ML20206R306

Submits Georgians Against Nuclear Energy Comments Re Intent of Georgia Tech to Decommission Neely Research Reactor at Georgia Inst of Technology,Atlanta,Ga

ML20206R306
Person / Time
Site:	Neely Research Reactor
Issue date:	04/13/1999
From:	Carroll G GEORGIANS AGAINST NUCLEAR ENERGY
To:	NRC
References
NUDOCS 9905200077
Download: ML20206R306 (2)

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GANE (Georgians Against Nuclear Energy)

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,hg Comments to .S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about Decommissioning the Neely Research Reactor ' Q DeDR Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia .

k4 g DEDM Ry April 13,1999 GANE is pleased to submit comment'sconcerning the intent of Georgia Tech to decommission its

', research reactor on its downtown Atlanta campus. We are aware that Georgia Tech submitted their decommissioning plan to the NRC prior to the new' NRC decommissioning rule requiring public

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participation, and therefore, GANE perceives goodwill.on the part of Georgia Tech and the NRC in soliciting public input. '

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We honor Georgia Tech for deciding to retire its research ieactor. We see this as a perfect opportimity to'begin to map the territory betweeri the " rock and'the hard place that l'o ng-lived (

radiation and. fallible humanity has created. May God bless all of us who are facing and working I with, questioning and arguing about the knotty problem of nuclear waste.

Landfilling the radioactive contamination and waste from the 5 Mw Georgia Tech reactor

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may well seem innocuous when contrasted with the legacy of a full scale 1,000 Mw reactor. But this is where the qualifying designation "research" comes into play.

GANE is convinced that better methods of nuclear waste management can be developed if we at least make an effort. We urge Georgia Tech and its brilliant and creative community of -

scientists, engineers, a'nd policymakers to look further than the 50-year-old premise of burying .

, nuclear waste. Our experience with nuclear waste in our so-called modern society has been disastrous. Contaminated groundwater and soil and poor recordkeeping resulting in institutional ignorance and memory loss have been the unfortunate. standard that promises accidental exposures.

We call on all of you, Dr. Nolan Hertel, Dr. Rodney Ice, Dr. Narl Davison, Marvin Mendonqa and _all the other good folk who are responsible for this decision. We have met with f ,

you, and we saw that you love your children and you enjoy a good ' laugh. We wonder if the O

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weight of the decision you are asked to make weighs heavily on you? If responsibility to the people of South Carolina and Utah, to the turtles and ' wood storks, the alligators and trout, not only the living, but the unborn desirotis oflife, hoping for genetic ' material so carefully and precisely formed over cons, makes you afraid of making a mistake?

We want to share this heavy responsibility with you. We need scientists and engineers to gp2O manage the radioactive waste problems, but you also need us, the artists and nattiralists, the '

mothers and clergy, the farmers and storytellers, the doctors and educators . . .

' We have made terdble mistakes in the past. But as urgent as it is that we make progress,

, true progress, with nuclear waste management, we must proceed with careful deliberation that the future not be placed at grave risk.

, 9905200077 990413 PDR ADOCK 05000160 '

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, . . Please read, and enter the attached piece,The Standard Remembering of Our Ancestors in -

.the Times of Nuclear Peril"into the comment record. We hope that reading "The Standard

Remensering" will make it ea'sier to see the future people that depend upon us and'the path we take:

- into their present.

• Admittedly, there are risks a'ssociated with the presence of a nuclear contaminated building in the middle of Georgia Tech campus in heavily populated Atlanta. Wisely, the irradiated fuel, and - ,

the weapons-grade uranium were retumed to the appmpriate DOE facilities, where there are communities of people scratching their heads trying to figure out how to proceed with the nuclear waste problem. Along those lines,it is urgent that the hundreds of thousands of curies of cobalt-60 be returned to Savannah River Site where it,can be more appropriately handled. l All the rest of the contamination should be handled on the Georgia Tech site where we can ',

practice keeping the radia't ion from the biosphere and develop ways to remember longer'than people and institutions have ever had to remember. '

To do all of this around young people is daunting. But young people will always be at risk from our radioactive legacy, so let's proceed deliberately and keep the hazard where we can see.

, andmon tor i t.i~Where we'can remember it and tell each other about it so we will not inadvertently huit one another with it. -

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_ The height of creativity that humans have shown is in our understandirig and ability to manipulate the very building blocks of creation itself, the atom. But we have not fmished. Now we must catch up with our creation a:xi face an even greater creative challenge, to manage the fue that we have unleashed. .We can do this, but only if we truly embrace the challenge.

GANE hopes you will accept this great challenge. We ~will help in' any way we'are able.

, .In God We Trust.

, - Glenn Carrol!

Representative for GANE l

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P.O. Box 8574 I Atlanta, GA 30306 404-378-4263' 1

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