ML19259D361

Petition to Intervene Re Reopening of TMI-1.Requests Waiver of Procedural Form of Filing Due to Failure to Receive Order & Notice of Hearing Until 790827.Safety of TMI Operation Should Be Assured Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt

ML19259D361
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	09/03/1979
From:	Pollard R CHESAPEAKE ENERGY ALLIANCE
To:
References
NUDOCS 7910180203
Download: ML19259D361 (5)

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• NRC PUBLIC DOCUMENT ROOM Tp d

In the Matter of

• UNITED STATES OF AMERICA \

METROPOLITAN EDISON COMPANY

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMIESSION

• con (Three Mile Island Nuclear

• Docket # 50 289 "

Station, Unit # 1 ) *

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1. ************* > kfg PETITION FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE -

The CHESAPEAKE ENERGY ALLIANCE, INC. (C.E.A.) hereby submits t N Y Petition for leave to intervene in the matter of the hearings con-cerning the possible re-opening of Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit # 1. In subnitting this petition, C.E.A. requests that reasonable waiver of the exact form for filing this petition be granted for the following reasons: jjgj j73

1) C.E.A. did not receive notification of the Order and Notice of Hearing in this Matter until August 27,1979, and

2) C.E.A. is ,

a grass-roots organization without access to the funding and resources necessary to hire an attorney or other such person with the formal training & experience to guarantee that the petition is filed in proper forn, and

3) That the denial of the right to be heard in this matter based on the lack of financing available to C.E.A. Wouliconstitute denial of the Constitutional guarantee of TEqual protection under the lawi, and that 7910180 103

4) The restrictive demands and proc es concerning petitions for leave to intervene and other matters before the Cer:nission can reasonably be shown to have contributed to the Cornission ra inability to ensure the safety of TIE Unit # 2, and of other reactors by unreasonably liniting safety related issues that have been raised by citizens and citizen grcups lacking the resources and legal sophistication to comply with all of the

(2) - ~, -

regulations of the Commission and of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Furthermore, in filing this petition, C.E.A. challenges the ' ground rules

• 1 aid down in the Order and Notive of Hearing, specifically the Commission's instructions sto explore opportunities to shorten time limits privided in the Rules 8, 8to shorten tine limits where feasible 8, and 8to consolidate participation to the mnHmm extent Practicabler , in that these instructions will clearly have the effect of favoring the interests of Metropclitan Edison over the interests ,

of safety and caution. In view of the events involving 31I Unit #2, C.E.A. submits that these instructions be changed to specify that the board make the ma*r possible effort to ensure that any safety related issue can be raised fully and without restriction, and ths the board extend the time limits wherever necessary to allow citizens and citizen groups concerned with safety at TMI the mnrfmn opporv unity to participate fully in the proceedings witheit regard to limits on their financial or legal resources.

Furthermore, C.E.A. submits that the concern of the hearings should not be sto provide reasonable assurance _ that the TMI facility can be operated without endangering the health and safety of the public t, but should be to provide such assurance _ beyond any, reasonable doubt.

Again, this change is essential in order to place the burden of proof on those who would re-open the reactor, and to ensure that the issue of safety is kept paramount during the hearings. .

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(3)

C.E.A., being an organization whose principal concern is with the safety (for its members and others) of nuclear power, is based in Baltimore, Maryland, approximate 17 fifty-five miles from SE, well within the one hundred mile radius which the A.E.C. in its report, WASH 71pO, has calculated to represent the danger zone from a worst case disaster at a nuclear power plant. Further, while its membership is concentrated in Baltimore, C.E.A. has members throughout M m land, including sections of Maryland adjacent to the Pennsylvania border near TMI, as well as in southern Pennsylvania and Virginia and elsewhere. C.E.A. is submitting this petition on behalf of its membership and their interests, including primarily the right to be free from danger to life and health amnnating from radiation from a major accident at TMI, as well as interest in personal and other property, givdn that the provisions of the Price Andersen Act would fail to provide anything over insurance protection for a miniscule proportion of the true value of sucli property.

Il6/  !/5 Furthermore, as is inplied by C.E. A. 's name, a principal interest of C.E.A. is the health and safety of the Chesapeake Bay, and of all the life forms sustained by the Bay, not least of which are the crabs, oysters, and other seafood that contribute approximately

$200 million per year to the economy of Maryland and its citizens.

Although less simply assigned an economic value, life for:ps sustained by the Bay, whose principal tributary is the Susquehanna River, on which Three Mile Island is situated, and hence which could be placed in severe, jeopardy by a major accident at DE, include numerous forms of wildlife, especially migrating birds, and fish who use the Bay as

(h.)

The effect of an crder by the Ccmission to allow the re-opening of TMI Unit #1 would place in jeopardy the life and health of its membership, place their property at risk, and subject the life forms of the Bay to renewed threat from radioactive contamination, unless the C= mission is able to dem'istrate b3 yond any reasonable doubt that the re-opening of TMI Un2.., #1 would pose absolutely no danger either from a major disaster, or from radiation released from routine operation of the reactor. The past history of the operation of the SII Units, both leading up to the accident at TMI Unit # 2 and since that time, both immediately after and in later releases of radioactive gasses and water clearly indicate a deficiency in management capability ar *. in its regard for the health and safety of the public on the part of Metropolitan Edison, and the ;e appears to be n o evidence of significant change in capability and attitude. -

Furthermore, C.E.A. contends that no decision can properly be made concerning the re-opening of TMI Unit #1 without taking into account .

the overwhelming public sentiment in the area against such a re-opening.

For such a decision to be made against the interests and expressed desires of the people would clearly be to fly in the face of the basic principles on which these United States of America were est-ablished. Indeed, the' psychological distress'that would be induced by the re-opening of the reactor would be in no small part attributable to a sense of powerlessness and frustration of a people whose ability to determino their own interests has been usurped by a Government that is failing to respond to the reasonable and legitimate desires of its people. Thus, the re-opening of Unit #1 in the face of over-whelming public opposition represents an issue of Constitutional

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(5) dimensions.

In view of the shortage of time that wad available t'o C.E,A. to prepare this petition for leave t6 intervene, C.E.A. further requests the right to make such amendments to this petition as are called for by a further and more thorough review of the matter, and by ,

a review of the appropriate Codes of Federal Regulations, the Atomic Energy Act, and the National Environmental Protection Act.

Respectfully submitted

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Robert Q. Pollard, for CHESAPEAKE ENERGY ALLIANCE 609 Montpelier Street Baltimore, Maryland 2' I hereby certify that a copy of this petition has been sent this 3rd day of September,1979 to the Executive Legal Director, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Cor=ission, and to Mr. George F. Trowbridge, Shaw, Pittman, Potts, and Trowbridge., attorney ,fo'r the licensee.

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,, Robert c. Pollard, for CHESAPEAKE ENERG? ALLIANCE 1167 177

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