ML20091R904

Protests Any Early Restart Decision Until Federal Grand Juries Conclude Investigations.Articles Opposing Restart Encl

ML20091R904
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	06/12/1984
From:	Beverly Smith PENNSYLVANIA, COMMONWEALTH OF
To:	Palladino N NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
References
NUDOCS 8406150332
Download: ML20091R904 (4)

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June 12, 1984 Nunzio Palladino, Commissioner "'"m Nuclear Regulatory Commission C.E '*

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1717H Street, Northwest Washington, D.C. 20555

Dear Commissioner Palladino:

I strongly protest any restart decision before the entire truth is learned. Under no circumstances should a decision be made before the federal grand juries have concluded their investigations. The first grand jury investigation resulted in a guilty plea by Metropolitan Edison; the on going investigations may result in Aven more devastating charges.

A decision without this information would be inconsistent, erroneous and unfair to the residents of Central Pennsylvania.

In addition, I am quite troubled by the unresolved management questions.

In my opinion, the management competence end ' management integrity must be addressed before any restart decision is made. Furthermore, a Licensing Appeal Board recently voted to hold additional hearings on operator training before making a decision on Three Mile Island aanagement. The Licensing Board has not yet held those necessary hearings and cannot possibly make a recommendation at this time.

A June restart decision would be the ultimate insult to residents who live near Three Mile Island. Such an insult is not the confidence-builder that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission needs at this time. Confidence is developed through trust - not haste., I am encioning recent edi*orials from Harrisburg, York and Philadelphia newspapers. Each is self-explanatory.

Please deliberate carefully, slowly and honestly. Do not choose an artificial deadline. On the contrary, select a date that is compatible with a fair, fully informed decision.

Sincerely, ,

Bruce Smith BStkat ,

Enclosures .

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How can NRC vote on TMIrestan?pgs he Nuclear RegulatopCorrimi:sfon has sig!

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And s'ome persons implicated'in_ cheating Nn'I'>

T naled  : hat it's ready to vote June 27 restart'of theundamaged reactoratThree -

• on the' . tests remain + ' ' -

st in MileIsland. That's amazing. 1, .

- . The U.S. Just!ce Department is investigating al- i Amazing because the commissio6 will have to ' legations of enminal misconduct by the managers,.9 Ignore issues that haven't yet been resolved! .of TMI.The charge: Include making false state. g ..

O Some safety modifications have yet to be " ": ments to the NRC about cheating on tests for reac. .

,yg.sDy g made to the undamaged reactor.  !.+'n tor opuntors The modifications have been deemed necessary ., On top of thh,a'federalappea,f.gy ls board sid! . g Q

'topr:ventthesamekindof accidentthatoccurred , Ws@monMaMn thanenousMence, .

In th e reactor that was damas'e d in the infamous todecidewhetherthemanagersofTMlwere + g, ,

accident of March 28 1979"

'. <. . competent. Y . * . 1, ,

' ,b . ,,4, 4 The NRC has told the owneIofbl,Ineral ' With all these unresolved issues, how in the ~ ,

Public Utilities Corp., to make the modifications. , .world can the NRC :say q-y. tha

' g,,j, But thentheNRCsaidsomeof themodifica . - three weeks on restart? ,.

tions may be made after the undamaged reactor is.

• The NRC wsaid it ' ants to make y ad i returned to service. - ~ .. . . start before the term of one of the commissioners,  ;

I One member of the commission, James' -

. Victor Oilinsky, ends on June 30.

• Asselstine, said as fate as last month that he wants e,:The issue of the safe opsation of TMils m' ore ;J.

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the NRC to wait'for the conclusion of hearings on 'important to the people of this ares than havirh'~

the safety'of controversla! repairs made to the .P vote forced through the NRC before Oilinsky n.W w

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' reactor. ' .e ', . - . - */. 3,1 ;%,'*J. MJ '

Even if all the modifications'wer' e made, some *' '*Juds'in's bTtM record slNikve, there is simit I of the same people who managed and operated the ' ply no way'the NRC can vote on restart withost Igi l

damaged reactor would be managing and opernt. .

• noring the questions about the safety andliealth of'T ing the undanissed reactor.' M *

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June 7, 1984

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Edwin F. Russell -

l kQ Raymond L. Gover , PRES! DENT ,.y, 3 55ufKohler ~  !

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., ., 3,y9 TRANSCRIPTS of cloNd meetings held .off the crj$1nal SE!!ctment obMI-owner by'the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Metropolitan Edison . (1.e., General yPublic .

Three Mile Island are instructive in what Utilities) as just another non technical matter .

they reveal about the views of individual. whose consequence and releyance'it' could ,

commissioners on holding local public hear- Ignore. .. a .

