ML20092B344

FOIA Request for Correspondence Between Westinghouse & AEC Re Westinghouse Work on Saxton Experimental Reactor in Saxton,Pa Between Years of 1956 & 1974

ML20092B344
Person / Time
Site:	Saxton File:GPU Nuclear icon.png
Issue date:	06/07/1995
From:	Dekok D AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	NRC OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION (ADM)
References
FOIA-95-259 NUDOCS 9509110380
Download: ML20092B344 (3)

Text

1 o

Dand DeKok 113 Conor St.

Harrisburg.Pa 17104 June 7.1995 EBEEDOM OF INFORMAEL Division of Freedom of Information d ACIREQUEST

'^'

and Publications Services pg,;t5g Office of Administration and Resources Management Nuclear Regulatory Commission &cf d_ . [o-/ A'N Washington D.C. 20555 Ke: Freedom of Information request

Dear 5:

r or Madam:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. I would like copie.; of the following.

All correspondence in your files between Westinghouse and the Atomic Energy Commission pertaining to Westinghouse s wort on the Saxton experimental reactor in Saxton. Pa between the rears 1956 and 1979. as well as any memos. reports. etc.. directly relating to the above correspondence.

--All correspondence in your files between Pennsylvania State University officials or faculty and the Atomic Energy Commission pertaining to research carried out by Penn State faculty or students at the above-mentioned Sarton reactor between 1956 and 1974. as wen as any memos. reports. etc. directly relating to the above correspondence

--All correspondence in your files between Rutgers University officials or faculty and the Atomic Energy Commission pertaining to research carried out by Rutgers' faculty or students at the above-mentioned Saxton reactor between 1956 and 1974, as well as any memos.

reports. etc.. directly relating to the above correspondence g 91g g 9 M 07 '

DEMOK95-259 pm

-All documents in your files pertaining to Euratom research and/or training at the above-mentioned SaIton reactor between 1956 and 1974.

--All documents in your files pertaining to contract training of personnel from (1.5. electric utilities at the above-mentioned Saxton reactor between 19.56 and 1974 None of these requests is meant to pertain to documents that are already in the Public Document Room in the Saxton docket, or released to me in previous FOI A requests. Westinghouse was partners with General Public Utilities Corp. in the Saxton project and supplied the reactor that was built there. Penn State and Rutgers were junior partners in the proiect. which was known as the Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corp. Euratom. the European Atomic Energy Communitv.

conducted training and research at Saxton. and various U.S. electric utilities sent personnel there for training.

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. I also request

" Representative of the News .\ledia' status which entitles me to a waiver of search fees and 100 pages of free copying. These documents will be used in preparation of a book I am writing on the history of General Public Utilities Corp I am the author of one prior book. /hseen Banger .-l Tragedi o/

People. Gos ernment anJ the CentrJlia .lhNe fNe i1 was pUbIished in 1986 by the University of Pennsylvania Press. A copy of a review of my first book in the New Yort Times is enclosed Thank you for your attention to this request Sincerely ~

'O

& J(,% .cjff w DEiiTDeKbk l

p s This will hopef ully be the last F01 A request f rom me f or awhile l l

i i

I

b I

I I

r I

i l

i e -

ear .wr

! P EljeNewgorkEimes g Tst >4

~

Li BookReview

~

e I

ww RgR

<e .

s_, , r n.e ,w. t_.

.d

_s. re_w.d .y

. .. - ss Robert Pasesky Page 3 e

~

Hell's Upper Story l

um asaur ** * *

=* ,

' UN5EN DANGER y A Tragedy of People, Government, n, .4

]

esid she fentraise Msne Fire e

<= hi h& N

By Daved DeKoh O 4 Hlustrated 299pp Phdudelphie j-Umversav ef pe*visylvanna Press '

,l Cloth.379 FS Paper $17 F5 ,-

h(. , a .,

j / ),

SLOW BURN l A Phr tuskarnenesit of Centrolse. Pennsylvania Text and photographs Dv penee Jocens

\

i mpp Phdadelpha

' Umwersofy of Pennsylvenao Prens Paper,824 95 ,

I4

.4.*

' By hen A. Franklm Jn Chresses Koget a hasne sa igeJ e seiecftene moeutora certost assunosede esmsssests frene she maderground marie fire an Centraha Pa PhotorrepA s from Stew surst -

l 44 OU see surrtnanded by all the tremendous g forces of nature, strainmg agamst your of --

water ran hot from die cold faucets Itoads were made g fort teestract th a cost 50 you are m a tun- By pow, att but stumt 60 of Centraba s 600*dd smpensable by smog A fdhng stauon's gasoluw tanks a tenual struggle fusture e out to prmwt H.s Imsumes have t een rased More than 300 peopW have were pumped dry to keep thena from aspiudmg. And m j been rekarated et Governenent esponsie in a program 19s1 the ground gave way tietiesth a 13-year 4Nd boy.

