ML20217B275
| ML20217B275 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Haddam Neck File:Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co icon.png |
| Issue date: | 09/03/1997 |
| From: | Collins S NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20217B258 | List: |
| References | |
| 2.206, DD-97-19, NUDOCS 9709230298 | |
| Download: ML20217B275 (2) | |
Text
{{#Wiki_filter:, i 7590-01-P j DD-97-19 UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION CONNECTICUT YANKEE ATOMIC POWER COMPANY DOCKET NO. 50-213 i ISSUANCE OF DIRECTOR'S DECISION UNDER 10 CFR 2.206 Notice is hereby given that the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, has issued a Director's Decision concerning a Petition dated March 11, 1997, filed by Ms. Rosemary Bassilakis pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Reaulations Section 2.206 (10 CFR 2.206) on behalf of the Citizens Awareness Network and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (Petitioners). The petition requests that, on the basis of the repeated failures of the radiation protection program at the plant, the NRC (1) commence enforcement action against the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company (CY) by means of a large civil penalty to ensure compliance with safety-based radiological control routines, (2) modify CY's license for. the Haddam Neck plant pursuant to 10 CFR 2.202 to prohibit any decommissioning f activity, which would include decontamination or dismantling, until CY manages to conduct routine maintenance at the facility without any contamination events for at least 6 months, and (3) place the Haddam Neck plant on the NRC Watch List. The Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, has determined that the Petition should be deferred in part and denied in part for the reasons stated in the " Director's Decision Under 10 CFR 2.206" (00-97-19 ), the f complete text of which follows this notice and is available for public 2 9709230298 970903 PDR ADOCK 05000213 0 PDR 4
\\ . inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room at 2120 L Street, NW., Washington, D.C., and at the Local Public Document Room for the Haddam Neck Plant at the Russell Library, 123 Broad Street, Middletown, Connecticut. A copy of this decision has been filed with the Secretary of the Commission for the Commission's review. As provided by 10 CFR 2.206(c), this decision will become final action of the Commission 25 days after issuance unless the Commission, :n its own motion, institutes a review of the decision within that time. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 3rd day of september 1997. FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION s Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation I ~
[) 22/ 7 r, b ', ', (D V ,) ll ' ~.. C g,;., w j)g g g. w ~ C ')C /Y#orpp, ; ,: f,' ! *g -r = g y*~ o CITIZENS AWARENESS NETWORK ~ WEB SRE: www.shoysnet.com/-con E-MAsu coneshovsnet, com - MA: Box 83 SHELBURNE FALLS, MA 01370 TitEPHONE/ fax: 413-339-8768/8768 CT: 54 OLD TURNPIKE ROAD HADDAM, CT 06438 860-345-8431/8431 < VT: c/o PO Box 566 PtnNEY, VT 05346-566 802-387-4626/2667 NH: 7 MEADOW LANE ExDER, NH 03833 603 772-343, \\ ) -{ j f's [,g;{g March 11, 1997 1 ?>- 4? T7 f l Emile Julian, Esq. g ) Docketing & Service Branch C'N d N f'Q UnitedStatesNuclearRegulatoryCommission\\. C00'U Il y., .."A Washington, D.C. 20555 <.J 2 / RE: Request for Licensing Actions 10 C.F.R. 2.206 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Yankee (Docket 50-213)
Dear Mr. Julian:
Enclosed for service upon Leonard J. Callan, Executive Director of Operations, John C. Hoyle, Secretary, and the Commission please find the original and seven copies of the above referenced document. Thank yo for your sist ce i this matter. / Sinc y, s ^ d.4M 0. Rosemary Ba silakis For CAN a NIRS cc: Deborah Katz, President, CAN Jonathan M. Block, Attorney for CAN Paul Gunter, Director, Reactor Watchdog Project, NIRS M _:pi u il _
- ~. -- e 1 (CmZENS AWARENESS NETWORK-J wet $1TE: www.shoysnet.com/-con E-Mart: coneshayinet, com - MA: BOX 83 SHELBURNE FALLS. MA 01370 TREPHoNE/ fax: 413-339-8768/8768: CT: 54 OLDIURNPIKE ROAD. HADDAM CT 06438 860-345-8431/8431 VT: c/o PO Box 566 PUTNEY. Vi 05346-566 802 387-4626/2667 NH: 7 MEADOW LANE ExETER. NH 03833 603, <S43. gg.WS! /.s y Q y e,.a.,r q March 11, 1997 i 3 ;1' # .. p T/ Leonard J. Callan (p C'.0',' C5 E8 J Executive Director of Operations U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission \\'1.. g;;dM/ ) Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 g N:z re: Request for Licensing Actions 10 C.F.R. 2.206 l Northeast Utilities Connecticut Yankee (Docket 50-213) t j
Dear Mr. Callan:
