ML20127H121
| ML20127H121 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Monticello  |
| Issue date: | 03/09/1970 |
| From: | Hatling R MINNESOTA ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL CITIZENS ASSOCIATION |
| To: | Seaborg G US ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION (AEC) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9211180401 | |
| Download: ML20127H121 (10) | |
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! Olenn T. Seators .- 4,s ,*/ . .,
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Chr.1ruca
- 1 Atocic Incrdy Consission .
1717 HE" Street hJ ' -
. ITanhancton, D.C. 20545 ,
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i Donr Dr. Scators: .
Eince the Atomic Enorcy Consission requirco a progre of public scfety toforo cranting an operatin; licenco for a r.ucitar reactor, we rust tell you thoro is no such prosre the.t cr.n protect the poopic of Itinno ota in event of n nuclocr c.ccident at itonticello. -
On the c.dvico of Governor Harold Lc7ar.'.er, we hecco discveced the entter of publi.c safety aith both tho 1:inne:ota Departnont of Civil Defenso and the l !!innesota Departnent of Health. 'to heae fcund that while the state is '
- r. ware of the bichly specialized protlens that are created by this encrsy courco, little or nothing has toen deno because of staff linitations, inadequate funds, and splittinc of retponsibilitics. Several other serious l ,
bncic inadeo,uacies utG:o that planninc has bcon done coupletely and obviously unuonabic. . - _ .
'. '1. l!o singlo authority exicts to act or dictato public nction in event
-l of r.n accident,
- b. The critical function of nonitorins o'f radiot.ctivo releases has been fallaciously aciccr.ted to the utility beenuse of lack of sts.to funds rad perconnel. (Obviously Litec one can't sec, hoar, fcci, tute, or cacil radioactivity, people arc entirely depcnient on a nonitorins l
l . cysica for asscsting the exte .t of ac'cident. Ec fe.11 to sco hott the i ctato and the Atonic 2ne ra Owziosion enn disengaso itccif frou this nonitorina responcibility. ) ;
- 3. po provicion has been m de for specific.c?ucation of the public in "i " cano of a serious radiologicM. s.ccident. A public safety procrea
- nuct obviously depend on ca 1:.for.aca public. But public education
- has been limited to making raitological trainins t.vailable through home study. The procrea can caly be called hopelecc. poopic do not Even if they did, it is doubtful they .tould voluntari' I knoit t, tout it.
attend school, even to cave their litos, then they have ncycr been to
? that any risk exicts. The public not only deco not know what to do if ovent of an accident -- they do 20t knon even that t.n accident could happen.
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1.n effoetivo educational undertekitz 'nuli teko conths and requiro
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a creat number of qualified public infomation pocple. Such c.
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--procrem not only has not yot been startel -- there are no state . . _ . . . . _ . ,
! recources for starting it. .. ,
Thero are other probless lack of emergency transportation and cimcuni- . .
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cations -- inadequate medical f acilities to handle the number of victics i of. radiological exposure -- n'ot enough doctors, curses, firenen, and -
policcaon specially trained for radiolosical yaccidents.
/Ferhaps the most serious catter that creo up in our discussions' htA to do
,. with ove.cuation. Both stato departmonts at this timo appost to be rosicned J to tho fact that it would to an impocsible task to evacuato the area.
! Heither is there any cortainty that shelters nould providt an offoetivo scans of protection.
Ono point all agroed on was that the i!onticello reactor does reprocent a hazard of catantrophic potential - end that if a major ace'.dont did occur, the only real protection for the public would to to to somewhere c180 As desirable as evacuation would cp; oar to be, the fear'was expressed that the task of c tacuation micht to impossibic and that as nany pcopic nicht be killed and injured throut;h confusion and panic as from r:Aiation expocure.
a Ono can only conclude from this that if there is no way to evacuate tho peoplo from the area in event of a nuclear disaster, the reactor site was obviously a misteko and cannot be acceptable to the peoplo of Minnesota.
'Jhoco are but cone of the difficultics neking the Twin Cities and surrounding t.reas totally unntle to cope with c.n energency shouli it occur. Eo.operr. tion
- of thic reactor must be allowed until the health t.nd cafety of tLe public is nssuroa. We ask that you deny Eorthern States Power Company an operating licence for ',!onticello until such tino as these difficultics are resolved.
Yours tre.ly, wd$v b Russell Es.tling .
