ML20136C892

Discusses Causal Relationship Between TMI Accident & Physiological Discomfort & Ill Health Experienced by Surrounding Population

ML20136C892
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	08/31/1979
From:	Arnold L PARASCIENCE INTERNATIONAL
To:	Hendrie J NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
Shared Package
ML20136C883	List: ML20136C878 ML20136C892
References
790802-01, 790802-1, NUDOCS 7910170438
Download: ML20136C892 (4)

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• PA RASCIENCE INTERNA TIONA L 1a 1025 MiHer Lane, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17110 U.S. A.

- Larry E. Arnold, director August 2,1979 Joseph M Hendrie, Chairman U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555 Dear Mr. Hendrie s As one who lives 16 miles north-northwest of Three Mile Island (in the direction of the most intense radioactive plume movement following the recent accident there) and who has been challenging for several years hetro-politan Edison's ability to ope:nte without serious incident their nuclear facility, we have to date refrained from addressing you on the most recent (and serious) accident at ThI-2 because we have seen no indication that our concerns would be received any differently than in the damnable and uncon-sciorable way the Atomic Safety and Licencing Boari resporAed to the public (ourself included) in the licensing process f or TXI-2 in 1977 -- wherein Chairman E:dwad Luton told us (and other members of the community-at-large) that our comments would not be entered as part of the permanent record (Docket No. 50-320) and, hence, were irrelevant to the decisien-making process of the NRC, However, in reviewing the transcript of the NRC Commissicners' July 24 closed-loor meeting ostensibly to discuss personnel natters that turned into arguments for and against the introduction cf mental health effects among the hurdreds-of-thousands who were subjected to TEI-2's novel and reprehen-sible form of terrorism as part of the decision to return EI-i to critical-ity, we are finally moved to respond, First, you who have refused to attend a public meetin6 with Newberrytown citizens in the TMI five-mile rsdius area because such would prejudice your decision regading Three Elle Island -- a position we can only interpret as an unwavering pro-nuclear commitment that cannot take into account the feel-ings and lives of those people most intimately affected by America's worst commercial reactor accident to date -- should remove yourself from any decision-making responsibility in the matter cf Three Mile Island. (Af terall, a trustworthy judge removes himself f rom a case towards which he has a bias or conflict-of-interest.) This policy should be adhered to by each NRC

- Commissioner who continues to isolate himself from direct personal contact i with the people of this areas af terall, one's eyes can speak where wods fail, j You can retain this disregad of southcentral Fennsylvanians' concerns ,

and fears about ZI only so long as you maintain your isolation from such j personal interchange. We suggest you speak with Commissioner C111nsky, who ,

i to his credit was willing to face the people .in Middletown on June 29: he '

learnst ver/ quickly that there are reo"le out there beyond the sanctified walls of the NRC's Washington office, not faceless numbers in some Reactor 791017043g "today's frontiers are tomorrow's understanding...** l

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'.s PSI: Arnold to Hendrie, 2 August 1979 2 l

Safety Study's accident-casualty statistics, You owe yourself, and Americans living beyond the kill-zone of TMI, the same experience Mr Gilinsky has had, Perhaps then you won't place the Nuclear Industry's survival above the safety and survival of the citizens who pay your salar/ ard expect protection, rather than sell them out as you did in 1972 in response to Stephen Harauer's assessment of "prepordemnt safety disadvantages" in the General Electric reactor system.

Second, regariing Chief Council Leonazti Bickwit's advisement that under atomic energy statutes "public health and safety" considerations in operating a nuclear plant are usually viewed rarrewly as physical problems caused direct-ly by exposure to radiation, The issue of public health and safety can be ignored, it was implied, because no such short-term exposure problems have surfaced from the T!'I-2 accident, This doas not saem at all to be the case, Chairman Hendrie, j Extensive and self-funded investigation conducted by ParaJcience Inter %- '

tional, an orgarlzation which examines and documents unconventional aspects of ran and his environnent, clearly point.,to hurdreds cf persons who experi-enced physiological disconf ort or ill-health as the result of radionuclides released from TVI-2 on and after harch 28, 1979, Intertiews at length have been held with scores of people who suffered l varyin6 combinations of the following symptoms:

Metallic taste in the air Metallic or Iodine-like odor I Irritated and watery eyes l I;oderate or severe respiratory inflammation  !

