ML20212N851
| ML20212N851 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 08/20/1986 |
| From: | Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Egbert K AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20212N854 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8608290222 | |
| Download: ML20212N851 (4) | |
Text
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, August 20, 1986 Ms. -Kathleen Egbert 2871 Polk Avenue Anaheim, California 92801
Dear Ms. Egbert:
One of the concerns raised in your letter dated July 4,1986, addressed to President Reagan, has been referred to the NRC for reply. The Department of Energy is responding to the other concerns in your letter.
This concern relates to the reactors designed by Babcock and Wilcox (B&W). Your letter quotes a Union of_ Concerned Scientists r.uclear safety engineer to the effect that accidents tha_t pose a significant safety risk to the public still occur regularly at the B&W plants and because of their unique design, events that would be innocuous elsewhere can have serious consequences at B&W plants.
Your letter also states that these reactors are being allowed to cperate despite safety flaws identified since the TMI accident that have rot been remedied. You further state that many vital modifications ordered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have not been nade and the NRC has failed to enforce its own orders.
Following the TMI-2 accident, the NRC issued requirements to improve safety at power reactors. Almost all of these requirements have been completed by the utilities. including the licensees of B&W plants. The NRC is concerned that even though utilities have made a significant number of improvements in their plants since the TMI accident, the number and complexity of events in the B&W plants has not decreased as expected. As a result, the NRC has initiated a reassessment of the B&W plants. This activity will include an assessment of the thermal-hydraulic design, instrumentation, control and power supplies along with a review of operator experience and operator training and response.
The NRC staff believes that the B&W reactors can safely continue to operate while the NRC reassesses the B&W plant design requirements.
Sincerely,
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HdoldR.Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
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DUE: 08/29/86 EDO CONTROL: 002037 DOC DT: 07/04/86 KATHLEEN L. EGBERT FINAL REPLY:
(REFERRED FROM DOE BY LTR 8/8/86)
TO:
PRESIDENT REAOAN FOR SIGNATURE OF:
OREEN SECY NO:
DENTON DESC:
ROUTINO:
CONCERNS RELATING TO SAFETY OF D&W NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS DATE: 08/12/06 ASSIONED TO: NRR CONTACT: DENTON r ~-
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(+ Leu pa n Despite what the Department of Energy has been te'. ling us, the N-reactor at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State is very similar to the reactors at Chernobyl.
It is graphite cooled, and most importantly, it has no containment buildi_ng. The same is true of the heavy water reactors at the Savannah River plant in Georgis.
THERE IS NO REASON WHY IT COULDN'T HAPPEN HERE, AS WEl.L1 No nuclear plant is safe,.bv.t, military nuclear reactors do not even have the substantial safety features of commercial nuclear power plants. The main purpose of these reactors is to produce plutonitrn for nuclear weapons. One thing the United States and the world doesn't need is more plutonitzn for weapons.
In other words WHAT WE DON'T NEED CAN KILL US!
A) d1R &c Nthalk llbs Sala su&ck -
m The Chernobyl accident has also brought to light problems at another set of reactors: those owned by the US Department of Energy at Hanford, WA and Savannah River, SC.
These plants produce material for use in nuclear warheads and bombs. They have been exempted from regulation by the NRC and do not have many of the safety features that are required for civilian reactors.
The safety record at these plants is quite bad. They are being pushed to the limit to meet the Reagan Administration's unending appetite for more nuclear weapons.
,