ML20132A974

Forwards Copy of Transcript of 940307 Hearing Before Lacey Township Zoning Board of Adjustment

ML20132A974
Person / Time
Site:	Oyster Creek
Issue date:	06/14/1996
From:	Decamp W AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	Shirley Ann Jackson, The Chairman NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
Shared Package
ML20132A874	List: ML20132A870 ML20132A938 ML20132A968 ML20132A974
References
NUDOCS 9612160404
Download: ML20132A974 (6)

Text

. .

. oyster oemt NudearWat&

l F.D. Boot 243 Island hew NJIB732 June 14,1996 Hon. Shirley Jackson, Chairman U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555

Dear Dr. Jackson,

I am writing on behalf of Oyster Creek Nuclear Watch to mspectfully aquest that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission take action in relation to apparently false public testimony given by the management of GPU Nuclear.

'Ihe transcript of the March 7,1994 hearing before the lacey Township Zoning Board of Adjustment (enclosed) contains the following testimony, given under oath, by John Barton, who was then the Director of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station. Mr. Barton testified that it is not safe to operate the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station without the capacity to fully offload the fuel from the r@ dear reacton "If we do not install the dry spent fuel storage modules by 1996, the plant would not have the capability of totally off-loading fuel from the reactor to the in plant spent fuel pools." (transcript pp. 94 95)

"In order to operate safelv we should be able to remove this fuel from the reactor and store it in the soent storage pool"(transcript p. 95)

"Without dry storage and without the ability to to move all the fuel from the reactor, the plant would not be able to operate." (transcript p. 95)

These quotes are fully consistent with the basic thrust of the testimony of managers for GPU Nuclear throughout these hearings, which was that without the additional pool space that a dry storage facility would create, the plant would have to be closed as of the September 1996 refueling outage - with consequent adverse economic impacts on the community in which the Zoning Board members reside.

As I know you are aware, the NRC ruled in Febnsary of 1%5 in 10 CFR Part 53 that tractors may safelv be run without full core offload capacitv. Mr. Barton certainly ought to have been aware of this ruling, which had been a matter of record for over nine years at time of his testimony. The fact of Mr. Barton's recent retirement should not absolve the managernent of GPU Nuclear from the basic responsibility of making truthful statements under oath.

I 9612160404 961211 DR ADOCK0500g9

}

In an article by Neil A. Sheehan from the Asbury Park Press dated April 18, 1996 (enclosed) a spokesperson for GPU Nuclear states that - notwithstanding Mr.

Barton's swom testimony to the contrary - GPU Nuclear plans to run the Ovstr Creek reactor without full core offload canacity after the scheduled refueling outage in September of this year.

Oyster Creek Nuclear Watch respectfully requests that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission undertake two steps in relation to this matter.

(1) We request that the NRC investigate the situation at Oyster Creek in order to ascertain whether there is some special factor at Oyster Creek that would indeed justify Mr. Batton's sworn statement that it is unsafe to operate the Oyster Creek stactor without full core offload capacity.

(2) If no special situation disqualifies Oyster Creek from operating without full core offload capacity, then we request that the NRC take appropriate disciplinary action against GPU Nuclear management for making a false statement under oath.

Sincerely, LUd b A9 Q k.

William decamp, Jr., Trustee Oyster Creek Nuclear Watch 908-714-0334 201 376-6639 l

l e

O

1 1 LACET TOWNSHIP BOARD OF ADJUSTMEq .,,

2- V i \ ' " ' ' ' ' '

APPLICATION NO.

3 IN REGARD TO THE MATTER OF: 93-40 4 JERSET CENTRAL POWER & LIGHT CO.,

j BLOCK 1001, LOT 4, TAX MAP 53, 5 800 SOUTH MAIN STREET, FORKED RIVER

, 6

• 7 MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1994 8

9 TRANSCRIPT IN THE ABOVE MATTER TAKEN h BY AND BEFORE PATRICIA D. WILCENSKI, A CERTIFIED 10 SHORTHAND REPORTER AND NOTARY PUBLIC OF THE STATE U . OF NEW JERSEY, AT THE TOWNSHIP OF LACET MUNICIPAL

, s 11 BUILDING, 818 WEST LACET ROAD, FORKED RIVER, NEW j JERSEY, COMMENCING AT 7:45 P.M.

i 12 i 1

13

14 4

l A P P E ARA N C E S:

15 i LEVIN & HLUCHAN, ESQUIRES .

I 16 BY: RICHARD M. HLUCHAN, ESQUIRE i

, ATTORNEYS FOR THE APPLICANT

'\ 17 E' THOMAS G .' GANNON, ESQUIRE 18 BOARD ATTORNEY .

