ML20129E367
| ML20129E367 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 05/22/1985 |
| From: | Gekas G HOUSE OF REP. |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20117P504 | List: |
| References | |
| REF-10CFR9.7 NUDOCS 8506060454 | |
| Download: ML20129E367 (7) | |
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G;0nGE W. GEKAS asety. cme to tre sseract.penmortwsma a
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- e. - -.r wi STATEMENP OF CONGRESSMAN GEORGE W.
GE KAS TO TIE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION AT TIE lEARING ON MAY 22, 1985 The Kemeny Commission, in its central conclusion about what led to the accide nt at Three Mile Island, stated that "The f undamental problems are people-r elated and not equipment pr obl em s....
We ha ve stated t ha t f undamental changes mus t occur in organi zations, pr ocedures, and above all, in the attitudes of people.
No amount of technical ' fixes' will cure the underlying problem."
The
" underlyi ng pr oblem" still plagues us at thi s juncture in t he hi story of the accident at TMI.
It i s i n t he f orm and s ubs tance of all the outstanding unresolved issues crying out for attention:
A.
Management Integr i ty (e.g., the D leckamp mailgt am)
B.
Health E f fects C.
C leanup A.
MANAGEMENP INTEGRITY l
The Kemeny report insisted that " Nuclear power requi res management qual if ica tions and attitudes of a very special character as well as an extensive support sys tem of sci entists and engineers."
Does a Itcensee t ha t s tands guilty of f ederal crimes and sentenced in federal cour t measure up to that standard?
0506060454 850522 PDR 10CFR PT9.7 PDR THIS STATIONERY PRINTED ON PAPER MADE WITH RECYCLED FIDERS
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The issue of man agement i ntegr i ty has not bee n given complete consideration in the hearings and meetings thus far held.
The i ssue of res tar t should not even be debated, let alone i mpl emented,
before this i ssue has been r esolved.
B( HEALTH EFFECPS Throughout t he pr ocess,
scant attention has been paid to the heal th of fects of the accident.
The r es ul ts ar e i mpo rt an t i n t hem sel ves, bu t t he y chould be conside r ed i n t he r es tar t pr oceedi ngs,
i f only becaus e t he f ull ctory of the accident and its cleanup should be told bef ore restart of Uni t 1 is even debated, much less implemented.
C., CLEANUP No matter what protestations have been made to the ef f ect that cleanup cf' the damaged reactor and restart of the idle reactor can co-exist, l
nothi ng can convince us that f ull dedication of manpower and resources to i
t he cleanup would not be the,, surest and nwif test way to el iminate t he conta ination f estering in Uni t,2.
We believe that total concentration on cleanup is the only way to insure the saf ety of the populace in t he TMI crea.
Res tar t s hould not eveti be de bated,
let alone implemented, until this issue has been resolved.
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WCWS MCleaSO m.. m...w (MClear w
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Public Information Services Cont Lisa Robinson, Gordon Tomb, Doug Bedell May 22,1985 For Release.
Imediately Date:
- 43-85N TMI-1 READY TO BE OPERATED SAFELY Washington -- Senior officials of General Public Utilities Corporation and the GPU Nuclear Corporation told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,today that Thme Mile Island Unit 1 is ready to be operated safely.
"GPU Nuclear is mady and able to operate TMI-I safely," William G.
Kuhns, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Public Utilities Corporation, told the NRC.
"The plant is mady and its operation wili not present a saf ety concern to the timely and efficient clean @ of TMI-2."
Kuhns and two top officials of GPU Nuclear -- John F. O' Leary, Chaiman of GPU Nuclear's Board of Directors, and Philip R. Clark, GPU Nuclear's President and Chief Executive Officer -- appeared before the NRC in a meeting the Commission called to hear coments from parties to the TMI-1 restart proceedings before its scheduled May 49 meeting to vote on restart.
GPU Nuclear is a subsidiary of General Public utilities that was formed af ter the 1979 accident at TMI-2 exclusively to operate Three Mlle Island Units 1 and 2 and GPU's other nuclear plant at Oyster Creek, N.J.
The NRC approved GPU Nuclear as the licensed operator of Three Mi,le Island and Oyster Creek in January,1982.
"The THI-1 plant is ready to start m," Clark told the NRC comissioners.
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!8 May 22, 1985 l
- 43 45N
[
e "We have made appropriate modifications to mspond to the lessons learned from the TMI-2 accident and from other nuclear operating experience. The steam generators have been repaired and returned to licensing basis condition.
"With the exception of a few items which can only be done during actual mstart," Clark added, "the plant, including the steam generators and the '
l modifications, has been tested and shown to be satisf actory."
TMI-I was completing a refueling when the Unit 2 accident occurred. GPU rettrned the plant to cold shutdown.
In the swiner of 1979, the NRC issued two orders -- known as the TMI-1 shutdown orders -- that had the effect of keeping Unit I shut down without a prior hearing.