J Pursuant to 10 C.F.R. 2.206, this letter constitutes a petition filed on behalf of Citizens Awareness Network of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont (respectively, Debby Katz, Rosemary Bassilakis, and Jonathan Block) and Nuclear Information and Resource Service (Paul Gunter, Reactor d j Watchdog Project) to institute a proceeding under 10 C.F.R. 2.202,-to modify the license issued to NU to operate the Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Reactor by placing certain conditions, specified herein, on the apurating license i of this facility and taking immediate action to impose a civil penalty. Of particular concern is NU's (CY management's) inability to maintain proper raddological controls at the Connecticut Yankee (Haddam Neck) nuclear reactor. As stated in an NRC press release: "The most recent incident occurred on February 26, when an equipment vendor in New York State reported radioactive contamination had been detected on material released on February 19 from-Haddam Neck. A survey team from Haddam Neck was dispatched to the vendor's facility and confirmed that minor levels-of fixed and loose contamination, exceeding the plant's criteria for the release of i radioactive material, were present on the equipment. An NRC .irispector was also sent to the vendor's site to confirm the facility was not contaminated. l 7 bq c-qQh
4 'o Previous problems at the plant include an incident last i November in which a plant maintenance supervisor and a manager for a refueling contractor received an-unplanned radioactive exposure while performing activities in the j fuel transfer canal. The letter also cites long-standing discrepancies in the calibration of several radiation monitors used to keep track of and control radiological effluent release to the environment. The latter problem was discovered during an NRC inspection begun on February 3, 1997." NRC Press Release I-97-19 As you are aware, CAN and NIRS filed a 2.206 petition and amendment to that petition on November 25, 1996 and December s 23, 1996. Our concerns in those Petitions were based on problems with the mismanagement of NU's Connecticut reactors. We believed that the problems at NU's reactors would result in exactly the kind of radiological i contamination noted in the above NRC press release. We also believe that the confirmatory letter issued following these events is clearly insufficient under the circumstances. NU claimed that it was cleaning up the mess at CY last summer. In the intervening period, following the claim that they had tightened up their management controls, CY has permitted several serious contamination events. The latest involved radioactive contamination leaving the reactor site and traveling through local communities! It is significant that these events occurred despite CY's "micromanagement" of the troubled facility AND despite NRC intervention concerning the November fuel chute contamination event (cf. the NRC Region I meeting with CY management, February 5, 1997). It is plain that NU's and CY's verbal assurances to the NRC mean NOTHING. Why should a confirmatory letter elicit any change in CY's utterly reckless behavior when hours of NRC investigations and meetings and CY and NU promises had no effect. Meanwhile, CY -has b come so totally reckless as to allow radioactive contamination to travel offsite all the way into New York state. The NRC needs to take immediate additional actions to assure occupational and public health and safety connected with routine operations at CY. After all, we are talking about a facility that is in a " shut down" condition., It seems utterly inconceivable that CY and NU have allowed these l kinds of incidents to continue. But even more impossible to accept is the NRC's abject failure to take any meaningful enforcement action against NU and CY. 2
9, 'e By this letter, we ask that the NRC commence enforcement action against CY by means of a large civil penalty to assure compliance with safety based radiological control routines. We also request a modification of CY's license to prohibit any decommissioning activity, which would include dismantling or decontamination, until CY manages to conduct routine maintenance of the facility without any contamination events for at least 6 months. In order to help assure that this will be the case and to prevent a repetition of the kinds of incidents which we warned would occur, we again ask that CY be placed on the " watch list" of problem facilities. Without such actions, it is likely that a 1 occupational and public health and safety will continue to be compromised by NU's and CY's reckless mismanagement of the Connecticut Yankee reactor. 1 Sincer y youre 4 'J' g Rosemary silakis Citizens Awareness Network, Research Director bodh ge minim Debby Katz Cit zens Awareness Network, President / c%duYO hudh @ m'\\YItC A cc w Jonathon Block 4 Citiz ns Awareness Network, Counsel gh ( w A \\ s Qu esMi4A Paul Gunter Nuclear Information and Resource Service Director Reactor Watchdog Project 1 4 l 1 3}}