ML20090H636

Response to Commission 840601 Order Requesting Comments on Whether Commission Should Lift Immediate Effectiveness of 790702 Shutdown Order.Order Should Not Be Lifted

ML20090H636
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	07/25/1984
From:	Au T, Woelfling M PENNSYLVANIA, COMMONWEALTH OF
To:	NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
Shared Package
ML20090H631	List: ML20090H627 ML20090H636
References
SP, NUDOCS 8407260490
Download: ML20090H636 (5)

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UNITED STATES OF N4 ERICA NUCLEAR REI3UIATORY COMMISSION 00txITE~

BEFORE ' HIE COMMISSION

'84 JJL 26 A9 51 In the letter of  :

ME'IROPOLITAN EDISON CCNPANY,  : ck.p(3 ld.

Ibcket No. 50-289'SP

('Ihree Mile Island Nuclear  : (Restart)

Station, thit No.1)  :

COMM0tMEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA'S ADDITIOfAL COMMENTS ON TILE COMMISSION'S WDER DATED JUNE 1,1984 By order dated June 1,1984, the Commission requested the parties to i

this proceeding to file comments on W1 ether the Commission should lift the immediate effectiveness of its July 2,1979 shutdown order. thder the terms of the Commission's order issued August 9,1979, certain "short-term" actions ruluired to protect the public health and safety were required to be canpleted prior to lifting the imediate effectiveness of the shutdown order.1 On June 15, 1984, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania filed initial canments, opposirg lif ting the imediate effectiveness of the shutdown order, and expressed its Intent to file additional comments on or before the Commission's deadline.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania continues to opp)se liftirg the immediate effectiveness order mtil a thorough review has been condteted by the Commission and its Boards of several important outstanding issues related to restart auttorization.

1 On July 17, 1984, the NRC staff notified the Atomic Safety arx3 Licensiry Board that not all of the short-term actions required by the Canmission's order of August 9,.1979 had been canpleted. Anorg - the itans that have not yet been canpleted is the approval by FEMA and the NRC of emergency preparedness commmications drills.

8407260490 840725 PDR ADOCK 05000289 Q PDR

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Five years ago, the Commission determined that the public inter 2st required that 'IMI-1 remain shut down until hearirgs were held to resolve safety concerns. CL1 79-4,10 NRC 141 (1979) . Despite five years of intermittent hearings, and great expenditure of resources by the NRC staff, the Canmonwealth, and other parties, these concerns remain unsatisfied. 'Ihe public interest requires that all critical safety issues be resolved prior to 'IMI-1 restart, including the following major issues that are of vital interest to the Commonwealth:

1. 'IMI-2 [eak Pate Falsification.

A former 'INI-2 licensed operator, Harold Hartman, has alleged willful

. falsification of leak rate testiry at 'IMI-2 prior to the 'IMI-2 accident. Almost a year ago, the Atomic Safety and Licensirg Appeals Board ordered the hearirgs to be re-opened concerning the Hartman allegations. ALAB-738, 18 NRC 183-92.

These hearirgs were stayed by order of the Commission on October 7,1983, apparently at the request of the Department of Justice. (See Transcript of Commission meetirg, January 10, 1984). Since criminal proceedings involving these allegations have been concluded by virtue of Metropolitan Edison's guilty plea, there is no valid reason for either continuirg the stay or delaying ,

re-opening the hearirgs concerning the 'IMI-2 leak rate testirg. A fmdamental question has yet to be answered in a public forum: 41 ether the deliberate manipulation of leak rate tests at 'IMI-2 was directed or condoned by any members s

of the current 'IMI-1 management. A review of the transcript of the Court heariry of February 28, 1984 indicates a decision at 'IMI-2 to manipulate 'IMI-2 I

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leak rate tests arri to hide mfavorable test results from the NRC. (Statement of Prosecutor, Court Transcript, February 28, -1984, at 21-35) .2 Uhtil hearirgs are held by the Atomic Safety and Licensity Board, neither the Commission nor the public will be able to determine the full extent of involvement by the current management in this serious wrorgdoing.

2. The 'IMI-1 Isak Rate Testirs Program.

In its recent management phase decision, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Board granted a Motion to Re-Open the hearity to examino allegations of falsification of leak rate test data at Unit 1. ALAB-772, decided May 24, 1984. At the time of its decision, the Board had before it the recently released Office of Investigation report concernirg Unit 1 leak rate tests (No. 1-83-028). Although the Office of Investigation report did not specifically conclude that there was systematic falsification of the leak rate tests at 'IMI-1, the Board concluded that the report does not disp 3se of all the concerns related to leak rate testing. At the minimum, the Board concluded, the investigation report should be the subject of an adjudicatory hearirg, where testimony and facts can be scrutinized. AIAB-772, at 149-155. An adjudicatory 2 'Ihe NRC staff investigation on the llartman allegations, released on July 13,

1984, does not resolve the question of responsibility for this central issue 4

and raises additional issues.

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' decision on this matter before rescinding the shutdown order is essential to give the'Comonwealth adequate assurances that INI-1 can be' safely operated.3 CONCLUSION The Commission should not depart from the course that it laid out in 1979 - to provide adjudicatory hearings concerning all significant safety issues

- simply because the course has been a hard one and because it may have delayed restart of INI-1. Information critical to the safety of INI-1 has developed over the past five years through the adjudicatory process - complete with discovery, cross-examination, and the fbil presentation of testimony by the affected parties. In order to maintain public confidence, this basic process must be continued until it can be conclusively established that restart of Unit 1 will not jeopardize the public health and safety. The interests of public health and safety far outweigh the short-term benefit that can be gained by an ill-considered decision.

For these reasons, and for the reasons set forth in its initial com-ments of June 15, 1984, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania opposes any plan by the Commission to vote to authorize restart of Unit 1 at t'his time, and requests 3 The Commonwealth wishes to reiterate its position, set forth in Governor Thornburgh's June 2,1983 letter to the Commission, that any action by the Commission to allow restart of Unit 1 must be preceded by adequate assuran-

• ces that Unit 1 can be operated safely. .Among the matters in which the Commonwealth may need assurances are questions surrounding GPU's handling of the Keaten Report. The Keaten Task Force was formed by GPU in 1979 to investigate facts leading to the INI-2 accident. The NRC Office of Investigations conducted a detailed inquiry into whether upper level manage-ment improperly influenced the drafting of the Keaten Task Force Report.-

The results of the investigation are contained in seven volumes of docu-ments, numbering several thousand pages. . At this time, the Comonwealth simply has not had the time to digest the information available, or to form any conclusions concerning the allegations. The Commonwealth does not wish to prejudge the matter but reserves the right to raise issues arising from the Keaten Report later in this proceeding.

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that the Commission postpone any vote to authorize restart until the short-term i

conditions set forth in the August 9,1979 order of- the Commission have been resolved satisfactorily.

Respectfully sutmitted, FOR 'IEE COMMONWEALTil OF PENNSYLVANIA 7W W&

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MAXINE WOELFLING f 6 Assistant Counsel On e,. , //. -

TlimAS Y. AU /

Assistant Counsel Department of Environnental Resources Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 514 Executive liouse, P.O. Box 2357 liarrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120 (717) 787-7060 .

OF COUNSEL:-

TiiWAS D. REES Deputy General Counsel Office of General Counsel Commonwealth of Pennsylvania P.O. Box 1128 Ilarrisburg, Pennsylvania 17108 (717) 783-6563 DATED: July 25, 1984