P. ' 3 4T -

Ings on TMI and the impact of the Indictment . At least four of the commissioners indi-of the owners of TM(In ai broader context cated - in what had been closed discussions they provide a look at the semi private :.until the Ph!!adelphia Inquirer won a court t thoughts of the commissioners as they wres . . order making transcripts of the meetings tle with one of the most difficult decisions the pub 1!: - that a convi' ction on just one count NRC has ever had to make. ~ P. a 'of the indletment charging GPU with falsify'.

NRC Chairman Nunzio Palladino, former- ing water leak rate: records in ~ 1978 79 it -

! ly head of Penn State's department of nuclear ' ,, Unit 2 just before the. accident would welgh '

engineering, said "my frank opinion is and . heanly on the Unit'l restart decision.' This my deep-seated opinion is I would not want ,

was six weeks before GPU pleaded guilty to to hayp a meeting where you have a lot of one of the criminal misconduct charges on people from the public just get up and rant Feb. 28. .,

and rave." Commissioner Peter Bradford / 4/M .P thought public views were more appropriate- ,

OUT of this ste'w of technical and "un.

ly expressed before licensing boards than the tech:Ical facts, emotions and personalities is commission. Commissioner Victor G!linsky. supposed to co,me a decision on the fate of on the other hand, saw " absolutely no prob 3 Unit 1 that has been achieved by reducing a lem" with commission held hearings. .

potpourri of Ingredients down to 'a logical

• The hearing under discussion was eventu - and credible conclusion.'The NRC has a tend. ' ,,,

ally held - in November 1982 - but the ency to project the fiction that each commis. -

secret discussion reveals an inclination on the stoner will absorb the vast, record that has part of at least two of the five commissioners ' been compiled in this case and consider every to avoid hearing directly from the people nuance before arriving at a decision based whq.a. re most affected by and concerned strie:ly on technical merits. This case is'too about the decision the NRC has to make on , massive and .too complex for thatt more (m.

the restart of the undamaged reactor at TMI. ' portantly, it is too important a, case to'be Theironyof thiskindof thinkingisthatif the . decided as if Unit I can be detached from its E:

NRC had demonstrated the patience and will. surroundings and viewed without consider.

Ingness to listen to the gripes of the public 'ing an uncertain cleanup at the damaged, from the very start of the restart proceedings reac:or, corporate misbehavior and responsl.

It would enjoy considerably more credibility , bl!!ty, and the general lacic of local cpnfl-

.with the public today than it does. '

. desce in GPU and the NRC. . i

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• The transcripts of the closed commission ONE of the primary devices used to keep mee.ings on TM1 do not reveal anything star-

[ the public at a distance from the commission tilng but they do make it clear that the so.

and active participation in the restart pro, called non.technicallasues weigh he l ceedings has been to shroud the entire pro- the minds of the commissioners as they '

cess in the cloak of technicality. But however shodd. Intellectual integrity and, peace of much it may try to operate within a cocoon mind would seem to require that the commis-

!solated'from the influences of the outside sion's once private doubts be reflected in its world, the commission could notBulte _ write _ o. -

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June 1, 1984 . '.- I e .,V. ..; 7 '

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NW 1- Edwin F. Russell

/*fM.k ; 'Raymond L. Gover j PRESIDENT . ,, tSaulKohler ; .y 4-e PUBLISHER *- *

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. IT HAS long been one of the curiosities of 'THE NRC also is increasingly concerned the Three Mlle Island episode that since the [' .and dismayed that fund a'cc.ident more than five years ago the Nucle .. which is ample for this year, will be consider-

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ar, Regulatory Commission has paid more at- . ably less than adequate in 1985. Palladino, tention to putting the undamaged Unit 1 back who has urged the ut!!!ty industry to support in. service than cleaning up the radioactive the voluntary TMI . cleanup fund at .every op-contamination of Unit 2. This ranking of portunity, and the other commissioners may prioritles never made any sense and we . well sense that their approval of restart is would submit that it has had the unfortunate likely to remove any remaining incentive for effect of prolonging the cleanup, as well as ut!!!tles to contribute to the fund. Thus far,.

t!)e' decision on restart, and generally adding .383 million~has been promised - though by to the frustration that almost everyone feels ', .no means ce tain'- but pledges must exceed about this whole business. ; ; . -W .V .

5 3100 million before one dollar, will be paid.

' N.'Yhis~ absurd sense of prioritles' seems to toward cleanup. . . .-W ; 'j:: e-have spawned some misgivings among .at eIt.ls doubtful that there)is a inde3lu least a few members of the commission as it (crous spectacle in the United States today moves ever closer to making a decision on . . than this one which seeks to substitute charl-restart. On Wednesday, NRC Chairman Nun. .ty and volunteerism for the responsibility zio'.Palladino directed staff attorneys to and leadership that the cleanup of a contaml-

. determine the agency's authority to order .; nated nuclearplant requiresand the peopleof .

