power is more dangerous the Federal gov?mment to begin the process leading to - The cor tnan its principal competitor, coal buming, which is the permanent 04500531 of high4evel nuclear waste, in before the typically estimated to ki!! 10,000 Americans each year deep geologic formations t* tat have been staDie for chairman with its air pollution - some studies estimate 50,000. millions of years. These permanent repositories will be put from i Cohen finds this a tragic situation, unnecessarily killing almost twice as deep as the Empire State Building !$ high. t!on, cont thousands of peoD1e and wasting bt!Ilons of dollars every The geologic disposal method has been jur1ged the safest Beckley, E

• year and is primarily brought about due to overcoverage by mPny govemments and scientific bodies. They agree , s. .

by the American public's source of nuclear Information that .epositories deep underground can isolate the *

- the media telectronic, print and Joumalismlr

~ A Morethan100accidentsinvolvingtransportof radioat-

' 7ttve material have received nadonal media coverage in.** double its nudear capacity by 1990. Japanese companies J . If ,

' f the past few decades, but the radiation exposure in all of waste permanently. ......e...J.  :

Japan now operates 25 nudear units, and expects to

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• them combined has less than a or.e percent chance of

' causing even a single deattt There was tremendous are busy designing their own advanced reactors, and thus gaining the edge in nudear energy technology. 0 ' ' .g., ?,';'.;f This country has a lot more ol!' natural gas, and coal

• coverage of the Three Mlle Island (TMD accident atthough than either France or Japan. But 011 supplies are uncer-

' all Investigations have concluded that there was never tain. Natural gas is more valuable for other uses than for* I-fjM N.~

any significant danger to.the pub!!C- the media st!!I buming in power plants. And coal, though essential s t As part -

' haven't transmitted that message and continue to imply can't be ' expected to do the job;in many countries'"duringthe

. . tnat TMLwaiJ near miss off disaster.9 77. . ..- throughout the world, nuclear poweris now supplying a . ' of July 9, ;

Another joumallstic falilng, according to Cohen, is in substantial share of the electricity that people consume. Vemon,th not trying to help the public understand the dangers of By 1985, over half of France's electricity WUI be nudear- of Monday radiation. "The best way to do this, always used by scien _ generated.The cost of producing a nuclear kilowatt hour

• Busses ar tlsts in tTylng to enlighten the public/* he said,"Is to com- in France is 25 percent cheaper than with coal and 55 per. A00 p.m:, -

pare the factation being reported with the much higher cent cheaper than with oll. it takes only six years of so to non at 5:3(

radiation doses we all receive from natural sources of get a nuclear plant built there. United Kingdom, and cruise ship medica! X rays." The radiation due to an accident in a West Germany all generate a greater share of their elec- depart the Rochester, New York nuclear plant last year was a leading tricity from nuclear power plants than the 11.5. ner and a national news story for two days, but with all that The view of a scientist and the U.S. Committee for retum trl5 Coverage the public never was told that no one got as Energy Awareness raise the Questjon, due to misinforma- Channel 0-much radiat!on as he gets every cay from natural sources. - tion and national hesitation: 'What does America stand about 9:0C i .f Cohen believes that journaftsm'is Consulting only a. to lose if it falls behind in nuclear energy development?" Y trip back t

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