19 -

20 21 -

22 CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTING SERVICES ARRANGED THROUGH 23 MASTROIANNI & FORMAROLI, INC.

104 WHITE HORSE PIKE 24 HADDON HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY 08075 25 (609) 546-1100

/

-- - - - - - - -' ~- ~-- --

, e 1

MR. HLUCHAN: Thank you. 93

; 2 Mr. Chairman, I'd like to hand up as 3 exhibits copies of the resolutions that Mr.

4 Leonard made reference to as part of the record, 5

if I may, and I think we can mark them as a group

6 as Exhibit A-6.

f

, 7 And our i final witness is Mr. John 1 8 Barton, who is the director of the oyster Creek 9

j i

Nuclear Generating Station. Mr. Barton.

10 MR. BARTON: Hi. I'm John Barton.

11 My wife and I reside in the Forked River Beach 12 section of the Township.

13 I have a bachelor of engineering 14 degree from the United States Merchant Marine 15 Academy.

16 I have been in the nuclear power 17 business since 1959, having spent eight years 18 constructing and testing nuclear submarines and 19 surface vessels for the United States Navy, four 20 years as a senior startup engineer for an L 21 architect-engineer firm involved in the 22 construction and startup of four commercial ,I 23 nuclear power plants. #

t 24 I came with GPU in 1971 and have been 25 in various positions as the startup manager,  !

4 2L_

._ _ m . .. _ __ ._. _ . . . . . _ _ _ _ _ . .

I would nht have the capability of totally 95 2

off-loading fuel from the reactor to the in-plant

, 3 , spent fuel pools. This is not a desirable 4 operating configuration, should the plant need to

5 conduct internal inspections of the' reactor vessel 6 that would require fuel to be removed from the 7 reactor. In order to operate safely we should be a

able to remove this fuel from the reactor and 9

store it in the spent fuel storage pool inside the i

10 plant, and after 1996 we will not have the 11 flexibility to do that. Without dry storage and 12 without the ability to remove all the fuel from

)

-lt 13 the reactor, the plant would not be able to

'l. 14 operate.

15 Additionally, ve would'have spent

'7 16 fuel in both the reactor and storage pools 17 simultaneously, which would significantly Wi

• 18 complicate safe operation of the plant.

19 If one were to assume license rene ,4 al % :

20 and extension beyond the year 2009, which is a g' g ,y ,Lf 21 possibility, we would continue to generate l i

.y 22 electricity and generate additional spent fuel at 23 that time. If a Federal facility is not available 24 in 2009, we would need additional dry storage 25 modules and would, at that time, see'k any needed

1. a b

Nuclear l..

i blant still l.ookina s D fo.r

. federalOK Dr NDt. A. 84EERIN sTan wnmut

IACEY TOWNSHIP - AR's .stiH auiet down on Radwaste Way at the

. Oyster Creek nudear power plant, de-

spite ,the delivery of specal spent fuel hmPf's.

i

^

Before plant operator GPU Nudear Corp. can begin loodmg spent fuel Juds into a senes of speaally designed tonarete vaults that were instaDed l ,tariier this year, it must gain approval i of an operating license amendment Yrom the federal Nudear Regulatory tommission.

"Ihe agency ordered the amend-

ment, which must spell out exactly i' pow the operation would be camed out.

j t

~

Susan C. Mysak, a plant spokes- -

wornan, said yesterday that an'applica- i i

. tion for the amendment is ' expected to -

pefiled early next month.

- -:Previously,~ GPU Nuclear cGicials -

hid expressed wonies that the delay  :

,inhading the spent fuel could create .

problems for a refuehng and mainte-pance outage scheduled for Septem. -

.ber. Because space in the plant's cir-culatmg-water fuel storage pool is e

'early depleted, there was concern the outage might have to be post- i posed until fuel is stufted to .the 1 m ~.4 . v s. . . Wxmground depot.

• &MdkMm2 i'

)egin last month, tnIt that work %=s i -

on hold after the NRC asked for

.,, nam e .. .- - ,

, However, Mysik sIsid'thd outage MH pmceed as planned in h*=l=r. ,

"Jhe spent rods pool is cut =Na of hold-ing 2,645 fuel =amus, and 2,048  !

are currently stored there. Dunng the

' utage, an additional 184 maa-N==

o

' WR be placedin thepool. .- i

the ena ,==ne is the mi .* wm . ,

he unable to remove all of the fuel _ l Inds contained in its reactor core at one time m the event or an emer- ,'

I yeak said federal r@ do bot require that ability, though indus.

l p"y watchdogs say that capability should always available as a safety Precaution.4 affy, Mp Ak, j J,