ML20203B350

Petition of Ef Feighan for Leave to Intervene & Request for Hearing Re Util Proposal to Store Low Level Radioactive Sludge Onsite.Served on 860416

ML20203B350
Person / Time
Site:	Davis Besse
Issue date:	04/14/1986
From:	Feighan E HOUSE OF REP.
To:	NRC
References
CON-#286-814 86-252-ML, 86-525-ML, ML, TAC-60875, NUDOCS 8604180157
Download: ML20203B350 (3)

Text

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00bhii;N BR sc, b PETITION TO PARTICIPATE In the matter of:

TOLEDO EDISON COMPANY, ET. AL. Docket No. 50-346-ML (Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, ASLBP No. 86-525-ML Unit No. 1)

April 14, 1986 SER63 MG 1 ~ vm As the United States Representative from Ohio's 19th Congressional District, I have a responsibility to serve as a watchdog over federal regulatory activity that may affect the health or welfare of my constituents. Toledo Edison Co. and Cleveland Electric Illuminati.nq Co.'s (hereina f ter " licensees")

proposal to store low-level radioactive sludge on the site of the Davis-Besse power station may have dangerous and enduring consequences for the thousands of my constituents who live near the Davis-Besse plant or take their drinking water from Lake Erie.

Ohio's 19th Congressional District includes most of the suburbs to the East, South and West of Cleveland, including Bay Village, Beachwood, Bentleyville, Brecksville, Broadview IIeichts, Chagrin Falls, Euclid, Fairview Park, Gates Mills, Glenwillow,

!!ighland IIciqhts , ilunting Valley, Independence, Lakewood, Lyndhurst, Mayfield, Mayfield lleights, Morelands Ilills, North Olmsted, North l Royalton, Oakwood, Parma, Parma lieights, Pepper Pike, Richmond licigh ts , Rocky River, Solon, South Euclid, Strongsville, Valley View, 8604180157 860414 PDR ADOCK 05000346 0 PDR 3

\ 2 Walton Hills, Westlake, Olmsted, Wickliffe, Willowick, Willoughby l

i Hills, and Columbia Township. The Eastern portion of the 19th District lies ~ approximately 30 miles Southwest of the Davis-Besse site. Virtually all of the cities and towns in the District take their drinking water from Lake Erie.

The Davis-Besse site lies in a marshy flood plain less than two miles from the shore of Lake Erie. I am deeply concerned that flooding from the Lake could carry radioactive contaminants from the proposed storage basins back to the Lake or facilitate the contamination of groundwater sources in the area. The possibility of flooding in this area is not a remote one. In fact, Lake water levels are presently at all-time highs. The Director of the Office of Hydrology of the National Weather Service, Michael D. Ludlow, has warned that "Especially alarming thin year are the Great-Lakes, where new record high levels are expected to be set.... The potential for flooding and severe property damage and erosion is extremely <

1 high for the shoreline of Lake Erie..."

If the main body of Lake Erie were to be contaminated by l

l radioactive materials from the Davis-Besse site, the consequences would be disastrous. Such contamination would threaten the drinking water supply, and thus the health, of hundreds of thousands of citizens in the Greater Cleveland area. It would drastically.

reduce the usefulness of the Lake as a site for recreational boatinq Itwouldpois$'ntheprospectsfor.recoveryofan and fishing.

increasingly vigorous commercial fishing industry operating on'the Lake. It would destroy the source of pure water .that is essential to Greater Cleveland's economic revitalization. For.the past'two P

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decades, efforts by the federal, state and local governments, as well as by many private organizations, have transformed Lake Erie from a dangerously polluted body of water into a clean and ,

economically vibrant lake. I would urge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to be extremely cautious about a plan tha t could well jeopardize so much hard-won progress.

Although they do not necessarily support the wording of this filing, the City Councils of eight of the towns in the 19th District have passed resolutions backing its conclusion that the proposed storage of low-level radioactive wastes should not be l

permitted. They are the City Councils of Lakewood, Euclid,>Parma, Mayfield Heights, Mayfield Village, Rocky River, Lyndhurst and Beachwood. I believe these resolutions attest to the widespread discontent with the proposed storaqe plan.

WARD PE CHAN Member of Congress 1

The News-Herald, March 23, 1986, p. A19, a