TMI owner GPU Nuclear Corp. to adhere to a 4 . Central Pennsylvania have a right to expect.

schedule for the cgennup. - rThe system of protection against the dangers of nuclear plants has failed us tWice; first,in E

' 7This move gives everyindication of being permitting the accident and second. in its in-too little, too late but it does possess the sin- ability to address and respond to the inesca '

gular attribute of at long last pointing the. pable necessity of a cleanup.

NRC in the right direction. However, it .. ,.With this bo't ched iecord'6f safety and would be far more preferable !! the NRC public trust providing the legacy for nuclear acted with less timidity and ordered GPU to power in the area, it would be,,a hideous-meet a cleanup schedule, leaving the courts asssult on public sensibilities to permit re- ~

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to decide --If need be - whether the agency ,,, start without having resolved the question of had exceeded its authority or not. The com ' . cleanup. The NRC has taken a first tentative mission should be more concerned about ' step in that direction but if it doesn't act with being hauled In'o court to defend itself substantially more boldness and assertive.

against charges of laxity and negilgence in  : ness we may be debating these same quesi falling to regulre an expeditious cleanup. l ;tions five years from now. '7 i L

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!1 Honesty and integrity:

Keys tdWhe^- a TX restart i

Phila G 8Y The most critical questi6n the Nu- drec:!y involved in cheating of some clear Regulatory Commission must re- s=t c were implicated in it. Several of

! solve before it votes on allowing the th:se identified in the cheating epi.

t Unit i reactor at Three Mile Island to s:de were or are still in supervisory I

be restarted is whether those who paritions at TMI. .The supervisor of

' l would operate it are competent. Ir. operatortraining was promoted after their hands rest the health and safety hs participation in the cheating ept.

I of hundreds of thousands of people. stde had become known to TM1 man.

l' The accident at TMI was caused by ag= ment. , . - l t reactor operators who were poorly A federal grand fury sitting in Har.

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trained. carelessly supervised and lax- rnburg is investigating the cheating.

l ly regulated. As a result, TMI Unit 2 T!e grand jury reportedly also is in.

i came close to melting down, in the 've:igating whether GPU officialslied

} worst accident in the history of com- tc te NRC in a report on the accident. -

g mercial nuclear energy. Aley element in both is who in the For five years.the NRC has engaged emporate hierarchy was involved.

} , .in. Investigations and, hearings de-(

• An NRC staff investigation con.

signed to convince the public that it is egded that GPU officials barassed

. , , addressing the probl 8 ;That activity has been, ems ; seriously. g3;.ee employees who questioned the an outrageous

{ . sham.. As inquirer staff writers Jim ss'ety of the cleanup activities at Unit i Detjen and Susan FitzGerald detail on 2:n 1982 and 1983. One was director of punt engineering, another director of l  : Page One today, the NRC's dominant. a ption,

• initiative since 1979 has not.been to l make TMI safe. It has been to get the Since the accident,GPU has boasted t plant back in service - at any cost. Cts corporate housecleaning efforts.

i The NRC apparently plans to over* Bt: the top echelon of GPU remains

. looklying and cheating by GPU Nucle

• n: changed. William G. Kuhns, GPU I ar Corp., TMI's operator, when it votes bcard chainnan, and Herman M. .

' Duckamp,.GPU president, were the .

on restart on June 29. The NRC plans p:iicymakers at the time of the acci.

{ to ignore the ever. increasing body of det and they are today, t evidence that raises serious questions I about whether GPU Nuclear is compe- tese guys are Be one tent or honest enough to run a reactor. tla chate in a company,,,s who set obseme

'. l 1GC Commissioner Victor Gilinsky.

! ' Die NRC never once has deviated

' "Sey are the ones who determine *

, from its perceived duty. Its actions have not been to protect the public w:st people think they can get away '

w::h up and down the line." '

from a mismanaged and unsafe nucle-ar plant. They have been to protect the m ame b even mon true of h-gofficers and shareholders of TMIs E N five commisione h to .

rutart Unit.1 without first resolving

• owner, General Pub!!c Utilities Corp. 'the integrity and competence lasses, The attitudes and conduct that led 'tbry are saying to GPU officials-and to the accident persist today. Consider: n=ciale at every other nuclear utility

• The NRC ordered that TM! reac. it de United States - that it's just fine e

tot operators pass licensing re.examt. tc3e and cheat.There can be no other i.

• nationsin April 1981.Nine out of the 36 meaning of a decision at this point,to TMIemployees who took the tests were renra Unit 1 to service.

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