Director of Public Inforantion PJ1!:ah .
copicc Governor Enrold LeVander, Attorney General Douglas Ecad,1tinnesota State Logiciature, !!innesota IMpartnent of Public Ecalth, Minnocott.
Departoont of Civil Defenso, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, i
)! enters of U.S. Congress, Members .of the Prese - ~ ----
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}tEnrIllo DEWF.E!!: MECCA REPRE3Ei.TATI'/i'S AllD CIVIL DEFP;iSE AliD DEPAlm'.E;TP OF HI'.ALTH OFFICIALS.
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Those attendtnc vere: .
}. Dr. '<f. R. 1.avcon DEPAR'D.'1:iT
-- --. OF HTALTit: .
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CIVII. DEFEi!SE: ,
Stan Andercon, Phil Ivercon, R. V. Aune, Bill, Feder, t
- Helen Van Dur.cc
. MECCA: Ruco Hatlinc, Johr. Pecoro, f,hiricy Hunt, Katherin
.., Schlin, Fran Storlic, !!ancy Jonco, Steve Gaaler, Virginia Keough. . .
}STS MEDI/q Don Del Fineco-St. Paul Dicpatch, J'im. Talle-: ' t .,
Star, Don Klodstrup-WCCO-TV, Barbara Beerhniter-UCCO-Endio, Bay Voco and Georco Vellca-KSTP-TV To operI the diccussion; Russ Hstling of MECCA r6dc l.'brief statenent expininius MECCA'c interest lu the incuen bc103 dir. cussed - a matter of safety for the
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. public in the event of a nucicar accident - a very timely subject since ,just
- coments before the meeting an ace'ident hb.4 occurred in Ruosin involving severni hundred denths. He ached if a progran van 'being developed for Minnesota at the precent time. If so, vill it be operational by August, when the recetor
'at Monticello lo scheduled to be completed? Five :nonths ic' cot :mich tine to prepare a program nr.d educate the public. Even though the chance is extre ely i i j
cma11, accidents do happen and severn1 hnvc (69 'cotwoon 19b3 ar.d 19$'(). So far,
. the only sure protect.Jon is to be com.cplace cloc vhen it happens. There must be n Yorkable evacuntion program of there vill be chcos. He enlled our
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. attention to the 10-point.'public safety prearam for conoidt stion civen out to all
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present before the racetinc.' Thoco pointra vore atrecced in a letter to Governor -
LcVander. . ,
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Mr. phil Iyerpon of the Civil D:fcnso Offico'cypresced hic appreciation for our .
interect and concern in a matter that a larce percentone of pc'opic choose not to l<
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becono involved in. They put off making emergoney plans until tomorrow hopinc that t
I nothing will hoppen today. ,
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}{c cota the State is in the proceco of upd: ting the State Emerconey plan, of which the plan for radiolecical accidento vill be a part. Thic plan, as it' existo todcy, i . .
is a number of individual actions "oy'coveral departmento and a;cncien of State Government that vere developed at the time the Elk River nucicar reactor vent into operation. To quote 'Mr. Iverson verbatim: "It 10 not a State plan in the scnce of all coaponent parts "accembled as one docuent and, perhaps, not coordinated to the .
degree that all agencies vere completely familiar with tbc actiont contemplated by l . .
' other agencies. .The updating of these individual acti.ons, plus develop:nont of areas
,* not presently covered, shot 0:*. provide a comprehensive document". ,,
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. ..a "in: respbnce to the 10 po!'nts, 'Mr. Iverson cocmented on.these briefly, af ter which he ,
vould request his staff to expound in creater detail as to vhat hps actun13y transpirei
- 1. WAPJ:::!G - The present State Warnir.h 'Sy ter$ la so devised t5Et varnins can be
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dicccminated vithin minutes to any scographical arca ir. the State. The plan vill include the use of so e 1,2h1 fixed radiological m6nitoring stations, plus the monitoring capability of looni police and fire departments, State
' lichvay i patrol, and Stato ilichway Maintenance percont.el that have received formal trainin3 in this area. The r.atter of 2k-hour rc.onitoring of the re etor
. cite is'under diceussion with the vnrious 5' tate agencies at the precent ti'.;c, the big prob 1cm 'ocin5, of cour'ne, firot, noney to enploy comyctent technical
, peopic, 'and, cecondly, acquicition of the type of nonitoring equipment require
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j 2 13_x_1.T.10:1 - The t cter of eduentien I .would like. co dicc.uco vith you in crect detail later in the procraq today otnce Oils ic den!Cned 'to be a major portic of the State p)an.
