ML19209C761
| ML19209C761 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Three Mile Island  |
| Issue date: | 09/07/1979 |
| From: | Johnsrud J, Kepford C Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7910180259 | |
| Download: ML19209C761 (9) | |
Text
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g t u{ oszep ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION ON NUCLEAR POWER Co Directors: Mr. George Boornsme-R.D. et, Peach Bottom, Pa. 17563 717 548 2836 Dr. Judith Johnsrud-433 oriando Aww. ,, m.6e College, Pa. 16801 814 2374900 N7hp UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SEP NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION IE73 In the Matter of )
METROPOLITAN EDISON COMPANY, et al. ) Docket No. 50-289 (Three Mile Island Nuclear Ctafioii, )
Unit 1) .
)
PETITION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL C0ALITION ON NUCLEAR POWER FOA LEAVE TO 'NTERVENE IN EVIDENTIARY HEARINGS ON REOPENING, REV0 Calf 0N OF OPERATING LICENSE, AND OTHER MATTERS In response to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC; Comission)
Order and isotice of Hearing (Federal Register 44:159: 47821-5, dated August 15, 1979) and in accordance with Title 10 Code of Faderal RegulatioF Part 2, the Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power (ECNP) hereby petitions for leave to intervene in evidentiary hearings before an NRC Atomi: Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) in the matter of the proposed reopening of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1 (TMI-1) of the Metropolitan Edison Company et al. ECNP has previously requested the pennanent revocation of the TMI-l Facility Operating License DPR-50 in its Request to the NRC, dated June 29, 1979. We set forth below the interests of ECNP members in the proceeding and how that interest may be affected by the results of the proceeding.
In partial fulfillment of the NRC's requirement of identification of the specific aspect or aspects of the subject matter of the proceeding as to which these Petitioners wish to intervene, ECNP identifies those issues specified in the Comission's Order and Notice of Hearing and those issues raised in ECNP's previously filed Request to the Director of Nuclear
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t Reactor Regulation, Director of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, and Director of the Office of Inspection and Enforcement for Action by the Nuclear Regulatory Comission, which was submitted on June 29, 1979, which we incorp, orate by reference in its entirety in this petition and, for the convenience of the Comission, append to this petition.
Also incorporated by reference with this petition to intervene, with a copy aopended for the Comission's perusal, is the Emergency Petit'on, filed on behalf of ECNP on March 29, 1979, by Dr. William A. Lochstet, Secretary.
That Emergency Petition requested imediate suspension of the operating licenses of all Pressurized Water Reactors, including TMI-1, on the grounds that the safety evaluations perfonned for these licenses were not valid because the procedures used to demonstrate the performance of the Emergency Core Cooling Systam were not valid, in view of the nature of the initiating. event of the
. 1 THI-2 accident on March 28, 1979.
As provided for in the Comission's Order and Notice of Hearing (FR, August 15, 1979), an appropriate Supplement amending this petition and stating con-tentions in addition to those issues specified in the NRC's Order will be filed by ECNP prior to the first pfehearing conference.
Pursuant to the NRC's Order and 10 CFR 2.714, the reasons why intervention by ECNP should be permitted are stated as follows:
- 1. Nature of the cecitioners' right under the Atomic Energy Act to be made a party to the proceeding. The rights of these petitioners are set forthand resultant from Sections 1, 2, 3,170, and 186,189 1
The Commission has not, according to Dr. Lochstet provided him or ECNP with either written or oral response to that Emergency Petition in the five months since it was submitted to the Director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. -
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of the Atomic Energy Act, as amended. Petitioners believe that the proposed reopening of TMI-l will adversely affect their health, mental health, physical safety, economic well-being, security, social and poli-tical status, and $he genetic condition of their progeny. Therefore, th;ir general welfare, as well as health, safety, and security, will be
' adversely affected, Members and member groups of ECNP were admitted and participatad as full parties in the operating license proceedings for THI-l in 1973, and for THI-2 (still incomplete) subsequently. These same and additional ECNP members live, work, fa m. own property and businesses, travel, and otherwise have personal reasons to be in the area of Pennsylvania which has been, is, and will be affected by the routine emissions as well as any accidental releases of radioactive gases, liquids, or solid materials from TMI-1. Furthermore, ECNP possesses similar rights and interests to be made a party to this proceeding under the ddministrative Procedure Act of 1946 and in accord with the i
National Environmental 'olicy Act of 1969, the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, and the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 10.
