ML20246E194

Responds to ,On Behalf of Constituent,Re Concerns W/Plant Startup.No Decision Made on Full Power License as Reviews & Hearing Process Incomplete

ML20246E194
Person / Time
Site:	Seabrook
Issue date:	07/07/1989
From:	Stello V NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
To:	Cohen W SENATE
Shared Package
ML20246E198	List: ML20246E194 ML20246E217
References
NUDOCS 8907120143
Download: ML20246E194 (5)

Text

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\,*****/ July 7, 1989 The Honorable William S. Cohen United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Cohen:

This letter is in response to your letter of June 19, 1989 to Chairman Lando Zech of the Nuclear Regulatory Comission. You wrote on behalf of a constituent, Roberta Drake, who expressed concerns about the startup of the Seabrook Nuclear Station. I would like to provide you with some information that may be useful in putting nuclear power plant safety in proper perspective for Seabrook.

Federal regulations for the design, construction, and openation of nuclear power reactors have been established with the objective of assuring that the probability is very small that a serious accident will occur at a nuclear power plant resulting in the release of radioactive materials in amounts that would present a threat to the public health and safety. The NRC relies on a

" defense-in-depth" concept to achieve its safety goals. .Briefly stated, this concept (1) requires high quality in the design, construction, and operation of nuclear(2p)lants instance; to reduce recognizes the likelihood that equipment can failof malfunctions and operatorsincan themake first mistakes, therefore requiring safety systems to reduce the chances that malfunctions will lead to acciden^s that release fission products from the fuel; and (3) recognizes that, in spite of these precautions, serious fuel damage accidents can happen, therefore requiring containment structures and other safety features to prevent the release of fission products offsite.

Emergency planning requirements have been adopted as an added conservatism to the NRC's defense-in-depth safety philosophy. The added feature of emergency planning provides that, even in the unlikely event of an offsite fission product release, there is reasonable assurance that protective actions can be taken to protect the population around nuclear power plants. Although there is no absolute guarantee of safety, the NRC's objective is to assure that the ,

risk to the public health and safety from the consequences of nuclear power {

plant operation is comparable to or less than the risk of generating i electricity by other competing technologies and is not a significant I addition to other societal risks. I The NRC has conducted extensive review of the Seabrook facility and portions of that review are still ongoing. As you may be aware, Public Service of New 1 Hampshire was granted a license on May 26, 1989, to operate the facility at I power levels up to 5 percent of full-power. This license allowed the utility to '

conduct initial lew-power testing at Seabrook. The NRC has not made a decision regarding issuance of a full-power license for Seabrock as staff reviews and the hearing process are not complete.

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1 The Honorable William S. Cohen- I 1

.I. as.sure you that the NRC takes its responsibilities seriously and will not authorize the Seabrook facility to operate at power unless the Agency is convinced that it'can be operated safely and that the public' health and safety-will be protected.

Sincerely, Original signed by l- Victor Stello, Jr.

Victor Stello, Jr.

Executive Director for Operations

• See previous concurrence

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..EDO. Principal Correspondence Control-j/:V F R O'McL DUE:/07/11/89- EDO. CONTROL: 0004569 DOC DT:'06/.19/89-FINAL REPLY L,

- SEN. WILLIAM-S. COHEN ,

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FOR SIGNATURE'OF:; ** GRN- ** . CRC NO: 89-0597-

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DESC: ROUTING: ,

l ENCLS LETTER FROM' ROBERTA E... DRAKE EXPRESSING ~ ' RUSSELL, RI.

~ CONCERN.ABOUT. OPENING OF SEABROOK~ PLANT l <

i; , DATE: 06/26/89 ASSIGNED TO: CONTACT: l NRRi MURLEY q

'i 5SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS'ORl REMARKS:-

NRR RECEIVED:~,, JUNE.26, 1989 ACTION:  ? DSPIt:VAftGAIO 4

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1 PAPER: NUMBER:' ' CRC-89-0597 LOGGING;DATE: Jun 84i89 ACTION.' OFFICE: EDO' AUTHOR:: .W.S. Cohen--Const' Ref-C AFFILIATION:;-  : UNITED STATES SENATE LETTER'DATE: :Jun-19.89 FILE CODE: ID&R-5 Seabrook-a

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- Concernect , about; the ' activation of? the Seabrook.

nuclear.. power' plant-

. ACTION:; Direct? Reply:

DISTRIBUTION:' iOCA to'Ack SPECIAL. HANDLING: None--

' NOTES:? Roberta. Drake-DATE DUE: 'Jun 19.89 SIGNATURE:- _

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