ML20136C855

Responds to Re Exclusion of Mayor of Middletown from Info Re Tmi.Nrc Informs State Officials.State Officials Should Inform Local Officials

ML20136C855
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	09/18/1979
From:	Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	Chutima Taylor AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
Shared Package
ML20136C860	List: ML20136C855 ML20136C863
References
NUDOCS 7910170420
Download: ML20136C855 (1)

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Your letter, of April 6. -1979. to,the President was referred to me .for , , v.G@sw, 'r reply. I am sorry for the delay but we have been very busy with the *' '

aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident. .

I can assure you that there was no intention to exclude the Mayor of

Middletown from information about the accident. Our practice at the l time of the accident was to inform State authorities and rely on then

,to pass information on to local authorities as necessary. However, q eyen the Governor has complained about the information available to him the first few days af ter the accident. The Nuclear Regulatory '

Commission has been investigating how this situation can be improved.

l Sincerely.

%nisigneng L C. cue .

I Harold R. Denton, Director i

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

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Dear Mrd. Taylor:

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." ,- i Your letter of April 6,,1979, to the Presi ent was referred to me for j reply. I am sorry for the delay but we ye' been very busy with the N~

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i aftermathoftheThreeMileIslandac/cieht.Icanassure lude the Mayor of 9 i Middletown from information about he accident. Ou practice at the time of the accident was to inf n State authorities nd reply on then ,

to pass information on to loca authorities as necessa . However. I 1 - even the Governor has compia ed about the information a ilable to l i

him the first frew days aftpr the accident. The Nuclear R ulatory

, Conmission has been investigating how this situation can be , proved.

i i l l Sincerely. ,

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j Harold R. Denton. Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

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~RobsrEReid (Continded from Pagi 11 o ffic e," the mayor blasted Metropolitan Ed's decrepant, cus.

leading and falaneports, but mere-ly sehrugged whw asked about bnefings with state. federal and nuclear officials. . .

The mayor is not sure 'when schoois will reopen, when evacuees .

'can return or even the officialinside ;

' status of generator number two. Irt*

amttriuous contact with his' civil' delense,dir'ectori polied: radios.and inews4ccounts', the modest atScial .

' Vaimii."whavdoing.on."'

. 1 4"MAYOIC REID is.n'ot alon'e,"'.

Iexpfained'Rolnnd< Page' of' Thorn f I

f, liu rgh'ii pre'enWffice. ;"We don't call aEyTofSceholdernjn the area. Right '

a nowd; we- are a just diesemi.natmg I'inhirm$tietT'On 'a ddy-t& day ' '

basis asfweget it'in$rselkes/' .. ,

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< Page insistalthat theCaher visit wasa planned quickly. "The White House. notified us at 2:30 Sunday morning and the, President was ,

here by_one that afternoon." .

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t Under normal circumstances,the

1. mayor would.have been involved in the plannings of the Presidenfs visit.. Jlbut' normal channels of protocol. were dispensed within light of the emergency," Page said.

Although' Reid's town is the target area of danger, the mayor has not been invited to the gover.

nor's special bnefings because only a minimal number of decision-makers can be involved.

Accordmg to Page, "The gover- ,

noris considenng holding bne6ngs l with area elected officials within f the.next,few days. Of course Reid i

will be included."

l Reid fa.h.igh school government teacher who has lived inj Middlenswn for' much of his 46 \

years, has served the town's 1L000 i residents smce January W78. His I most important prionty throt ghout the ensis has been keeping the town from gomg haywire.

"I'VE IlEEN JUST as upset as the pubhe. I lost a whole day i Saturday because everything was a compiete blank. ThisIuesday I had my first good night of sleep. I'm not comrStely comfortable. but atleast now I feel a little more relaxed,"

con 6ded the tall man, who could ,

have been a football coach.

Without hesitation, he emphaniz.

i ed that he is against nuclear plants '

' in heavily populated areas. The mayor was the object of laughter when.he stressed the need for an emeepncy evacuation plan some years back while a counedman.

The exodus of many residents when the threat.of danger became

! imminent spurred the mayor' to impone.a 9 P.M. to 7 A,M. curfew. He also ; cornmanded his m police ' to -

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" shoot looters on sight." Although the borough became a, temporary ghost town, the large number of' media people and ofScials added' cungestion to the sleepy rural com -

munity. The mayor himself un-snarled trafSc jams by directing withoct even a whistle.

1118 WIFE and son were flown to Waterbury, Conn., last Fnday. "I feel a bt better knowmg that they aren't around the ednfusion."

l Although his spouse left reluctant.

I ly, Mayor Reid related, "I told my wife I would probably be the last to leave."

l "Yes," conteamed the mayor with an unmasuming tilt. of the heed, i

' "Like a captain who goes down '

with the smking ship I stayed."

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'd *l1 goes down-Stafit; i ,Likeda ceptain M t with his sinking ship, she paly

, Black mayor in the statet has H endured the week of crians. in t

4% " Middletown -'enn, ply ' playing it by d.\ \'4 ear." Robert Reid re= naled that he 1 has 'been constantly "left in the i

{-. .j da rk." .

' Perha'pe Reid has, n,, y . ,, ,ot been ig.

, nored, bypassed.or. overlooked as v

A the official head of that small Jg [ center. state' bornugh now known

,,.d,,f$y+3,4 7 WsM worldwide. But when Jimmy Carter.

visited the crisis ares Sunday, three u, ,

t miles from the heart of Middletown, the President received no of5cial key to the town. .,#

!' REID WAS NOT beside Carter:

! and Governor Dick Thornburgh as.

the, two toured the crippled 'Diree l 7 l

, ROBERT REID, the only' Bl'acTmdyor 1n'the Etate!< - g$*i,*I","d ,, ""*I**';("g""f"M*Y presidea was struck over by the the small Dauphin County-borough near-catastrophe that'. the= free'ident arnved,. Reid had atThredle Island.

' - Gwen McKinney P,hotou ,4 ggggiugg..; A,,g ggn.,.ed his .,,h si,tas.j .g .

amply a 3D; Dressed in!6ve alle2 and aMind-

, breaker with the embroidered wdrd T$6iEd$'{Ihe'rdafor dot a" glimpse'of

. CErter'with.the thousands of press.

- escGiity and emergency'of5'ials c .

! CReill'ailife is nuttshaken because

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i 'governo'r 's of5 cec 'Tm just worried-ab'o^ut my town,* he said;. However; her firmly <' criticized theminitial-reporta that left hi~m handicapped, andfhard pressed for information.

when the borough phone began tog nng., , . - ,,p The, March 28 . accident. was reportedly first acknowledged at 4 A.M. by the nuclear plant's ce owner. Metropolitan Edison Co. "I didn't know. what. was going on until 11 that monung/' noted Reid, who said he was forced to rely'on the local radio station for.infoma.

tion. , .