ML20198H499
| ML20198H499 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Maine Yankee |
| Issue date: | 06/23/1997 |
| From: | Block J AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | Shirley Ann Jackson, The Chairman NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20198H497 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9709180140 | |
| Download: ML20198H499 (5) | |
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Jonathan M. Block ATTORNEY.
AT law Jonb@sover. net Main Street -
P.O. Box 566 Putney, Vermont 05346-0566 (802)387 2646(vox)
-2667 (fax)
June 23,1997.
Commission Shirley A. Jackson,-Chairworaan United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20005 BY-FAX AND OVERNIGHT MAIL RE: The structure of_the license transfer. process in the event of a sale
- of the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Station
Dear Chairwoman hekson,
I am writing to you on behalf of my clients in Maine who are members of the New-England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution [NECNP).
They -_ are extremely concerned about how the NRC will handle a change' in the
-ownership of the Maine; Yankee Nuclear Power Station. At this point, their -
concerns have been exacerbated by recent; communications from you and:
Commissioner Diaz which indicate that the Maine Yankee restart will be based upont subjective " undue risk" standard.rather than a thorough assay for " substantial _ compliance with regulations." Maine members of NECNP are _ worried that the particular circumstances which have culminated in the unsafe-conditions at Maine Yankee -are a direct result of your agency's
. istoric (and : continuing) failure to hold Mcne Yankee Atomic Electric h
Company to a. " substantial compliance with regulations" standard.
This historic failure..wlsich will continue and be amplified by use of a mere
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" undue" risk standard.-has led to-the shutdown 'of cfour reactors in
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Connectictit, in addition to Maine Yankee, the compromising of" defense in depth safety systems, and the loss of untold billions of ' dollars to ratepayers in the Northeast.
- My-Maine clients are faceci wi h the prospect of a change in the owncrship t
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of Maine Yankee at a time when the historic lack of s'ubstantial compliance with regulations, coupled with the past and recent allegations concerning Yankee Atomic Electric Company's falsifications of its engineering X
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Y Letter to NRC Chairwoman Shirley A. Jackson
' on behalfofNew england Coalition on Nuclear Pollution (6/23S7)
Page 2 constiting work and operations oversight at Maine Yankee, n.ake it plain that any new owner will be taking on far more than " latch key" operetion.
Maine Yankee is plagued by extremely serious problems.
Significantly, the NRC's Independent Safety Assessment Team [ISAT]
analysis and report relied upon only selected samples of Maine Yaukee systems. Even evaluating these few selected samples, the ISAT found 3200 open items and 1200 related safety items needing to be remedied at Maine Yankee.
When Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company began to attempt to solve these problems, they uncovered new ones.
The bottom line is that Maine Yankee has, for all intents and purposes, stopped trying to fix these problems, radically cut back its staff, and turned its efforts to selling the facility. This means that whoever buys Maine Yankee will be taking over a facility that is not by any stretch of the imagination ready to operate.
Moreover, a prospective buyer will be taking on a facility that has not completely gotten to the bottom of reviewing and fixing its operational problems, and, most significantly, does not have adequate documentation to allow new personnel to understand the current status and design basis of the facility.
You anc' the other Commissioners are well aware of the process by which nuclear power reactor caerators modify facilities over time. Maine Yankee, like her sister facilities in Connecticut which were (and are) under the engineering guidance of Yankee Atomic Electric Company, has relied upon
" experience" to maintain safe operations, rather than a properly updated, comprehensive, and assessable Final Safety Analysis Report. Such a use of live, on-site " lifers" who just "know" operations--e.g., that a safety system is inoperable, that a safety valve was welded shut ten years ago, etc.--is dangerous. Absurdly unsafe as this practice is, however, when a new owner steps in, it will quickly become impossible for the new managers and workers to know the actual operational status of the reactor facility.
The pattern is well documented: layoffs or firings (in the name of efficiency or cost-cutting), some selective rehirings, and general replacement with new personnel, The risks t'o occupational and public health and safety cannot be overestimated when a nuclear reactor operation, such as Maine Yankee, lacking adequate up-to-date FSAR and design-basis documentation, is turned over (twice) to new management and personnel who do not have an historical understanding of the "as evolved" reactor configuration.
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[etter to NRC Chairwoman Shtrity A. Jackson
' on behaffofNew england Coatinon on Nuclear Pollution (W2297)
Page 3 I
Maine Yankee faces even greater difficulties in this regard as the NRC and Maine Yankee Atomic Electric Company restart plans already contain a large inventory of items "to be addressed" which are only putially completed, as well as a significant number of items "yet to be addressed,"
Will a new owner / operator be held to the same requirements?
Will the NRC allow a back-door revision of the requirements to ease the acute financial burdens and assist a new owner in quickly getting Maine Yankee on line--at the expense of remedying all of the knoivn problems which caused the Maine Yankee shut down and protracted failure to restart?
The word "known" is md advisedly, as recent novel allegations further undermine the credil.ihty of Yankee Atomic Electric Company's engineering and supervisory oversight at Maine Yankee.
