ML20246N085
| ML20246N085 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Maine Yankee |
| Issue date: | 05/05/1989 |
| From: | Kwiatkowski D Federal Emergency Management Agency |
| To: | Congel F Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20246N089 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8905190341 | |
| Download: ML20246N085 (4) | |
Text
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MAY f 1989 l
l MEMORANDUM FOR:
Frank J. Congel Director Division of Radiation Protection j
and Emergency Preparedness i
ffice of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
. S. Nuclear R gulatory 'ommi1sion i N.
FROM:
ennis H. Kwia kowski Assistant Ass ciate Director Office of Natural and Technological Hazards Programs
SUBJECT:
Final Exercise Assessment for the June 9,1987, Exercise i
of the Offsite' Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP)
Plans. for the Maine Yankee Power Station j
Attached is a copy'of the Final Exercise Assessme'nt for the June 9,1987,
)
full participation joint exercise of the offsite REP plans for the Maine i
Yankee Power Station, the State of Maine, Lincoln and Sagadahoc Counties, j
and local communities in the plume emergency planning zone (EPZ). The report, dated April 26, 1989, was prepared by Region I of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and transmitted to FEMA Headquarters q
on May.1, 1989 4
A' total of eight deficiencies are identified in the exercise report. Six of the eight have been~ assigned to the State of Maine and two to the plume y
' EPZ community of Phippsburg, Maine.
1 On' August 11, 1987 FEMA Region I provided the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) with a copy of a " Summary Deficiency Report", which identi-l
.fied the offsite exercise deficiencies. The deficiencies were reviewed and
' discussed in detail between FEMA Region I and MEMA staff on September 11, 1987. On September 28, 1987, MEMA provided FEMA Region I with a plan
'of corrective actions.
j The Maine Yankee alert and notification system (A&NS) deficiencies were discussed between FEMA and Nuclear Regulatory Consnission (NRC) Headquarters staff at the December 1987 FEMA /NRC Steering Committee meeting. Existing FEMA guidance requires that the capability exists to provide an alert signal and instructional message throughout the plume EPZ within 15 minutes, not just in the 5-mile portion of the EPZ.
Therefore, the alert and notifica-tion system design needs to be reevaluated and the system enhanced to 1
' provide 15-minute' alert and notification capability, at a minimum, to the 20 populated communities within the plume EPZ. This fact was stressed in a meeting on March 1,1989, in Alfred, Maine, which was attended by MEMA,
'the Maine Public Health Department, Maine Yankee and FEMA Region I repre-sentatives.
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I On March 15, 1989, FEMA Region I sent a letter (copy attached) to MEMA State Director Brown specifically regarding the A&NS deficiency and noted that "during the next offsite exercise at Maine Yankee, the alert and notification system will be evaluated against the design objectives as described in GM AN-1."
In a meeting on April 24, 1989, with MEMA, Maine Yankee and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Regional staff, FEMA Region I was told that a redesign of the A&NS has been initiated and some improvements will be completed prior to the November 1989 exercise. For a discussion of A&NS issues, please refer to pages 18 and 97 of the attached Final Exercise Assessment for Maine Yankee.
As a result of the outstanding deficiencies identified during the exercise, FEMA does not consider offsite emergency preparedness adequate to provide reasonable assurance that appropriate measures can be taken offsite to protect the health and safety of the public living in the vicinity of the site in the event of a radiological emergency.
If you have any questions, please contact me at 646-2871.
Attachments As Stated I
11 v..
Federal Emergency Management Agency Region I J.W. McCormack Post Oft ce and Court House Boston, Massachusetts 021'19 March 15, 1989 Mr. David D. Brown State Oirector Maine Emergency Management Agency State House. Station 72 Augusta. Ma1ne 04333
Dear Mr. Brown:
Many thanks for sending us_ a copy of the letter you sent to Mr.
Charles Frizzel President, Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, on March 3, 1989.
This )etter is to amplif y remarka made by Jack Dolan of my staff cur 1ng a meeting in Alfred, Maine, on March 1,
- 1989, attended by yourself, other Maine Emergsncy Management Agency personnel, Maine Yankee, and Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives.
The matter of inadequacies in the Alert and Notification System is a very serious concern to us.
Nun.orous inadequacies in the system as currently designed and implemented have been consistently identified since 1981. There were inadequacies in the exercises in 1981, 1982, 1983, and again in 1985.
In the debriefing on June 12, 1987, immediately after the June 9,
1987. Exercise; in a Summarv Deficionev Recort dated August 11, 1987; and at a meeting i.1 Maine on Friday, September 11, 1987, 1
the latest alert and notification system inadequacies, identified during the June 9, 1987, exercise were identified and/or discussed.
I 1
As a result of all of the previous alert and notification system identified inacaquacies, a
special alert and notification system review was performed within the plume-exposure emergency planning zone (EPZ) as part of the June 1987 exercise.
The 1987 test attempted, based on the design of the alert and notis'ication system at that time, to demonstrate that people in the 5 to 10-mile portion of the EPZ could be alerted within 45 minutes by route Llerting teams using mobile sirens.
This was successfully demonstrated by twelve local EOCs, while eight others failed to alert their communities within the specified tue.
While routa alerting is implemented by the local EOCs, the failure to complete all alerting within the specifi<,d time is considered to be a result of inadequacies in the overall design of the alert and notification system rather than a result of serious shortcomings at the local EOCs.
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!t is 1moortant to reali:'e tnat tne Mairie yankee Alert anc Not1ficat1on System. as currently casignoc and implemented.
coes not fully sat 1sfy the alert anc not*.fication system des 1gn oo.1ectives cut 11nec in FEMA's Guicanca Memornncum GM AN-1 for the communities in the 5-10 mile cortion of the plume EPZ.
Guicance Memorancum GM AN-1 recuires that the cacacility ex1st o prov1ce an alert, signal anc instructional message througnout tne clume.EPZ within 15-minutes. not just w1 thin the 5-m11e cortion.
The Maine Yankee Alert and Notification System snould ce enhancac so that t', meets the design ocjectives outlinec in GM AN-1 and to ensure that, at a minimum, the citicens of the 20 1 0calities witti>
the EPZ where the copulat1on is concentrated can b.,"lseted anc not1fiec within 15 minutes in
- he event cf a rac..clogical emergency.
Justification must be provideo for any soecial area in the EPZ wnere 45 m1nutes 1s crocosec for alerting (see GM AN-1). During the next offsite exercise at Maine Yankoa, the alert anc not1fication system will be evaluated againat the design ocaectives as cascribed in GM AN-1.
We reccmmend that representatives of the Maine Emergency Management
- Agency, Mair.e Yankee.
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. and the Federal Emergency Management Agency meet at a mutually convenient time and place to again discuss implementation of the corrective action coscribed herein.
P1ase contact us if we can assist you in any way.
Sincerely,
[!,/.
%Wtk)Gr Nicxers
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'f ttegional Director
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