ressursee and you ate there. wegethng the bowels out of thei come fa# estore shast the efforts, now etsurteA to fight

one thing to yee are we etsnesom aanaer en e enel mme " who was swallowed into the mane pd As he dangned the fire m the 1970 s Rehw aessn fnoney was wrtarsg from from a headhold on a tree ruut, his red cap was aputted htany urban Amernans may vwe the casi holds of j w eshanBion only thrnugh me prolunged agony of geses- through the fufnet and steam. He was yanked back Appalachia as lethal and temote lhe riots of rnamns tuuss positical accrvesen And other Pennsylvama towns j maal tandergruund are well enough known But what from hell Centreha was not.

went teenaid a the enequent test 6muny sheve. given by a may be next Througreaut the regsun. Mr DrMot wrties Unang unpubhehad daruments etnaened under me l assier as a Congressamal committee a generstem ago m " Unseen Danger." "the pimential for new mee fires Freedom of informatwm Act, Mr DeKuk a cuses offe-J

-- and what these angry tmeias demanstrate snew that is as great as ever

• stais of pansms the buck and of cynicalindtfference to j in me isso's wtien Centraba s houses began fdhng Government sedi hads ways to overtauk - se that the the pergae of Centrahs Former Secretary of the li>

with 6ethat fumes, the inferior Deperiment supphed terwr James G. Wan is quoted as saying in lett, the l perus of me subierranean battle for cual between man munwore that detected mean The underground mee

'1 ame esture estand upward to the surtect 19e year of the Centralia mes fire,"There la not a.

The United Etates Beresu el Mines reported a ll?9 hre spread Some residents were unm ked unconscious threst to health and safety (The firel goes down deep-

} by the nonunas gases that rose to the surface Wmdues the deeper it burns, the less rtsk there is to safety j (and has seed httle en the subtect ennce) that more than had to be kept open durma me omser, and snow melted F ventually a odl burn out.*

3 mtlhost peuple la 19 states == 80 percent of them in 4 Pennsylvanas - were suffering damage to health and on the steemmg ground in ketchens arid bathrtems. But there are enough bureaucretec vdlains here to

( . . .

' property froen nume 290 uncontretaed fires in then- , , . . .

e fdl a Dickens novel. Mr DeKok deact1bes Richard L dunod und*rlesund cost menes and surface culm (cual ' Thornburgh me former stepubhcan Gn=ernor of Penn-waste) benkt. e nutnher of what h have been burnmg for M , sylvema, as twing evasave stunn the Centrahe fire The

"b-years *Particularly durms the first half of thes can. Governo.r's mpp. e,e prederesects, inierne. d. anim.wuham Scranton saya. aions e,m a and Mdion a ,

g tury." she bureau said then,, r.oel mmme.wa,s "wruen.

,i.s,.d w,dioui tmi,s t- in g ai. s ia and e.,v,  % .

large cast af lesser state and F ederal offmans - peruc-3 runmental maight " But es " Unseen Danger" and "5kiw ularte tdr. Scranton's bec recary of Mmes and Mineral j Buru"' show. the bureau's self-satished enferenre that g ,@f ladust see, a professor of msnma enameering named H

Beec'er Charmbury j thangs were gettmg better e me second half of the cen- - N tury was premature pubhc retaimma la Lhese books. David DeKok. a regwrter edh The  %- $ -

1I

• Slow Bursi? the galnery of start wort.s j g[

4 - '

/s[ _g : b feews-liesa en Shameken. Pa , and Itenee Jacoba, a tese- Progress Adminsstretsun-style photographs by j lante phnsugraphet. Provide postmortems on the slow

1. 4 de

- . Renee Jecebs purtrsys with poignancy a Welsh.

v 8

abreth of the Intle Pennsylvsma town of Centraha.125 mdes northwest af Phdadelphaa This vdlage of 1.000

/j . '5/' ./ y trtsh and slavic Romas Catholst communwy as W once was, passed a stubborn bewilderment. Desc rebeng

{

souls in the depreses4 largely menedout hard cool fe- ,

the heidreds of deep bore holes, drdled during the

( years of futile efforts te track me course of the f6Fe.

i gsua known to meers as "the anthrerde* was smoked ,

end chuked for 34 years by a runaway enferno m the - Margaret 0 Kark, a freetenre writer, e a brief esurt>

l .~ ' *. ductson to the himk. wrues that the test tio6es - dug in j shamsuned mine tunnets beneath at the fore's uviam is suit officantly a mystery, although Mr Dekuk puenas uut . .

schoolyards and churchyards. m sedewalks and inter-i= that A may have twen ignated when the testi set fire to e , w . 4 secnons, and tapped ai ground newed wnh manhsgh i landsal smokestacks for on steam exhaust - seemed stuck m f e the ground *hke freshly ht cigarettes

• Ben A. Freakthk a correspondent in the nashms- n, g,,,,,,, p,y gg,, g,,,,,, y ,,,, % g 73 p ,,,, " #* * # "

j Men laureauof The teew York Times who has covered the ' e lioes hole mot senta ssenen used smote from the 'd'"'h"""*8'*"*""'"**"8""F""n' -

3 coniindustry m Appstuhis,is wriims a hisiosy af couf ,,,a,,,,oundti v h*eith J

I and cual mmma 3 (4 jdnuary 4 (W7 j 1 b

d __ .