ML20094N003

Georgians Against Nuclear Energy Addl Contention That Georgia Tech Is Unable to Provide Security for Georgia Tech Research Reactors & Facility License Renewal Should Be Denied.* Requests NRC Cease Operations.W/Certificate of Svc

ML20094N003
Person / Time
Site:	Neely Research Reactor
Issue date:	11/10/1995
From:	Carroll G GEORGIANS AGAINST NUCLEAR ENERGY
To:	Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
References
CON-#495-17294 95-704-01-REN, 95-704-1-REN, REN, NUDOCS 9511270325
Download: ML20094N003 (4)

Text

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,- '/772BfC/ 9 DOCKETED UNITED STATES OF AMERICA USHRC ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING _ BOARD 125 . NOV 14 P6 :20  ;

, Before Administrative Judges:  !

OFFICE OF EECRETARY 00CKETING & SERVICE Charles Bechhoefer, Chairman BRANCII Dr. Jerry R. Kline Dr. Peter.S. Lam ,

Docket No. 50-160-Ren I In the Matter of

• ASLBP No. 95-704-01-Ren  !

GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH REACTOR Atlanta, Georgia Facility License No. R-97 j

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i l GEORGIANS AGAINST NUCLTAR ENERGY '

ADDITIONAL CONTENTION i THAT GEORGIA TECH IS UNABLE TO PROVIDE SECURITY FOR THE GEORGIA TECH l RESEARCH REACTOR AND FACILITY LICENSE RENEWAL SHOULD BE DENTED j Georgians Against Nuclear Energy (GANE) respectfully petitions the l Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to accept this new contention concerning Georgia Tech's request to renew its operating license for the Neely Nuclear Reactor Center through the year 2015.

New information is available concerning the inability of reactor I personnel and Georgia Tech University to provide security from sabotage or terrorism.

l GANE contends that the Neelv Nuclear Research Facility is unsafe to the public because of inadequate security systems. Neely Reactor Research Center security is grossly inadequate. The reactor building may be accessed directly from the outside, no personnel are assigned to the building outside of normal business hours. Essentially, the entirc security system consists of a chain-link fence with some barbed wire on top. Wire-cutters or amateur fence-climbing would be sufficient to breach the fence (Glenn Carroll, eyewitness, "A Current 9511270325 951110 0 PDR ADOCK 05000160 G PDR

4 Affair" TV-crew).

The presence of the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 creates a specific situation which has historically attracted terrorist activity and threats. The reactor uses highly enriched uranium as fuel. During refueling this bomb-grade uranium fuel is a tempting target for terrorists. The presence of fissionable and highly radioactive fission byproducts at the. reactor (250,000 curies of cobalt-60 and heavy water for example), make the reactor facility not only a tempting target for theft of bomb-grade or hazardous materials, but a target for a World Trade Center- or Oklahoma City-type bombing which would not only '

injure residents and visitors to Atlanta, but create an international  ;

diplomatic disaster for the United States.

The reactor roof is nothing but 7/16" thick steel sheet-metal (S AR, p.44, Fig. 4-8).and would easily be breached by a rocket-launcher or hand-thrown grenade. The adjacent research facility is an ordinary brick building with 250,000 curies of cobalt-60 kept in a shielding pool next to wall which is on Atlantic Drive directly across from where 8th Street plunges into it. A roll-away truck would break through the wall and land in the pool spreading radiation into the environment. The Atlanta news has carried two reports in the past year of unrecovered stolen fertilizer of the type used in the Oklahoma City bombing. A casually dropped book-bag or baby buggy full of explosives could breach the poorly shielded facility spreading radiation into the environment. There are no security cameras to detect entry through the roof.

In early October, 1995, a TV crew from Fox Network's "A Current Affair" wandered freely around the reactor facility (see attached newspaper article). The crew scaled the barbed-wire security fence and wandered around the site and climbed on the roof in broad daylight.

The TV show is scheduled to air November 15 and that story will be more fully revealed then. Neither reactor nor campus security personnel knew of the security breach until the TV crew (which fortunately had no harmful intentions) showed them camera footage of the exploit. Additionally, Georgia Tech failed to properly notify the NRC of the situation upon learning of it.