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- 2. The nature and extent of the cetitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding. ECNP considers the extant of property and financial affairs of its members to be private matters of those members. The value of and access to their freehold property, the value
, .and utility of thejr personal pnaperty, the value and economic product of their domestic livestock, their financial status and well-being in tenns of economic livelihood, social acceptability, and political enfran-chisement, and their health, safety, and very lives comprise their interest in this proceeding. All members of ECNP have been adversely affected by, the accident at Three Mile Island, Unit 2 (TMI-2) which began 1178 155
on March 28, 1979, and is still in progress; all members therefort may be considered to have an interest in this proceeding.
As the Commissioners thcmselves have noted in Orders pertaining to this proceeding, the two reactors and their effects on the public are inextricably linked: they share a common site on an island in the Susquehanna River; they are owned by the same utility companies, all subsidiaries of Gerlerai Public Utilities; they are operated by the same company; and TMI-l and -2 share s'.i stantially the same design and were constructed by many of the same subcontractors, with a common vendor and many of the sarae component manatacturers.
Members of ECNP are affected by the operation of TMI-l by virtue of their residences, property, businesses, employment, and other legitimate reasons to be located at distances ranging from less than one mile to more than ninety miles (c.150 k;lometers) of TMI-1 and TMI-2. In the 1964-65 Working' Papers for the Revision of the Brookhaven Report, " Theoretical Possibilities and Consequences of Major Accidents in Large Nuclear Power 2
Plants " Document 84-5, it is stated
...if a hole in the containment results, the maximum amount that would be released would depend on the size of the hole, and since there was no basis for a choice they had arbitrarily chosen 1/2 m2 They had asked themselves whether an appreciable fraction could get lost on the way out, but found no basis for coricluding this. Mr. Downes said that they based their land contamination 2
Entitled " Minutes of Steering Committee on Revision of WASH-740 at Brookhaven National Laboratory, October 21,1964, p. 3. See a'.so Document 92-3, entitled " Minutes of Steering Comittee on Revision of WASH-740," Bethesda, Md., December 16, 1964, p. 2:
Mr. Downes stated that BNL has prepared the results of their calculations as a series of curves. He said that Mr. Smitn has prepared isotope curves for given releases and meteorological
- conditions that show the areas involved; for a big & :ident the area would be the size of the state of Pennsylvania.
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5 values for iodine on the FRC PAG report (Report No. 5).
The proposed future FRC report for Cs, etc. cannot be factored in now. They found that at 100 km the levels were still 100 times the PAG. The result if a city were involved would be catastrophic and there would be deaths out to 150 km. (Emphasis added)
Among the ECNP members who reside, work, and/or own property within this 90-mile direct-line distance of TMI are the present Co-Directors, Secretary, Legal Representative, former Director, and several members of the Executive Board and nominees for the Executive Board.
It should be noted that TMI-l is rated at 2535 MW thermal, only slightly smaller than the reference reactor postulated in the WASH-740 Revision. The NRC Staff conclusion that the accident at Three Mile Island (Unit 2) was a Class 9 ' accident (See NRC Staff Response to Board Questions, August 24, 1979, in Docket 50-272, Salem 1 Evidentiary Hearings on spent fuel storage pool expansion) substantiates the necessity for examination of accidents more severe than Design Basis Accidents (or Maximum Hypothetical Accidents) and of their consequences for the public in the event of a breach of containment.
An additional interest in this proceeding is held by members of ECNP who live at distances in excess of 150 kilometers in the prevailing downwind direction from TMI, where, according to Document 82-5 of the 1964-65 Revision 3
Mr. George L. Boomsma, Peach Bottom, Pa., and Dr. Judith Johnsrud, State College, Pa.. .Co-Directors; Dr. William A. Lochstet, State College, Pa.,
Secretary; Dr. Chauncey Kepford, State College, Pa., Legal Representative; Mr.f Douglas Baker, Kimberton, Pa., fomer Director; and the following members and nominees of the Executive Board: Mr. Baker; Mrs. Frieda Berryhill, Wilmington, Del .; Mr. William Buskirk, Jr., Bath, Pa.; Mrs.
