ML20148C504

Expresses Concerns Re Worthlessness of Evacuation Info for Plant Provided by Util

ML20148C504
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	01/28/1988
From:	Quaid D AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	Zech L NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
Shared Package
ML20148C486	List: ML20148C482 ML20148C504
References
NUDOCS 8803220413
Download: ML20148C504 (4)

Text

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D;vid L Qudd, ASC

. -21 Summer Street P.O. Box 1617 Duxbury, MA 023311617

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January 28th'1988

-Commissioner Lando Zech US Nuclear. Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555 Dear Sir I am sixty-seven years old, I am a combat veteran of World War II. I am presently engaged in a definitive research project that takes up all of my time. I am not an activist, I do not picket or carry banners. I do not have the time to write this letter to you. I am probably typical of mainstream America. However, once the enormity of the problems of Pilgrim Station coupled with the apparent lack of concern with the public welfare as shown by the actions or inaction of your commission sinks in - one makes time.

Many of our neighbors have so little confidence in a commission of our Congress entrusted with our safety that, if Pilgrim I goes back on line, some of us are going to purchase dosimeters and monitor the plant continuously ourselves. We will blow the whistle if scandalous radioactive releases occur such as those of the period 1972/76 and that of 1982.

The material sent to you in this shipment proves the worthlessness of the evacuation information provided to you by Boston Edison. See:

David Quaid letter to the Editor of the Duxbury Clipper, December 8th '

1987, enclosed and Admiral Bird's letter to the NRC, October 21st 1987, quote: "In our submittal of June 4th., 1987, we conclude that adequate planning is possible for sheltering beach / transient <

populations (estimated at approx. 9000 people). Our position was then, and remains, that there is more than sufficient sheltering

, capacity available for sheltering the population of concern." His letter is so contrary to the facts as to appear criminal. Filing false reports to a Federal Regulatory agency, I believe, is subject to criminal penalty. I have a home on Gu net Point, the area shown on the enclosed aerial photo as "35 Cottages." I can assure you that there is just no shelter along the five miles of barrier beach from Sun, Wind or Pilgri:n I's effluent.

I would be happy to take one or more of the representatives of the NRC and one from Boston Edison on a tour of Duxbury and Plymouth Beaches and travel all of the so-called evacuation routes. I will make myself available at any tine you desire. The NRC must have this accurate information to fulfill its Congressional mandate.

Anyone who has ever t: raveled the South Shore of Massachusetts knows that there is not one East / West, modern, engineered road with the possible exception of a two-lane section of Rt. 44 and that connects to a torturous, narrcw, meandering, 7 mile stretch from Carver, to t

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Plymouth. In the event of an emergency this section of.the road would gridlock, totally, instantly.

Your commission's credioility is flawed because of the excesses of the nuclear power industry. If.the NRC had really done_its job perhaps no one would ever have heard of Three Mile Island. The FAA is-not the-advocate of the airline industry, but its control. It should be the model for your commission. The public is convinced that the FAA's first and foremost concern is the safety of the public, the airline's bottom line is of second concern. Your commission.does not enjoy the same public faith, in fact, public discontent with the NRC is rampant.

I find it hard to believe that the NRC is content to merely wait for the major nuclear emergency it predicts will occur in the next twenty years. Why not this. year? Why not next? The chances are that we certainly don't have to wait for the full twenty. With plants as bad as Pilgrim I, we probably won't go full term. Its time for the NRC acting with the full authority of-the US Government to cull out those l plants, nuch as Pilgrim I, whose operating records are abominable. A  !

culling operation, closing the worst plants, would reduce the risk-of l such an unimaginable catastrophe and send a cignal to the public and to all of the managements making up the Nuclear Power Industry that Laissez-faire is out and shape up is in.

I am sending this same packet to Senator Edward Kennedy for his interest.

Si cerely,

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b David L. Quaid "k

I just heard a few minutes ago, on the news, that the USSR has stopped construction on a nuclear plant near the Black Sea because the local people did not want it. This, in a monolithic dictatorship, normaly insensitive to the desires of the public. It proves that there is a lesson to be learned from Chernobyl.

