ML20136C729

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Forwards News Release from Reuters America,Inc, Re Decision from Federal Regulators That Utility Must Complete Key Components of SA Before Dismantling Plant
ML20136C729
Person / Time
Site: Haddam Neck File:Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co icon.png
Issue date: 01/13/1997
From: Blanch P
AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To: Mcgurren H, Mulley G, Zwolinski J
NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned), NRC OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL (OGC), NRC OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL (OIG)
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NUDOCS 9703120166
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From: PAUL BLANCH <PMBLANCH91x.netcom.com>

-To:: WND2.WNP3(jaz),TWOI.TWP4(gam),WND1.WNP2(hjm)  !

'Date:' 1/13/97 5:28am

Subject:

Reuters Regulator outlines Conn. Yankee dismantling Source: Reuters [

HARTFORD, Reuters via Individual Inc. : Northeast Utilities must complete key components of a safety analysis before it begins dismantling its Connecticut Yankee nuclear. power plant, federal regulators said on

Friday.

t But citizens' watchdog groups are concerned that neither the utility nor )

the Nuclear Regulatory j

-Commission (NRC) are doing enough to safeguard the public against the i hazards posed by  ?

decommissioning.

"They have to file a post-shutdown activities report, to spell out everything they plan to do," NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan told Reuters. J

, . "They have up to two years to do that, but they've indicated they'll do it by July or August of this year." l

! "Then we'will do a safety analysis and look at all their plans," he said.

A group of power companies headed by Northeast said last month they would permanently close the Connecticut. Yankee staticn, one of the nation's oldnt nuclear plants.

The 582-megawatt plant in Haddam Neck, Conn., had been shut down for repairs and refueling since July

22. ,

lhe station was operated and 49-percent owned by Northeast, with the balance owned by seven other New England utilities.

Northeast has said the dismantling will cost about $425 million.

"They have $200 million set aside (for dismantling)," said Cheehan. "So there's a question of how they'll l pay for the rest, but.that's not under our jurisdiction."

"They've indicated they won't do any dismantling work at least until 1998.

Nineteen ninety-seven'will be

( devoted to decontamination work and planning."

While citizens' watchdog groups are relieved that the plant has been

[ closed, they argue that dismantling

i. 9703120166 970306 PDR ORG NRRA l

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F opens up a new set of problems.4 ,

I l i "It's my strong position that Northeast Utilities and the NRC need to l decide what is going:to happen to the- I spent fuel before decommissioning comences," said Paul Blanch, a former '

supervisor of instrumentation and control engineering at Northeast who left the company ~in.1993.

l Blanch said the spent fuel posed a "significant danger" to the public and that it should be placed ~in dry-cask storage before decomissisoning begins.

l "The public needs to be able to have input into the act of ~ decomissioning l before it affects them," said ,

I Rosemary Bassilakis of,the Citizens' Awareness Network. I The NRC, which revised its decomissioning rules in July of last year, will hold a public meeting meeting on the Connecticut Yankee dismantling on January 15.

"With the NRC's new decomissioning rule, it codifies the experimental, -

l controversial and illegal l decomissioning which happened at Yankee Rowe," Bassilakls told Reuters.

l l

l The Yankee Rowe plant in Rowe, Mass., was the country's oldest nuclear '

l plant with a generating capacity of 175 MW. It was voluntarily shut down in October 1991 because of a i, reactor vessel embrittlement issue,  ;

~

L and decomissioning began in 1995.

--Hartford newsroom (860) 727-0224

[01-10-97 at 16:45 EST, Copyright 1997, Reuters America Inc.]

l l Paul M. Blanch i Energy Consultant 135 Hyde Rd.

West-Hartford CT 06117 Tel: 860-236-0326 Fax: 860-2?2-9350 l

h 1

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r From: PAUL' BLANCH <PMBLANCH91x.netcom.com> '

Date: 1/14/97 5:37am

Subject:

news Headline: Utility Group. Considers Suit Over Reactor Wire Service: DJ (Dow Jones)

Date: Mon, Jan 13, 1997 '

By Ross Kerber Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal Northeast Utilities is likely to face lawsuits from the minority owners of one of its shuttered. Millstone nuclear reactors, a sign of the breakdown of alliances among the once-tightknit nuclear operating companies as deregulation proce'eds in New England states. .

Among those who may sue to recover the costs' of buying replacement power is l New England Electric System, the region's second-largest utility behind Northeast. On Friday, New England Electric also received significant permissions from Massachusetts regulators for an aggressive restructuring i plan. 1 Northeast Utilities, Berlin,. Conn., said in a filing with the Securities I and Exchange Commission on Dec.19 that it " believes that it is possible" that the utilities who together own 32% of the Millstone 3 reactor will seek to recover the roughly $50 million in costs they face related to the plant's  !

shutdown in March 1996. Three other Northeast Utilities reactors have also been closed for safety reasons, one' of them permanently, and Northeast's total outage-related bill is likely to exceed $800 million.