Castro-intestinal dysfunction ard diarrnea l

t Lisruption of menstrsl cycle in fenales (also reported during fallout from the Chinese A-bomb detoration in 1977, which fell upon ,

southcentralFennsylvarla) l Skin rashes (of ten giving the appearance of radiation burn)

Sharp, abnorral pains in joints 3efere discounting these symptoms as psychosocatic (as I;et-Ed did, those f ew they knew of that is), it is significant that seveal of those inter <iewed echoed the statenent of a life-long resi: lent of southcental Tennsylvarla who spoke of the days March 26-30, 1979: "I grew up with pollution from coal and lived in Steelton for awhile [ site of 3ethlehem Steel's fourdry), ard I nevar had such severe burning in my throat or that airful metallic tastel" i'

The only identifiable source for some 'new pollutant' in the atmosphere durirg this period has been TMI-2 and the radionuclides it released, Supporting the attribution of these maladies to TMI-2 activity, 1) these reports from points up to 10 niles from the reactor coincide with two confirmed

2) those suffering these l (and likely three) (radioactive releases from T",Iin genersl) quickly once they evacuate i

synptoms recovered

! TMI: and 3) the U S Government, according to an inf ormant, recogrl:ed nore than a decade ago a link between the presence of Indionuclides arri metallic

! taste in the atmosphere, 1

Further1nore, PSI's pioneering research into the effects of ' low-level' _

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PSI: Arnold to Hendrie, 2 August 1979 ')

mdiation following the March 28 accident has revealed a segment of the popu-lation that is highly sensitive to the presence of extremely low loses of radiation emitted by nuclear power plants. That is, there are persons 11viry in the vicinity of commeraial nuclear reactors whose bMies f unction as incr~11bly sensitive dosimeters, One can reasonably conclude, then, if a person's physiology is reacting to a plume's mdioactive contents that person's tio-processes - that is, health - are likewise being affected, How much radiation was released from TKI? What was its composition? And how much Isdiation can a person be exposed to before exhibiting short-term exposure problems? l As you know, the NRC and the Nuclear Industry - and even those various i health physics experts who oppose the Nuclear Industry - do not know the answer to any of these questions, F.xcept that the amounts of radiation I released from TMI has progressively risen in the official estimates, while the so-called safe levels of exposure censistently decline as medical science advances -

However, one thin;; seems less nebulous to us, The response to the claim made during the July 24 meeting at no peysical problems resulted from TMI-2's radioactive discharges is, tased on our research and in legal parlence, j "Beyond a reasonable shadow of doubt, not sol" Just as some individuals are susceptible to adverse reactions from pollens and certain medications, others seem highly vulnerable to the presence of radionuclides from electricity-generating or malfunctioning reactors, What percentage of the population falls into this latter group is unknown, j

as the susceptitility to Indiation at extremely low deses (unless the releases from southcentral pennsylvania nuclear reactors have baen grossly in excess of officially released figures) has heretofore apparently been unrecognized (and certainly unquantified), This is an area that should warrent the Connission-ers' immediate attention.

The question for the moment, however, is thiss Can these nersons, a-A curely othero net con + acted and seaved by TS!, be Morad any lonrer by the , -- especially now that their vulnerab}e suscentibility nas open brourht I to your atte e ten?

Whether or not the nental health aspect is admitted in the consideration

, of re-opening TFI-1 -- and in our view it definitely should bel -- the Commis-i sioners will be violating their own operating directives as establishe1 by the i U, J., Conrress if they fail to consider the physical ailments that manifested so similarly among southeentzsl Tennsylvanians and that coincided with "

sdicactive releabes frem Three Mile Island, And from Teach 30ttom's reactern too, we night add --

l, Je shall be pleased to share, in person, the results of our unique and continuing investications into the physiological health affects an:1 other unsuspected aspects of Three Mile Island's accident on the surrounding off-site population. The physical symptoms cited are an aspect of the accident the l Commissioners cannot justifiably 1 pore, we feel, for the ramifications affect j

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i PSI: Arnold to Hendrie, 2 August 1979 4 not only southcentral Pennsylvanians but most of the population in America living within the Indioactive threat and shadow of 72 licensed (and many more proposed) commercial reactors, It is time -- past time, really - that the NRC cease being doctriraire, and end its pattern of selectively excluding the more discor.forting and difficult aspects of the nuclear reactor cycle from public consideration and safety.

With the expectation that the NRC now views its responsibilities to the people more holistically, and is willing to examine the evidence (as uncon-ventional as it may seem to you) of physical health effects of low-level radiation, we remain in anticipation of your response Most sincerely yours,

- E-Iarry E. , nold, Director Parasci .ce . ternational cca Commissioner Victer Cilinsky, NRC Commissioner Peter Pradford, !*30 Comissioner E1 chard T.ennedy, NRC Comnissioner John Ahearne, :RC

? resident Jimmy Carter Or John Eemeny, the ? residential Conmission on Three l:lle Island Senator Richard Schweiker, Pennsylvania 1

3enater John Heinz III. Fennsylvania Senator Gary Hart Serate e,ubconmittee Investigatir4 Three alle Island Rep, I. orris Udall, House Subconnittee on Three f:ile Islarsi Rep, Allen Ertel,17th 21 strict

! Eep. Bill Coolling,19th District i'

Senator Ceorge Cekas,15th Dietrict Generaly Assembly Rep. Jeff Piccola,104th District General Assembly, House Special Committee Rep, Stephen Reed,103ri District General Assembly, House Special Committee Patricia Harris, Director HEd Robert Reid, ;'ayer of liiddletown Drs, Chauncey Kepford ard Jtx11th Johnsrud, Environmental Coalition on -

Nuclear Fower and Interveners on TMI-2 TMIA: Three Mile Island Alert i

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