Gail Bradford, York, Pa.; Mr. Alfred Coleman, Jr., Pennsville, N.J.; Mr.
Frank Davis, Mechanicsburg, Pa.; Mr. Ron Davis, Millersville, Pa.; Mr.
Donald E. Hossler, Middletown, Pa.; Dr. Oliver Lami, Bloomsburg, Pa.;
Mr. Marvin Lewis, Philadelphia, Pa.; Mr. David Mann, Lewisburg, Pa.; Mrs.
Mary Swann, New Park, Pa.; Rev. Mr. William W' tine, New Cumberland, Pa.;
and Miss Phyllis Zitzer, Salford, Pa. ,
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of WASH-740, "For Il31, a contamination level higher than 10 rad to the thyroid would extend beyond 1000 kilometers" "[a]ssuming coolant loss in a large 3200 Mwt reactor, a fuel cycle of 1000 days, and the sequential failure of all engineered safeguards including the containment structure ." Having experienced a sequential failure of engineered safe-guards sufficient to be classified a Class 9 accident at 1141-2 (an accident previously unevaluated during the licensing of either TMI-1 or TMI-2), we believe those members of ECNP who live as far ~as 600 miles (c.1000 km.) will be significantly affected, according to the Brookhaven 4
National Laboratory gnd Acomic Energy' Commission's own analysis.
Those members of ECNP who live within the twenty-mile radius of TMI --
the zone proposed for evacuation during the TMI-2 accident comencing on March 28, 1979, and still in progress -- have already received radiation 5
doses of undetennined magnitude, but equal to or greater than the dose resultant from the release of 13 million curies of Xenon-133 reported by 6
the NRC Staff. These same people would be subjected to additional quantities of radiation resulting from both permissible routine releases and any accidental " unplanned" releases associated with further operation 7
of TMI-1. Some live less than one mile from the plant.
4 Among these ECNP members are Mrs. Diana Sidebotham and Mrs. Esther Poneck, Putney, Vt., and Mrs. Lorna Salzman, New York, N.Y., and East Quogue, Long Island, N.Y., Miss Katherine Dodge and Mr. Peter Snyder, Lake Ariel, Pa.,
and Mr. and Mrs. Daniel R. Merrill, White Mills, Pa.
5 See Statement of Erich W. Bretthauer, Director, Monitoring Operations Division, Environmental Monitoring and Support Laboratory, Las Vegas, Nevada, before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Science and Technology, Lancaster, Pa., June 2,1979, pp. 2, 3, and 6; Chauncey Kepford, Statement before the U.S. House Subcomittee on Science and Technology, Elizabethtown, Pa., June 2,1979, and Report in Response to Board Questions, Evidentiary Hearings on Spent Fuel Storage Pool Expansion, Salem 1, Docket No. 50-272, August,1979; and Statement of Al[bert] Gibson before the Comissioners of the NRC in a Briefing on Facts of TMI Radiological Sequence, Washington, D.C., June 21, 1979.
Lake Barrett Memorandum to Distribution of Board Notification, " Preliminary Ii78 J58
One member of the Executive Board of ECNP and Chairperson of Citizens for a Safe Environment, Intervenor in TMI-1 and -2 Operating License 8
Proceedings has, in consequence of what she believes to be her unusually high sensitivity to radiation as a result of earlier health problems and radiation exposures, been forced to leave her employment and move from Harrisburg. Reopening of TMI-l would prevent her being able to return to live in Harrisburg or to resume her employment there.
Another member of ECNP believes that her. health and safety would be jeopardi$ed to the extent that she, too, would be unable to return to her former home in York, Pa., or accept employment within a twenty-mile distance of TMI if TMI-l were returned to service.