It is those orders that the Comission is now considering lifting.
"The issues which fomed the basis for immediate effectiveness of the shutdown onders," Clark told the Comission, "have been investigated, discussed, litigated at length, and resolved.
The plant and its staf f meet or exceed all the established criteria for granting pemission to operate.
"There is before you ample basis to make a favorable decision on restart of TMI.1. In view of the severe adverse effects of continued shutdown, we believe that both law and fairness require that Ilf ting of the shutdown orders be made insnediately effective."
In his remarks, Kuhns said: "Tne GPU System response to the THI-2 accident has been sweeping and broad.
We have made substantivo changes in all aspects of our nuclear program. It has not boon a quick fix, rather a deliberate, thoughtful program of developing what we want to be the finest nuclear operation in the country."
"We have a corporate and a personal comitment to safety and excellence,"
Kuhns added.
"We accept responsibility for what has happened; and although
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' May 22, 1985
- 43-85N the operation of TMI-1 will continue to be subject to more scrutiny than any other plant in the world, we realize that external scrutiny does not relieve us of our continuing responsibility for safety and excellence."
"In coneIuding his portion of the GPU prosentation, Kuhns told the Comissioners : "With the respect for the technology that has grown out of our unprecedented experience and learning, and with confidence based on the nuclear team we have in place today, we ask for your approval.
I assure you, that approval will not relax our comitment to saf ety and excellence but will be accepted by us as a trust which we will not violate."
Clark said that GPU Nuclear's " organization and its people are ready to operate the plant safely." He noted that the organization and key operating management at TMI-l have been in place since GPU Nuclear became the licensed operator of Three Mile Island in 1982.
"They have demonstrated the ability to modify and maintain the plant and, to the maximum extent possible under the shutdown order, to operate the systems and equipment " Clark said.
"The staf f has exte' nsive operating experie nc e.
We have a full, six shifts of trained and licensed operators and i
f ull-time, on shif t qualified shif t technical advisors.
"We also have special, degneed Q-A (Quality Assurance) monitors on shif t.
In addition, our programs in such vital areas as Training, Quality Assurance and Radiological Controls have been expanded and enhanced to where they are among the best in the industry."
t Clark noted that there have been four, full-scale energency drills at TMI-l and that both the NRC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have "fonnally concluded that Emergency Preparedness at TMI and in the surruunding counties has been demonstrated to be adequate to protect public health and l
Safety."
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, May 22, 1985
- 4345N Clark added that evaluations of TMI-I from an NRC inspection program, the Systematic Assessment of Licensee Perfonnance, and the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations are also available.
The NRC TMI-1 restart proceeding, Clark said, has been " unprecedented,"
involving'six years of proceedings, evaluations and investigations, over 3,000 plea:fings, over 2,000 statements, scme 200 witnesses who were subject to cross examination at public hearings, over 30,000 pages of transcripts plus additional tens of thousands of pages of testimony and swporting information and over 2,500 pages of fonnal opinions.
"All pertinent issues have been addressed and shown to pose no significant safety questions mlated to TMI-l operation " Clark said.
He told the NRC that "there have been and likely will continue to be attempts to re-raise old issues or introduce new allegations here at the last minute.
We have confidence that these will be recognized for what they art.
It is clear that some of the parties involved will never be satisfied to see TMI-l operate and will continue to seek any basis for delay."
Touching on start @ itself, Clark said: " Starts of any plant after a substantial shutdown period always identifies some problems.
TMI-I will De no exc eption. % wever, we have defined a careful program for mstart including 1
an extensive test pmgram.
We also will operate for several weeks at two j
intennediate power levels to pmvfde added assurance of equip;nent perfonnance and operator f amiliarity before we proceed to f ull power.k In his remarks to the NRC, John F. O' Leary, Chainnan of the Board of GPO Nuclear, told the NRC that the board's Nuclear Safety and Compliance Committee (NSCC) " identified no instances of non-compliance" in its latest report to the
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. May 22, 1985
- 4345N board, dated April 15. The NSCC is comprised of O' Leary and thIse other moders of the GPU Nuclear board from outside the GPU System companies, and has its own staff.
O' Leary is a fomer top official of the U.S. Department of Energy.
"The mission of GPU Nuclear," O' Leary said, "has been fonnally defined and gives unequivocal priority to safety. All of us who serve as outside Directors of the Board, including the thme who form the Nuclear Safety and Compliance Committee, are fully satisfied that the priority on safety is fully understood and accepted by GPU Nuclear management and that the members of management are qualified and dedicated to carrying it out.
"There have been suggestions," 0' Leary added, "that improper pressures that are counter to safety have been exerted by senior management of the Corporation....We can assure you that no such pressures exist.
"In the Board's view, all resources needed to conduct the nuclear operations safely have been and are being provided," O' Leary said.
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