Executives at the largest companies with minority stakes in Millstone unit 3 confirmed that they likely will sue. "I think their expectation is correct," said Donald G. Pardus, chief executive of Eastern Utilities Associates, which owns 4% of Millstone unit 3. After Northeast, which owns 68% of the plant, the other owners include New England Electric System with 12%, United Illuminated Co. with 3.7%, and Central Maine Power Co. with 2.5%. There are 12 owners  ;

altogether. i No suits have been filed yet becauce the outside owners don't want to distract -j Northeast Utilities executives from their efforts to restart the plant, Mr.

Pardus said.

If suits are filed, a Northeast spokesman said Friday, the company would

" vigorously defend" itself based on cost-sharing agreements between the utility owners. Northeast Utilities and its executives already face nine lawsuits from shareholders seeking damages, and several criminal investigations are also under way into the company's operation of its nuclear pl ants.

The threat of lawsuits from co-owners demonstrates the public tensions that have arisen as New England states allow utilities to compete for customers.

James S. Robinson, manager of nuclear investments for New England Electric System, the largest- of Millstone 3's outside owners, said his company has so far paid its share of outage costs "under protest," and said New England l Electric might sue to recover its spending.

I Meanwhile, New England Electric's president and chief executive, John W.

l l

l

i ,

l l~

l Rowe, said approvals the utility gained from regulators Friday marked "a major i step forward" as the utility prepares for competition.

Regulators approved major terms of an agreement under which the company agreed to cut rates by at least 10% for all consumers and to sell most of its generating assets,.in return for revenue guarantees.

l Further approvals are still required; Boston Edison Co. and Eastern i Utilities Associates have similar agreements pending. Compared with those companies, Northeast Utilities faces more nuclear-related costs and would prefer to i delay the onset of competition.

(END) DOW JONES NEWS 01-13-97 1 11 AM Copyright 1997 Dow Jones & Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Headline: Japan battles to protect nuclear plants from slick Wire Service: RTw (Reuters World Report)

Date: Mon, Jan 13, 1997 Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.

The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

(Adds fresh quotes from maritime agency spokesman)

By Paul Eckert MAIZURU, Japan, Jan 13 (Reuter) - Japanese authorities kept up multi-front battles against oil spills from an ageing Russian tanker on Monday, tightening a cordon around' nuclear power plants and pouncing on new slicks as they emerged.

"MSA boats are nlacing priority on keeping oil away from the nuclear plants, but there are lots of other patches of oil to deal with," a Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) spokesman said.

Oil from the tanker Nakhodka, which broke up on January 2, has reached an outer ring of oil fences protecting 15 nuclear teactors on Wakasa Bay, the world's greatest concentration of nuclear power plants.

Speaking in the town of Maizuru, which is headquarters for the cleanup effort, the MSA spokesman told reporters that the number of patrol boats for the l Wakasa Bay operation had been increased from four to 10.

More oil fences are being erected inside the ring. The twin defences have so far succeeded in keeping oil from reaching intake pipes that provide cooling water to the reactors. "No oil has been sighted within one nautical mile of.

l Takahama nuclear power plant's water intake," the spokesman said.

A total of 50 patrol boats, 10 aircraft and 10 helicopters are now involved in the overall operation to protect a 450-km (285-mile) stretch of coast on the

Sea of Japan, about 320 km (200 miles)_ west of Tokyo.
"It will require two to three days of tracking to determine whether and how much oil is flowing from the two parts of the ship," the spokesman said.

1 Maritime officials still have no firm figure on how much oil has escaped

from the 13,157-tonne tanker since it broke in two in stormy seas.

They have said 'an earlier estimate of 3,700 tonnes (26,000 barrels) was 4

too low. The 26-year old tanker was carrying 19,000 tonnes (133,000 barrels)

, of fuel oil.

Instead of using chemical detergent, maritime authorities were scooping up the oil with fishing nets and buckets into oil drums because of environmental concerns, the spokesman;said.

Asked if the operations were going smoothly, he said: "You can say the drums are filling up and piling up. smoothly."

MSA officials were puzzling over how to deal with the bow of the ship, which ran aground 100 metres (yards) from Mikuni beach and may.~still contain thousands of tonnes of heavy oil.

j "The plan is to remove the bow but no decision has been made on how to do it," an MSA official said.

The stern, where two-thirds of the oil was stored, sank about 115 km (70 miles) offshore. Authorities are uncertain how much of that may be leaking

-and might reach the coast.

1 The 31-man crew of the tanker was rescued, but the captain is missing and presumed dead.

Thousands of volunteer workers, many without protective clothing, braved toxic oil fumes to continue scraping mud-like oil off beaches and carrying it away in buckets.

Volunteers from 200 km (140 miles) away in the city of Kobe have helped in the cleanup effort.

They said they were paying back a debt of gratitude for help to their e

city in the aftermath of the January 1995 Kobe earthquake in which thousands died.

Some locals residents, numbed by devastation to a once-pristine area of fertile fishing grounds and tourist resorts, questioned whether reaction to

. the spill was too slow.

Taxi driver Yoshiaki Yamashita said officials should have prepared oil cleanup equipment well in advance.

"You'd think that an island nation like Japan, which imports so much 4

oil, would have more of the kind of cleanup vessels needed for this kind of crisis," he said.

2 i

Paul M. B1anch 4

Energy Consultant i 135 Hyde Rd.

West Hartford CT 06117 Tel: 860-236-0326 Fax: 860-232-9350

! CC: KATHY HART <KHART0mh.com>

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