The Olympics creates a situation where the Tech reactor is likely to attract increased attention from terrorists, but GANE submits that both Georgia Tech and reactor personnel are unable to secure the facility against even the simplest of intrusion efforts. To protect the public health the NRC must immediately order operations to cease at Neely Nuclear Center and deny a license for further operation.

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' Security should be immediately increased ~and the process of removing.

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l the various radioactive isotopes should commence now. -!

GANE willl submit a videotape of the "A CurrentfAffair" story to the. -

service. list when it'becomes available, f i

Respectfully submitted, l~ i l

e-s enn Carroll  ;

( Representative for GANE {

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I-j Dated.and signed November 10, 1995 l in Decatur, Georgia  !

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I Securityviolated near Tech reactor N CMera CTCW CNS The TV crew breached no secure run the reactor for another 20 years.

zones, said James M. Langley, Tech s NRC officials, who investigated the fence at researCh Center vice president for externai afrairs. The incio,,,131, ,,,x, ,,i, , ,,,11 ,1,,,,

crew did walk up to the zones, but, be- assessment shows thr.t the TV crew en-cause of locked doors, had no access to By Charles Seabrook tered no " controlled areas," and no ra-STAFF WRfTER

. dioactive material was affected. The re-However, he acknowledged the TV actor contains less than 11 pounds of A two-person camera cre,v from a crew's unannounced ramblings "have bomb-grade uranium.

nationally syndicated news show the appearance of [ uncontrolled] access The 5 million-watt reactor is a few roamed uninvited and unchallenged in to the facility; and we recognize that we blocks from the Olympic Village, where a

the building that houses Georgia Tech's fgc conc m " safe facility and allay pub- of athletes will be housed dur-thousands nuclear reactor, raising concerns about Those concerns were heightened this ing the Olymptes.

security at the facility.

'ye'ar when a citizens antinuclear group, Tech officials said the reactor will be Tech officials said they are embar- Georgians Against Nuclear Energy shut down this month and its bomb-rassed over the incident last week, in (GANE), told the federal Nuclear Regu. grade fuel removed. The reactor will which a reporter and cameraman from latory Commission that security at the stay idle until after the Olympics. When the tabloid news show "A Current Af ' 30-year-old reactor is inadequate 'and it is re-started,it will be fueled by a low-fair" stimiled down hallways of the Neely ' the facility's bomb-grade uranium could er grade of uram,um.

-Nuclear Research Center and climbed a become a tempting target for terrorists WheelerJackson,an assignment edi-fence around the building. The building during next summer's Olympics in At. tor for Fox television's "A Current Af-houses Tech's 30-year-old reactor in the lanta. GANE has demanded that the fair," said the piece on Tech security middle of the downtown campus, commis'sion deny Tech a new license to will be aired this month.

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00CKETED ,

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE - Docket No. (s) 50-160-REN USHRC .

Secretary _ .. h U.S. Nuclear Regulatory' Commission 95' NOV 14 P6 :21 i Docketing and Service Branch i Washington, DC 20555  !

0FFICE OF EECRETARY.  !

Office of' Commission Appellate Adjudication DOCKETlHG & CERVICE j U.S. Nuclear Regulatory-Commission BRANCH  ;

. Washington, DC:20555 -

Admiriistrative Judge '!

l I Charles Bechhoefer, Chairman l Atomic Safety and Licensing Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555 i

Administrative Judge Peter S. Lam  !

Atomic Safety and Licensing Board  ;

i U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission f i

Washington, DC 20555 ,

Administrative Judge Jerry R. Kline i Atomic Safety and Licensing Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission i Washington, DC 20555 Sherwin E. Turk, Esq.

-Susan S. Chikadel, Esq.

Office of the General' Counsel

.U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555

-Mr. Randy A. Nordin l

Manager - Legal Division l Georgia Tech

!_ Atlanta, GA 30332-0420 E. Gail Gunnells Office of Contract Administration Georgia Tech Atlanta, GA 30332-0420 ,

Ms Pamela Blockey O'Brien D23 Golden Valley Douglasville, GA 30134

< Ms. Patricia Guilday, Esq.

! Assistant' Attorney General 4 40 Capitol Square NW Atlanta, GA 30334-1300

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