One family of ECNP members, and members of the York Comnittee for a Safe Environment, Intervenors in the Operating License Proceedings for THI-2, derive a substantial portion of their living from the produce of their farm, which is nationally known for the high nutritional value and purity of itscrops. The cloud upon the reputation of these petitioners' products that would result from the reopening of TMI-l threatens to destroy their economic livelihood.
Other ECNP members who own or operate farms in the vicinity of TMI or downwind from the plant likewise believe their livelihood will be adversely Notes. continued .
Estimates of Radioactivity Releases from Three Mile Island," April 12, 1979.
7 Mr. Donald Jones and Mrs. Dorothy Jones, York Haven, Pa., and Mrs. Patricia Street,. P.O. Box 142, Middletown, Pa.
8 Miss Virginia Southard, formerly of Harrisburg, presently of Philipsburg, Pa.
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affected by the reopening of TMI-1.
Members of ECNP believe that the economic value of their properties in the Susquehanna River Valley -- and particularly in the Harrisburg-Hershey-Middletown-Millersville-Lancaster-York-York Haven-Goldsboro-New Cumberland-Mechanicsburg-Camp Hill -New Bloomfield area -- will be adversely affected if THI-1 is permitted to resume operation. -
To ensure their health and safety, other members of 'ECNP feel they will be forced to resign from their employment, sell their p"operties at reduced prices, and relocate their families beyond the danger zone if TMI-l is allowed to operate again. ECNP believes that its members living in the vicinity of TMI have suffered extraordinary damage at the hands of this licensee; that they bear an undue burden of risk from the presence of the damaged TMI-2 reactor; and that the addition of more risk from operation of THI-l on the same site would be intolerable.
- 3. The possible effect of any order which may be entered in the proceeding on the petitioner's interest. For the reasons stated above, any order entered in this proceading that would permit the reopening and operation of TMI-1 will adversely affect the economic, psychic, physical, and poli-tical wellbeing of these ECNP peti tioners . Even the necessity of carrying this issue to the Courts for injunctive relief will be a burdensome expense for these citizens, should the ASLB and NRC fail to revoke permanently the TMI-l operating license as a result of this proceeding.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons, ECNP, a not-for-profit public-interest coalition of individuals and groups in Pennsylvania and adjoining states, has a legitimate interest in these proceedings under the Atomic Energy Act and should be admitted as a full party with all rights of participation, cross-examination, full discovery, presentation of witnesses and evidence, and rights 1178 J60
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of appeal. While we do not believe that delay would serve the interests of the public, the Commission, or the Licensee, we emphatically suggest that the Comission and the ASLB not curtail procedural protections that may be necessary to ensure a full, open, unbiased, and complete hearing on the important issues that will or should arise in this proceeding.
The Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power through its member organizations has participdted in numerous administrative proceedings before this agency and has made important contributions to the protection of the,public health and safety in reactor license proceedings. In order to be able to make the maximum contri-bution to the outcome of these proceedings in the public interest, ECNP requests financial assistance from the Comission.
Dr. Chauncey Kepford, a member of the ECNP Executive Board, has been duly authorized _ by'the Executive Board to act as Legal Representative of ECNP on behalf of its members. Dr. Judith Johnsrud, Co-Director, is similarly authorized to assist Dr. Kepford.in these and other related legal or administrative proceedings.
Respectfully submitted, f>p'
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Chauncey Kepford Authorized Legal Representative and JudithH.Johnsrud[#
Co-Director 4
Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power Dated this Yg day 433 Orlando Avenue State College, Pa.16801 of September, 1979.
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ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION ON NUCLEAR POWER Co Cososeers. Mr. George Soomene- A.D. et, Peach Bottom, Pa. 17563 717 544 2836 Dr. Jud in Jannerud-433 Orlando Avenue,8ssee cecaos Q 'b
- M,e 4 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY CO)NISSION
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METROPOLITAN EDISON COMPANY, et al. Docket No. 50-289
)l I' (Three Mile Island Nuclear Station. )
Unit 1 )
RE00EST TO THE DIRECTOR OF NUCLEAR REACTOR REGULATION, DIRECTOR OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY AND SAFEGUARDS, AND DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT FOR ACTION BY THE hUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Pursuant to Part 2.206(a) of the Rules of the Nuclear Regulatory Connission ("Comission" or "NRC"). the Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power (ECNP) requests that the Director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR)e 7 the Director of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS), and the w
Director, Office of Inspection and Enforcement (OIE), singly or in combination, institute a proceeding pursuant to Part 2,.202 of the Comission's Rules to 2 revoke permanently the operating license currently in effect for Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1 (THI-1). Docket No. 50-289, with prejudice -
against the subsequent reissuance of that license.
