ML20207E732

Forwards Constituent Tj Cotov Expressing Concerns on Possible Safety Deficiencies at Facility & Calling for Full NRC Investigation

ML20207E732
Person / Time
Site:	Oyster Creek
Issue date:	06/04/1986
From:	Howard J HOUSE OF REP.
To:	Kammerer C NRC OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS (OCA)
Shared Package
ML20207E711	List: ML20207E707 ML20207E732
References
NUDOCS 8607220409
Download: ML20207E732 (3)

Text

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JA DES 1 HOWARD

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'EICEIoE'siSIn IDashington, BE 20515 June 4, 1986 Mr. Carlton Kanmerer, Director Office of Congressional Affairs Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1717 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20555

Dear Mr. Kamierer:

Ihaverecen[lybeencontactedbyaconstituent,Mr.ThomasJ.

Cotov, regarding the Oyster Creek Nuclear renerating Station located in Forked River, New Jersey. Please find enclosed a copy of pertinent correspondence.

As you may note, Mr. Cotov is very concerned about possible safety deficiencies at Oyster Creek.

Your assistance in addressing his concerns would be greatly appreciated.

With kind regards, I am Sincerely, MA p

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JAMES. HOWARD Member of Congress JJH/bp Enclosure 1

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May 29, 1986 Hon. James J. Howard House of Representatives 2245 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C.

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Dear Congressman Howard:

I am a staff attorney with the above stated legal services fund and have been a resident of your hometown, the Borough of Spring Lake Heights, virtually all of my life.

As I'm sure you are aware, two members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) told the House Energy, Conservation, and Power Subcommittee on May 22, 1986, that the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey Township was among the least safe plants in the country.

To a resident of a munici-pality within 35 miles of the facility, this information is very unsettling.

Although a. plant spokesm.an dismisse.d the evaluation as a mere "off-the-et,1ff" remark,.we must neve'theless be mindful r

of the constant' need to enforce. stringent safety standards especially~in light of the recent Chernobyl disaster.

I, therefore, request that you call upon th< NRC to conduct a full investigation of the Oyster Creek facility and if deficiencies are found, take steps to see that they are corrected.

Thank you for the attention that you give te this mattel.

Respectfully, o

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today listed the best and worst noclear De regulators agreed,however,that

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dded that they were especially con-Their comments, ut a Congressional aerned about safety problems at the

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• heanng on nuclear safety, follow con-c cern both in Congress and the agency eight operable Babcock ts Wilcox lants similar in design toanit 2 at 1 i}

about hundreds of continuing problems pDree Mile Island, in which the worst y

iat American nuclear plants involving' American commercial accident oc-

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safety system failures spurred by er.

urred in March 1979. Rose very senst-j*

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' management. The problems have tive plants are believed more difficult o operate and some, such as Davis-l l

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!taken on added significance since the tBesse and Rancho Seco, are shut down m

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.' Soviet reactor disaster at Chernobyl, following serious safety failures last Q%[('E e many nuclear experts say, l. The five members of the commission year. The agency is overseeing a full-l

'said it was too early to make detailed scale study of those plants by' their

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' comparisons between American plants Representative Carlos J. Moorhead of California, the ranking Republican

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hsentative Edward J. Markey, Demo. Energy and Commerce Committee.

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crat of Massachusetts, who ran the lhcaring, the commissioners Ilsted 32 said, "These incidents raise important questions whether the N.R.C. is as ef.

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. reactors at 19 plants.

fective as it could be."

" Management is the fundamental Here are the utilities, reactors and l 'I

• aspect of safety," said James K. Assel. their locations, as named by the com-

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'stine, a member of the commission. missioners-b

. "There is a wide diversity in manage, l

. ment performance among the plants Best - 15

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.,and we don't regulate management Duke Power Company, William Mc-r.

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' very we!!.a Guire 1 and 2 in Cornelius, N.C.

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. Bit of A ngance, Duke Power Company, Oconee I,2 and

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'In the course of the hearing, the com-3 in Seneca, S.C.

