ML22119A014
| ML22119A014 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Westinghouse |
| Issue date: | 09/01/2021 |
| From: | Brown Y - No Known Affiliation |
| To: | Office of Administration |
| References | |
| 86FR53694 00009 | |
| Download: ML22119A014 (3) | |
Text
September 1, 2021 Dr. Yvonne P. Brown 180 Preston Wider Lane Hopkins, SC 29061 803-695-2901 gldpinglf@aol.com Office of Administration: Mail Stop : TWFN-7-A60M U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 RE: Comments for License Renewal of the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility In Richland County, South Carolina TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I am a citizen of Richland County, South Carolina who lives in Hopkins in the Lower Richland County area. I am a retired educator and I tell you this to let you know that I am a layperson trying to understand the complexities of this Report for comment. I was able to briefly review the hard copy of the report from the Garners Ferry Library and am glad that access was available there, although it was a reference material. I did not read the entire report, however what I was able to read and understand gave me grave concern mostly regarding the idea of the 40 year license period.
Here are my comments:
- 1. I tried to find other reports and findings that were available to the public for review on Google and the Web. There was very little information. This was very disconcerting. What I could find left me with more questions than answers. The information regarding contamination at Gator Pond, Sunset Lake and Sanitary and East Lagoons were most unsettling. The casual explanation of three eyed pigs and orange alligators without scientific investigation left me dumfounded and very frightened. They were found to have contaminated groundwater quality and made me wonder if the Westinghouse site in Columbia shares such unreported and unstudied findings.
- 2. 3-29 The NRC staff finds fish tissue sampling unnecessary:
"Mill Creek could potentially further reduce the impacts of the proposed license renewal. This additional mitigation measure is not a requirement being imposed upon the licensee."
SUNI Review Complete Template=ADM-013 E-RIDS=ADM-03 ADD: Jean Trefethen, Antoinette Walker-Smith, Mary Neely Comment (9)
Publication Date: 9/28/2021 Citation: 86 FR 53694
There are no requirements in this Report to require the Facility to monitor and test fish and other animals for contamination over this 40 year period. The Report says that it... " is not a requirement being imposed upon the licensee."
I think this is a serious omission in keeping the citizens safe, not to mention the animals who live in these areas.
The citizens in this area are avid outdoors people who like to hunt and fish, farm and garden.
They hunt deer, rabbits and other animals as a part of their regular diet. The animals, small and large consume the water and plants as a part of their regular diets. They then both need to be a part of a regular monitoring and sampling of tissue for possible contamination.
If animals can evolve and become new creatures, what of the humans in 40 years?
- 3. The leaching of contaminants via storm water run -off into floodplains in Richland County is a great concern. In the report it is referred to as FILTERS THROUGH the floodplains which goes through tributaries, Congaree Park to the Congaree River. Citizens get their water from that River.
Millcreek, Gator Pond and Sunset Lake may not be a source of public drinking water and other uses, but the surface water movement offsite certainly is a concern. Surface water from these sites "meanders across the Congaree River Floodplain before reaching the Congaree River.
That is not dealt with in a plan that keeps people and animals safe in the floodplain. There are no checkpoints nor timelines imposed for monitoring nor any provisions for informing the Public of any such findings.
- 4. The discharge rates and pollutant releases over a 40 year period requires regulations and regular monitoring, especially since the NRC staff say, these events"... are not expected to change significantly". Meaning that the Facility will continue to discharge pollutants into the environment.
- 5. Although Sunset Lake and the lagoons are not in the Lower Richland area, with the Uranium contamination at present, residential safeguards must be specifically addressed for the sites in the report as it regards to flooding. Flooding is a serious problem statewide and in the swampy low lying area of Richland County. The suggestion of the NRC staff about the "minor effects" to water quality of Mill Creek and suggestion of "not affect other users or uses of the creek" are too casual given the fact that you cannot neutralize nuclear contamination. They state that water quality of the onsite surface water bodies for 40 years is somewhere between SMALL and MODERATE!
If they lived in these areas, I wonder if they considered these recommendations/ findings/
conclusions acceptable for 40 years? (3-28 and 37-38/ 4-41)
- 6. 3-33 The Hopkins and Lower Richland area's private drinking water well samples found contaminants in 2018 and reported in 2019 and found not to meet the EPA's drinking water standards for Uranium. This was reported to Richland County Council in 2019. As a citizen of the area I never heard of it and know nothing about the remediation. I wonder why?
- 7. This Report does not require the Company to identify the Sources ~f contaminants and their remediation. There are no requirements for regulations to hold accountable the initiation of these releases. Since the NRC staff concludes that future releases are "reasonably foreseeable" our contamination may exceed levels of the past. Contamination sources must be identified so as to help assure those accountable will be identified and the problems modified and methods improved for corrections.
In Summary:
- 1. There needs to be more requirements for frequent monitoring, data gathering, sampling in this license renewal for the Fuel Facility;
- 2. A 40 year span for a license is too long without a serious review every 3 to S years;
- 3. The frequent testing of tissue samples of the local animals and fish needs to be required to safeguard the health and wellbeing of both humans and animals;
- 4. Storm water run-off is very serious and needs to be addressed for remediation to ensure no contaminants reach ditches and lakes and floodplains that serve animals that humans consume;
- 5. Contaminated drainage that leaches through floodplains to the drinking water sources requires mitigation. The river and private wells need to be tested regularly and provisions made available for alternative water sources provided for human consumption and uses.
This is now unacceptable for the citizens of our County, and
- 6. Require regular reports of findings and actions to be given to the citizens of the County.
Thank you for the opportunity to give comment to this license renewal process.
v ne P. Brown, Ed.D.. ~
SC Representative Wendy Brawley SC Representative Jermaine Johnson, Sr.
Richland County Representative Chakisee Newton