This action is requested for a number of reasons which are detailed
( ' below, but stems largely from the recent accident at Three Mile Island Nuclear
', Station Unit 2 (TMI-2), as well as f- ~4~'e -"aa*- - ' * - - - ' - - - - -
' which preceded that accident, and frc accident--results and effects both ta DUPLICATE DOCUMENT Entire document previously entered into system under:
J. 1I78262 ,,g77g 7,yg g /7
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No. of pages:
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- 1. The design of TMI-l has a series of design defects and deficiencies such that safe, reliable operatiop of the reactor cannot be assured by the cursory examination afforded in the construction permit and operating license proceedings: *
.}(a) .he. Wat computer for TMI-l is old, obsolete, and
. inadequate to respond appropriately in emergency situations.
During the accidept at the adjacent TMI-2, the alarm printer on the similar computer at TMI-2 had a delay time of over two
.j ' , ' ^, and ;ne half hours at one point, anj ranThis more than an hour
'.b behind events for over seven hours. delay cannot be
- ' i viewed as having adequately served the needs of the operators of' TMI-2, and there is no reason to believe that a similar
, accident situation, with as severe or worse consequences, cannot occur at TMI-l and be severely aggravated by slow and
- ambiguous computer alarm printer readings.
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. '(b); The low volume of primary cooling systea water has the
"- effect of reducing the time available to operators and the 1 . % ,' plant control systems to apply remedial measures in the f " '
' - event of a loss of coolant accigent (LOCA) such as the TMI-2 accident is now admitted to be . The low water volume design deficiency means that possible operator error and mechanical.
". electrical, or electronic failure must be minimized so as to prevent either a repeat of the TMI-2 accident, or an even 4-worse accident.
.h (c) The electronic signals sent to the control room in many cases record the wrong parameters. For instance, in the case
,,, n /,V of the Electromatic Relief Valve ("ERV"; the Metropolitan Edison
'ja ;*..! / vi. q.,"'" 4 designation is RC-RV2), the signal sent to the control room to indicate a closure of this valve indicates only the electrical
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y!. ;J.d energizing of the solenoid which clos
- 7. } ;, , ,g <, :t.[' actual physical valve closing itself.gs the valve, not the This misleading signal
- " 'r aggravated the accident at TMI-2. There is no reasonable
! p assurance that this same problem, or a comparable one, cannot o ,, ,
arise many times over at TMI-1.
' (d) The TMI-2 accident showed that many monitoring instruments f were of insufficient indicating range to properly warn control-e room operators of ambient condicions. For example, tne " hot-leg" thermocouples went off-scale at 620 F and stayed off-scale for
' over 8 hours9.259259e-5 days <br />0.00222 hours <br />1.322751e-5 weeks <br />3.044e-6 months <br /> for reactor coolant loop A and about 13 hours1.50463e-4 days <br />0.00361 hours <br />2.149471e-5 weeks <br />4.9465e-6 months <br /> for o .l !.>n' .. reactor coolant loop B? A higher temperature limit would have provided important infonnation to the reactor operators. This U
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situation is unchanged at TMI-1. In addition, it is reported th j',,N .,. the radiation monitors went off-scale during the TMI-2 accident.g It should be noted here that this eventuality was predicted in 1974 by the TMI-2 Intervenors, but dutifully denied by the NRC Staff and Applicant during the TMI-2 licensing hearings. Needless to x
say, the TMI-2 Licensing Board accepted the assurances of
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adequate monitoring offered by the Staff and Applicant. Yet 4 -
'similar cituation still exists at TMI-1.
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