- 3. gACUATIO.1 - Tiere have been no rpocific cvacuation planc developed by local unito of covernment up to this point in time. A radiological posectirra incit vould be unpredictahic as to tir.c and location. Both the Stalc Ocpartnafit o t
Civil Defence and the Ecpartment of Health are vorkinc vith Northern States Power in the development of the cito plan for Monticello and with adjacent politten1 Juricdictiona. Thio pian vill provide for varning and poccible cvacuation. .
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- h. F.EDICAI., FACILITIES - Dr. Lawson vas ached to addrecs himself to this matter little later on in the procrem. Mr. Ivercon felt that cons'iderabic precrece has been made in the Stato in the 6evelopment of etercency hospital plans.
- 5. MI!:li:G - Radiological traininc 'in available to the concral public which \ .
vould provide infornation on individual actions in a nuclear or radiologica' incident. These are primarily: (1) Survival pr5parc6 ness Course, availabic to tht.: public through their local Civil Defence Director, entitled CIVIL DE?ir!SE - U.S.A., which would provide the individual with ir. formation on th dancers.of radiation. To date, 121,077 people have been trained throuch th Survivel Preparednecs Cource, and 697 have, availed thenceives of Oc Home
. Study Course. The Home Study Course haa *cecn availabic for approximately o year. , ,
- 6. FOOD S'JPPLTES - We precently have emercency 1ations stockpiled for 2',133,0C people in 3,200 different locations throuchout the State for a two-vock per I including basic medical supplica and water. Cornunity Shelter plans either have been or are in the process of being develo?ad in all 67 cour. tics of ti State, which vili, provide the cencral public information as to where thesc
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- (. SAr0Ty g - At'O' Culatione precently require e,, , user to provido cecurlty l
. I against cabotacc of any radioactive materinl. Thic vc vill discuoc inter t 4
the confercucc.
The next opeaker vns Stan Andercon of the Civil Defence Office, who caid that a cuf(
for a Stato plan t.o coordinate nil, pinnc into one was divided three vays:
- 1. SAFEGUARDS ilo'rt EXISTIrio - including the trancportinc of vactes. The lico.
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hao to give name and addreou of where isotopo vill be located - the size et descripti$n of measures taken to carecuard isotope againct possibic osbotc) '
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' etc. The carriers have regulationc that they must abide by - the labeling-the vehicles, what they contain and the quontity.
- 2. PF.ACETDfd PADIOIOGICAL II?CIDEiiTS - cach depertment v111 list what they are,
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The local authority contacts the Hichway doins and arc capahic of doing.
h Patrol, ci.ves them the location of the accident. (building, t6vn, where on o . .
O cte.), identify material involved, state whether fire-fightin3 equip:.ent s 3
h needed and if there are any injuries. The Civil Nfense Office is charce(
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vith coordinating er.crsency operations - they inust try to save lives firs 9
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- one is allowed to leave the arca until they are monitored.
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d 3. ?UBLIC II!WP?.ATIOil .- Tbcre is an niert signal which everyone is familiar (
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o gj They must turn ou their radio when they hear the aignal in order to recci) is 19 further instructions. This phase is the mo. s t difficult - getting the pub $
4 infomed. Although over 121,000 pcopic are trained, this '.s only c. very i part of the population. It's not difficult to lead a horse to vator, but.
i cake him drink ic another matter. This is where help ic =ost needed. s
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Dr. In.vson continued the discussion by ocying that even with State mohil t r.ation in i
cvent'or a nuclcar accident; that even though the licensee ic req-j ca.orconey plan, he is in no pocition to force p:ople to react. There is u.
plan for ibnticello which cec:ns vorhabic', there are still many probicas to be work such as: There must be a thoter State Plan - who in going to be responsibic? Adr. in
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Sor. conc reeds to provinc no renources. In Dr. Iaucon'i, opinion, the Eth !(i.ver p)an I
too couplicated. 'Any plan must be vorknbic to be effective. He 7.afd he van pleased i
- thatcomanyorgani:ntionsveret$ht,n;uninterest,. lie also cald hic D:partncnt is 1
l vorhing vit.h the Alonic Encrcy Commission and ot.hcra on a pre-operational monitoring, syctem on the site, but they must have the recources in ord'er to have the opportuolt;
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The State has h300 x-ray units which must be checked conctantly. Hic D partmot l one.
raust do this on a budcot of $22,000 a year.