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Dec mber 8th, 1987 ,

To the Editor, Duxbury. Clippers ,

I was one of the concerned citizens who spoke'at the recent Special Town' Meeting in opposition to accepting the handout from Boston Edison ,

for the Emergency Operating Center construction in our fire station, and against Boston Edison's funding--of full-time Civil Defense ,

personnel. It was startling to me to hear our Civil Defense Director state that we have six phones in our existing Emergency Center'and that cnly five of them work. Perhaps the faulty telephone should be replaced. Our Police Chief stated, at the meeting, that during the last snowstorm, all of the police phones, but one, were out of service for many hours. Presumably, these illustrations were to demonstrated our need for Boston Edison's money. Agreed these situations are-atrocious and must be remedied - by us.

i In order to overcome the deficiencies of Pilgrim I, Boston Edison is  !

throwing money at the five downwind towns to bolster their case with .

the_ nuclear Regulatory Commission and to gain its support to restart this proven unsafe plant. More money will be coming from Boston ,

Edison for other Town costs, and all to put the five towns in the position of being part of the charade documented by Admiral Bird's (

Sr. Vice-President, Boston Edison) September 17th. 1987 letter to the ,

Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He asked for a one-time exemption for the next biennial full participation emergency preparedness exercise for Pilgrim I in the 2nd quarter of 1988, quote: ,

"The exemption is necessary because the Commonwealth, the local i governments within the 10 mile emergency planning zone and the two emergency center communities are at present engaged in implementing numerous improvements in their offsite emergency preparedness programs

. . . . the development and implementation of training programs for officials and emergency personnel and the upgrading of Emergency Operating Centers (EOC's) . . . . Boston Edison is executing agreements with each of the five towns within the EPZ, as well as the two reception center communities, for assistance in the renovation of  :

their EOC's. Moreover, four of the five EPZ towns and both reception center communities, to date, have accepted BECO's offer of funding support for full-time civil defense staff positions."

Another Admiral Bird letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of October 21st., 1987, quote:

"In our submittal of June 4th., 1987, we concluded that adequate -

planning is possible for sheltering beach / transient populations (  :

estimated at approx. 9000 people).

Our position was then, and remains, that there is more than sufficient sheltering capacity available for sheltering the population of concern." i f Anyone who has walked Duxbury Beach knows that there are only two  ;

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buildings on its 4 1/2 mile length, the bathhouse at the public beach, anda a dwelling at High Pines. Gurnet Road, the sole access to the congested public beach area, cannot handle the weekend traffic let alone an evacuation. The newly constructed two-lane Powder Point Bridge would be the only escape route for the thousands who throng the 4 1/2 miles of town beach on a summer's afternoon and for the occupants of the 250 cottages at Gurnet Point and Saquish. Mr. Bird is obviously receiving outlandish information and passing it on to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as fact. He seems terribly naive regarding the true possibility of evacuation in the area of the five towns. For example, there is not one divided lane major highway going West in the entire area. The East / West roads are at best paved over indian trails that are taxed to handle daily traffic. In a disaster, the prospect of attempting to travel these roads is truly frightening.

With the rudementary public transportation and road system in place on the South Shore it is impossible to have an orderly evacuation.

Anarchy can be the only result. This must be faced.

Up to now there has never been any urgency to appropriate funds to up-grade our Civil Defense capability at previous town meetings. Now that funds are available from Boston Edison, it suddenly becomes the most important item on our town's agenda. Where were our town officials on this issue in the past.

In order to preserve the Duxbury spirit, of fierce independence, which has sustained us for 350 years, we cannot start an insidious precedent by accepting money from a private concern. Today, Boston Edison, tomorrow other special interest business groups who could receive consideration for financial contributions to our "welfare".

If the Selectmen, the Financial Committee and the Town Department Heads can prove the need for an enhanced Emergency Operations Center -

we should have one. The mechanism is already in place - override Proposition 2 1/2. Once convinced by the arguments of the above officials on an issue of public safety, I would be the first to vote in favor of that step.

In time of War it is certainly appropriate to implement evacuation plans to escape the depredations of an enemy; but to live in constant fear and to contemplate evacuation, however long, from our beautiful area, all because of T dirty, unsafe and inefficient plant run by an irresponsible private company - is bizarre.

David L.Quaid Summer Street