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. mission's chairman, Nunzio J. Palladi-Duke Power Company, Catawba 1 in a.

Clover, S.C.

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, no, cited a " recalcitrant" attitude and Northeast Utaities, Millstone 1,2 and 3

-BY WILI. LAM E* SCHMIDT i a " bit of arrogance" by some utility ex-in Waterford, Conn.

l ecutives toward safety improvements.De best plants included all six units Alabama Power Company, Joseph M.*

MURFREESBORO, Term., May 21

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, operated by the Duke Power Company Farley1 and 2, Houston County, Ala.

-Two and a half hours before the {0-e in North and South Carolina. The worst Northern States Power Company, Mon..

car Tennessee Homecoming Special

.-included the five units operated by the ticello in Monticello, Minn.

pulled into the old brick depot here.

Northern States Power Compan'y Willie Avent and her husband, Walter g

'Jennessee Valley 'Authonty, all of

-which are now shut down.There are 101 Prairie Island 1 and 2 in Red Wing'*

werewaiting by the tracks, camped 01:

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operable American commercial nu-

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in folding chairs and dressed in then clea r power rea ctors. ne commission-Wisconsin Electric Power Company, Sunday finery.

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ers promised to provide a written and Kewaunee, Carlton Township, Wis.

"It's been 15,20 years since the las' r

detailed accounting of their prelimi.

Worst - 17 passenger train came through," sair nary oral assessment today.

Mrs. Avent, who is 70 years old. She

're The agency's staff in/1980 also Tennessee Valley Authority, Sequoyah.

said she had not seen such a crowd :

I and 2, Daisy, Tenn.

II, wha J

n ranked American nuclear plants in Tennessee Valley Authority, Browns. the station since World War three categories: below average, aver. Ferry 1,2 and 3 in Decatur, Ala, the boys went off to war. "You can un age and above average. About 70 units Sacramento Municipal Utility District, derstand why we didn't want to m:r were operable at that time, of which 15 Rancho Seco, Clay Station, Calif..

this one," she said.

were above average and 21 below aver. Public Service Company of Colorado.;

By midday today there were band age. In many cases, the best and worst Fort St. Vrain, Platteville Colo.

and balloons and more than 1.5

plants mentioned today were in the schoolchildren and other specta'm y

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same category rus 1980. No similar Boston Edison Company, Pilgrim 1,,.

Plymouth, Mass.

' waiting beside the station and on ow ranking had been done since.

Indiana and Michigen Electric Compa-passes above the tracks. The train e Il Mr. Markey, whose Subcommittee ny, Donald C. Cook I and 2 Bridg-rived Mght on schedule in Murfres on Energy Conseivation and Powerhao man, Mich, boro, the midway point on a five-dr s

oversight over nuclear matters, als 19-city whistle-stop tour of the state s Commonweal'h Edison Company, La-Florida Power and Light Corapany,' promote what Gov.

expressed concern that the agency wa Salle I and 2. Seneca,111.

cutting back on regulation of the nu.

calls Tennessee Homecoming '86.

clear industry amid continuing safety Turkey Point 3 and 4 Turkey Point

• De Govemor, wno proposed t,

problems.

"I have been troubled by what ap.

Fla.

Homecomingidea three years ago pears to be a return to the pre-Three Toledo Edison Company, Davis-Besse yearlongcelebration of the state an. <

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1. Oak Harbor, Ohio.

traditions, said: "What w ge o Mile Island business.as. usual mental.

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Detroit. Edison Company, Fermi 2, this year is telling peop f l'

'ity," Mr. Markey said.

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That concern was shared by Mr. As.

lagoona Beach, Mich.

don't have to go to New York or N

l selstine but disputed by the other four Jersey Central Power and Light Com. ington to find important p

commissioners. Lando W. Zech, a com-pany, Oyster Creek, Lacey Town-l metown.'

__ [ _ missioner who is to become chairman ship, N.J.

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