1 Russ Hatling opened a period of discuccion vith the remark that there ..ccens to te nu.
3, action coing on but. . . .1. The public is not avarc of the dancer. . . . . 2. Money is.
inadequate. This should have been diccussed when t.'onticelio was planned - it'c' a j
littic late nov that the site is being prepared for operai, ion. Monticello decs call t,
for a 2h-hour monitoring cystem, but the power company should not be monitoring itse D.r. I.avcon said that I!orthern States power in operating the Monticello plant, are ag 1
as ccents of the Atomic Energy Commission. As such, they must conforrr. to come very
! rigid require.cnts. They are required to submit data to the State Ecard of Health,.;
i but vc do not have ~the technical compet.ence and cannot hire atomic engineers. The Atomic Ercrcy Cor,iission has the technical co.npetence and their peopic arc on the s:
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- ) at all times for a while, then they taper o'ff.
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[Shir1cyHunt'askedDr.LawsoniftheAECchecksonthepowercompany. R$ caid the D2parb. cat of i!calth has the responcibility, but hava nothing to work with and the l should be aware of this. . ,. . ,
(Shirley ashedj "'ho decides when the public is to be notified?" Dr. Lawson said he ,
t not speak for the AEC but the State Board of Health does have standards as to expos
! the pialie. He encouroced MECCA' to cgntact. the AEC. ,The Departy;can of Health is resp >nsibic only an lo:.C or to the extent of their canabilitics ard then the State
- l respond. . John ?ccors asked him vhat his Enpartment was doing about beconing capab) i : 1
- Tir . Tauenn % r h en e r,S o,1 .",ca 4 h4 000 e t.wny,, t n li nn oneh von'.a of t.he 'cr inlaturc I
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- theucual$22,000. RocoO.tling nched about the pocntb( ".y of the Power Comtrany r.harin; the cost or public protection. Dr.1.nwoon replied that they would be subject to crit.ic!cm and if they hired outclde inh help that, too, vould be cubject to critici because they could be -necuted of " buying" t.hcot. The third niternative vould be for ti Npartncnt of IIcalth to contract.with the Nver Company. They chose the latter bocaa 1
l It cave thca a better pscttien nnd ' van the mor.t lo;1 cal colution and va5 cubject to i- Icss criticism. Our Department of Ecolth inb doce the vork, it in turn is verified by Federal labs. Se said they alco receive some technical assiotance fro 5 the Departras of Ecolth, Education and Ucifare. -
In re;ard to the cecond point, that of educating the public, the Civil D2fense p^opi felt was their real probicm. They couldn' t convince the poopic living in flood arca-that this is vhat was coing to happen. Fortunately, there vere ac$y dedicated volunteers to help during this crisis, but many more are needed. ,In Minnesota,12,0(
teachers' are trained to teach preparednecs couroco. In March there is to be a comine
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' at the Civil D2fense Tralning Center to prepare a training course to put in school i .
curriculum. This is being worked on nov. The Monticello area is being coordinated i
i and trained in the event of a nucicar accident - they are making solid progress in this' area with full cooperation from the police and fire departments. Vr.en the ::SP plan is c.v.pleted thoro can be an educationni .precrcm in that area. They expect to have tiSP's plcn vithin oO caya. . .
Katherine Schlin observed that this is not a senconal thing and not somethinc ve can sit back anf valt for. It is something ve aust live with. We seem to be cottins not but negative responces - no money, no plan, not enough technical assistance,' etc. We can't even valt for the next Legislature with Monticello almost ready to bocin opera
- .'r. Iverson ancvered that they were doin; the best they could with vhnt they have a :
are in the process of reviewing with other Aconcico as to what they have. 7ccy feel they can put c vorhabic plan together, but how do they reach the peopic vith it?