These new allegations, coupled with the past ones, raise the specter of literally years of questionable practices at Maine Yankee, practices which undercut the reliability of key safety margins and systems.
How could a new owner / operator adequately address the scope of the problems posed by years of questionaS'e practices when your agency's " thorough" oversight failed to discern tl. t they were taking place? There is no comfort in the fact that my clients, as recently as February, raised quest' ions to your agency, the pursuit of which would (if taken even in the leait seriously) have led you to uncover these problems, Your agency failed to respond to these' questions, so that, once again, were it not for a whistleblower's disclosures, these problems, would have never have come to light, What does this say about the adequacy of the staff changes you implemented in order to root out shoddy NRC inspection practices and cover-ups which allowed Maine Yankee and the Connecticut reactors to fall into such sorry, unsafe, and costly disrepair?'
A prospective owner / buyer may plan to bring in all new personnel and will, in any event, have no historical understanding of Maine ' Yankee as it has come to exist under myriad modifications. When this is coupled with the b
lack of adequate documentation for changes to the facility over time, the prospect of new management without either experience of this facility or a
" complete owners manual" is troubling,.to say the least.
Next, consider that Yankee Atomic Electric Company did nearly all of the engineering analysis at Maine Yankee for well over a decade.
Their
'I am thinking, specifically, of the Peter Atherton case in which the fellow was apparently bedeviled by his colleagues, harassed out of the NRC, and his otherwise sound and correct s analysis and concerns deliberately and systematically dismissed and discarded by the NRC.
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Letter to NRC Chairwoman Shirley A. Jackson on behalfofNew england Coahtton on Nuclear Pollution (6/23/97)
Page A efforts, as you know, are yet again suspect.
Hence, the value of YAEC i
engineering support has been compromised.
Hence, assurances of plant safety and operations have, likewise, been compromised.
Thus, my clients want to know, in addition to the questions raised above, exactly what the NRC plans to require of any new owner / operator in the following regards:
What opportunities will the public have to intervene in a licensing (or transfer of license) proceeding in this matter?
Will transfer of control be affec*ed by a licensing proceeding, or will your agency permit transfer under the provisions of 10 CFR 50.807 What, if any, special steps will be taken in this case to ascertain that a new owner has tne financial wherewithal to remedy all of the problems at Maine Yankee, in addition to meeting the technical and financial requirements of 10 CFR 50.33 and 50.34?
Given that the extant regulations neither contemplate nor discuss transfer of an operating license from the owner of a nuclear power reactor in the severely compromised condition of Maine Yankee to another, how does your agency legally rationalize permitting such a transfer to take place; i.e., as your rulemaking for the rules at issue did not evaluate the health and safety impacts of this situation as required by the Atomic Energy Act, on what basis would it be permitted?
If the NRC does contemplate permitting a license transfer, what special conditions: if any, will be imposed upon a new owner prior to allowing a restart?
Given that the ISAT analysis was carried out prior to the recent allegations concerning YAEC's engineering and oversight falsifications, does the NRC plan to put a hold on any licensing or transfer of the license until the safety implications of these new charges have been adequately worked out and all previously unanalyzed safety preblems connected with these allegations have been eliminated?
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, Letter to NRC Chairwoman Shirley A. Jackson Pay 5 on behalfofNew england Coalition on Nuclear Pollution (W23/97) l
- Given that, Maine Yankee cannot meet the current regulatory requirements for licensure without relying upon exemptions granted to it I
to " grandfather in" otherwise unacceptable conditions (e.g., placing such a facility in RD area Where adCquate emergency evacuation is impossible), does the NRC plan to try to pass along all of the exemptions granted to the original owners over the years, or does the NRC plan to come up with a major overhaul program which a new owner must completely implement prior to the NRC permitting a restart of Maine Yankee?
As a finel note, my clients inform rne that local press reports stated that one prospective buyer / owner has announced that it had a team of attorneys look into the transfer oflicense proceeding, and was assured that it would be the proverbial " shoe-in." My clients believe that any information your agency's attorneys and/or staff and/or Commissioners may have provided to such prospective owner's agents (including attorneys) is not covered by any conceivable privilege, and should immediately be disclosed to us in attachments to your response to this letter.
We appreciate your prompt reply to these concerns.
Sincerely, 0:wmA nathan M. Block Attorney for NECNP James Perkins, President, NECNP cc:
Ray Shadis, Trustee, NECNP Andy Burt, Sec., Friends of the Coast Opposing Nuclear Pollution Debby Katz, President, Citizens Awareness Network Paul Gunter, Nuclear Information and Resource Service Robert Backus, Esq., Seacoast Anti-Pollution League Dianne Curran, Esq., Seacoast Anti-Pollution League David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists U.S. NRC Office of the Inspector General Senators Joseph R. Biden, Susan Collins, Christopher Dodd, Edward M. Kennedy, John Kerry, Joseph I. Lieberman, Olympia Snow 1
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