ML20151G655
| ML20151G655 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Pilgrim |
| Issue date: | 03/25/1988 |
| From: | Collins S NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I) |
| To: | Muirhead D, Ott M CITIZENS URGING RESPONSIBLE ENERGY |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20151G640 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8804200087 | |
| Download: ML20151G655 (3) | |
Text
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/
h UNITED STATES i
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
]
j REGION I u'
f 476 ALLENDALE ROAD KING OF PRUSStA, PENNSYLVANIA 19406 MAR 251988 Citizens Urging Responsible Energy ATTN: Ms. Mary C. Ott Dr. Donald M. Muirhead, Jr.
Co-Chairmen Box 2621 Duxbury, Massachusetts 02331
Dear Ms. Ott and Dr. Muirhead:
This acknowledges receipt of your letter dated March 1,1988, regarding (1) a fire event which occurred on February 11,1988 at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, and (2) requests before NRC to provide for an adjudicatory hearing before allowing restart of the Pilgrim reactor.
In accordance with the requirements of the Pilgrim Emergency Plan and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Radiological Emergency Response Plan, Pilgrim must notify the Massachusetts State Police within 15 minutes of declaration of an "Unusual Event." The provisions of the Commonwealth Plan, in turn, require the State Police to notify the towns within the Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ).
Our investigation into this incident has indicated that an "Unusual Event" was declared at approximately 7:50 p.m.
on February 11, 1988.
Verification that the Massachusetts State Police received the notification occurred at 7:55 p.m.
It is our understanding that the State Police did not notify the EPZ towns as required by the Commonwealth's Plan.
We have informed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Region I, in Boston of this fact.
If you have questions concerning the Commonwealth's role in this incident, I recommend that you contact Mr. Peter Agnes, Assistant Secretary of Public Safety, for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In addition to the formal notifications as outlined above, the Pilgrim Emerg-ency Preparedness group has instituted an informal program to ensure that the Civil Defense Directors for each town are informed of events that occur at Pilgrim. This informal notification is not intended to take the place of for-mal notifications, but rather provide up-to-date information on events of potential town or public interest to the affected Civil Defense Directors.
This informal notification was accomplished within approximately one hour of the declaratien of Unusual Event on February 11, 1988.
Based on an assessment of the seriousness of the fire, we have concluded that, although the licensee's Emergency Plan did not require the Watch Engineer to cla ssi fy this fire as an Unusual Event, the Watch Engineer elected to take this action as a conservative and prudent approach to the event.
The elapsed time from the report of the fire to the time the fire was extinguished was approximately 17 minutes.
It is likely that the fire could have been extinguished earlier by the Fire Brigade, however, the Watch Engineer determined that the fire was not severe enough to warrant emergency waiver of l
radiological precautions for the Fire Brigade members.
8804200087 880407 PDR ADOCK 0500 3
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Don ld R Ulrhead, Jr.
- The fire did not "require" of f-site assistance.
However, Pilgrim has entered into an agreement with the Plymouth Fire Department (PFO) to call them whenever a fire is detected on Pilgrim property which results in the calling out of the Fire Brigade.
It is the policy of PF0 to respond with at least one piece of fire apparatus, with normal response to be all fire apparatus. Pilgrim called
- he PF0 in accordance with the agreement and the PFD responded with four pieces of fire apparatus. At no time was this event considered as having the poten-tial to escalate to an event which would have threatened public health and safety.
Your comments regarding the fact that the emergency radio broadcast station was not notified indicates an apparent misconception.
The emergency broadcast stations in the Pilgrim EPZ, including WATO radio in Marshfield, are under agreement with the Commonwealth. Accordingly, notification to these stations would come from the Commonwealth.
Additionally, any questions that the sta-tions might have should be directed back to their Commonwealth contact.
An Unusual Event would not normall/ result in any notifications from the Commonwealth to the EBS stations due to the lack of any public health risk.
Boston Edison does maintain a 24-hour nuclear information line to answer rou-tine questions concerning Pilgrim and emergency preparedness. However, this is designed as a non-emergency point of contact.
Questions regarding events should be directed to town or state public information offices that would establish communications for information and rumor control.
In summary, we have identified no violations of regulatory requirements in this matter by Boston Edison Company. As the enclosed inspection report shows, the licensee identified a procedural violation regarding notification of the Town of Plymouth and is taking corrective actions.
This is not related to the notification sequence involving the Town of Ouxbury.
If we can be of any further assistance, please feel free to contact Dr. Ronald Bellamy at (215) 337-5200.
The staff continues to consider requests for adjudicatory hearings for the Pilgrim Restart in connection with our responses to previously received Petitions filed pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206.
Sincerely, i
eputy Director Division of Reactor Projects l
l
MAR z 51988 Ms. Mary C. Ott 3
Dr. Donald R. Muirhead, Jr.
Enclosure:
NRC Region I Inspection Report No. 50-293/88-09 cc w/ encl:
E. Thomas, FEMA - Region I J