1 E'JCG Eatlir.c told them they couldn't do it if they'h'ad five million dollars because
. the poopic haven't' even 1 mn told t. bat. there in a rick! ( '11ricy Hunt brovcht 9p the Euvirs.se:tt al Qual'ity Teach-In cocting up at the lhtivorcity. She thought this vould be a coad time to help nohe the public aware of the doo;cr. John Pecoro brodcht out i
the fact that 1[ million peopic vill,bc ex weed to 1/.ontic'c11o this fall - that's Juo 30 miles avay. The Civil I):fonco peoplo anc'v eref that it ocomo t'o b'c'impossibic 'to
' Cet peopic conceined enough until comethlec hnpponn. Thlo is proven by'the concer:{ed y peopic who have been flooded out, by the concerned peopic vho have been dov stated bq a tornado or an carthquake.
"i Dr. Lawson said someone in coing to have to make come important technolo;ical de'cisions - and very coon. As far as evacuat. ion is concerned, 've should take a Good 3ons look'at that vord. In the event of a caseous discharco it may be better '
to tak cover in basements rat,her than run. I'vacuation could possibly be donc in F.onticello but not in a large net,,ropoliton aroc. such as ours. No one person can decide. Thc[c must be a plan and an informed public. There are crouch ascucks involved to naNe e i
plan vork. In response to a question about radioactive vastes, Dr. Lawson said the Federal Government licenses vaste burini croun6f and 'he Stat,ec have nothing to say. ,
This is also true of the Federal Government X-Ray un!,ts at places like the Vbtcrac's Nospital. The Department of. Health cannot inspect them.
In the area of medical supplico in case of a nuclear accident, Dr. Lawson stated tha I
they have abandoned the plan for depots of medical supplies, because they becace obs Instead, they are reinforcing hospital supplica so things may be kept current. The8 is a National Procrnn eclied li.L.O.M.O.C. (Nat.ional lia'ison of Medical Officers Corg to train doctorc and nursos in treat.ing peopic for c'xposure to radioactivity. The Police departcents and fire departments are prepared to a certain extent. Soncone they had seen nothing in the paper about trained personnel. Mr. Anderson said therg never is because of lack of interest' on .the part of the public. He said KTCA stopp choving a survival preparednecc cource beenuse of lack of interest. Mr. Iverson ca people are note interected in cno'.cnobile licensing, etc.
1 t -) . 's et sc u t ! .sn (*r. .:.- l'ra . !!tnit culd ncssnir;; :.i.ein t o rs Dr.' itivn 'n. r.;;" I n in re m >
.n nuid p;nn, I t, vill include n vny la kra p "unt en;nst rA wit 6r l'r.4i the po; pin.
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- I r..>enp d i c !n.' n P. d t 1 va l e r c o ppl y , bu t t.l t n i n t rit, e noo lh i n t.h0 e ve n t ,)r a th t r. por.c tbli l l.y i t- c.x t.reirch retwa t o . Pc n1no n id 1.1v.t 11,,.
hat, contina.suc d ioc*iarc,c .
' ic ensy to ti nit.or the food cupp)y for cont u,tuntton.l - .
potut inder */ In rec.nrJ to l'rcenuttonn ndatoct, nnbotoe,e, Dr. /. lavo>sn cn' In ancver '.o '
Lt.e 3 tecnnae vill b; required !.o have n feni:e nround t.he fnci.llty.
/sc far an polut ine.ber 0 in concer'ried, in trancpart. tog hlch. level v.,ct.co, there vl .
clonttoro necomputying t.l.c vehiclen at all tin.cs. - . _ _ _ . _ . .. _
To pcInto o and 10 (ulert.ing populatten arenn or vwle naterinic coming through '. heir
' nreac nr.d the diopvou1~ of en,ntmilnnted anim d enrgtasec) there did not scert to be a Tne nnrver t.o point 9 vnn, "h*c noct koop t,her: avoy somehow",
- pinn for t h t e at an . ,
and to point,10, "Some r..ethed of dicrocal munt be freund".
interent nr.d a lack of fundq itact of the probic no nten frem an clicced inck of pobile :
_ Mr. /etorcan of the Civi* rdfonce Offico nald. he nnhed the I,cciciati:ro for a nsn to
. var * ' on communient.5ono and his reqtcat van refuced. * ':'he Civil Dorenne Departr.ent b3e
--- niso-muct otruggio for rencurecc to keep equipr.ent in repair ao it can be availa for use when needed. ..
Per.pce fully submitted,
, 4 tVwE& .- f/ (l.,.L.i Virci'lla A. Kecogn-Uccrctury
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