ML20234B162

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Responds to to President Kennedy Re Concern for Safety of Persons in Area Surrounding Proposed Reactor Site at Bodega Bay & Conservation of Natural Resources.Pamphlet Re Licensing of Power Reactors Encl.W/O Encl
ML20234B162
Person / Time
Site: 05000000, Bodega Bay
Issue date: 04/24/1963
From: Price E
US ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION (AEC)
To: Heideman M
AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
Shared Package
ML20234A767 List: ... further results
References
FOIA-85-665 NUDOCS 8709180286
Download: ML20234B162 (5)
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1 So - lof APR 2 4 Y963 i i

Dr. M. L. Heideman, Jr. ,

353 Rose street l Beres, Ohie Dear Dr. Beidemmas j

-l Your letter of March 26, 1% 3, addressed to President Eennedy, ~

has been referred to the Atomie Saergy Commission for seasidera- "

l tica.

um meta your sensera for the safety of porosas la the area sur- 4 rounding the p.:;:::f remeter site at Bodega Boy and for the. )

eenservaties of natural resources. l

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Emeleeed is a panyhtet prepared by the femalestem's Divielen of l Publie taformatten ooneeratag.the licenstag of-pesar remeters.

I hope you will flad it reassuring sommerains the discharge by the Atente Energy Comedlastaa of its reopensibility-relative to the health sad safety of the public.

Refers the Commission een eensider isonnese of a permit autheris -

w % ,, lag the Posifto Gas EElastrie Company to construst,the psopeeed plant at the p.:;:::f site, the Commission's Divistem of 1&senstai and Regulatten will make a :- m _ " rive safety evatustion of the proposal, the Ceumission's Advisoty Committee en Reaster Safe-guards will thoroughly review the applicaties and a publie bearing will be held before an Atomic Safety and Licensias Seasd er sa ABC Hearing Emandaar, sa required by lae. After the issuanos of an Initial Dosisten by the Atomic Safety,and Licensing Seerd er i the Esaring Examiner, the entire hearing record is subject to j review by the Casumiestem. The hydrelegical, esteerelegical, and l seelegiest aspects of the site, testuding the effects of earth-quake sa the p.;,:: d plant, will be therseghly empleted in tbs .

seeres of revies by the Cassaiselon's staff and the Advisory Can- I mittee en Roseter Safeguards. The purpees of these extensive r.::: is-e is to assure thorough eensiderettom of all aspects of the proposed plant bearing upon the geestien ubether the remeter 3 een be constreeted and operated at the r.:,:: d site without. '

  • risk to the health and safety of the publie. Resever, E%9 9

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. t Dr. M. L. Reideman, Jr. -2*  !

APR 2 41900 S

sentag geestions, eenservatten matters and the eethettes of the site are met within the jurisdicties of the Atende Energy Com.

sission and, therefore, are met considered la the eserse of' the review and evaluation of the appliestion which I have just. 1 described. A sepy of your letter of March 26th and a sepy of I this letter are being referred to the Fish & Wildlife Service, Unitied states Department of the Interior, for reply to the

/. ' brokd questions of eenservattaa of resouress which you raise.

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j ]/ / As/you haow, the Advisory Committee to adviseen theReaster Safessards a Qummittee established by the Congress hission

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, esi/ questions of remeter safety. 4 1t is ende up of setentists and b .l. esigineers who are eminently qualified te reester teshastegy. -

The reports of the Consittee are nede spallable to the pub 11e i dad a W by the Commiestem. The analysis of the safety 7 aspects of the peepened remeter peepened by the Divisten of Licensing and Regalatten will aise he available to the public.

/ This'analyets will set forth the position ghteh the Regulatory

/ Staff will take at the~public hearias. At that hearias, which will be held la Califerata en a date and at a plass to be an -

feoumoed, members of the Regalatory Staff will appear to explain n (their evaluatten of the safety of the peeposed remeter. More.

// 'ever, an opportualty to participate la the hearing is afforded

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/ the publie persmaet to the Cementesion's "Balas.of Freettee",

10 CFR Part to a espy of.which is ensleoed. I feel sure that

  • .* '/ ' 'these precedures will enable ~all interestad persons"ic the area to aequatat themselves with the details of the proposal and with the Regulatory Staff's evaluaties thereef.

i Staserely yours, gignan Eber R. Price. Assistant Director i

DM$lon of utensing and Regulation 1

D1 ester Division of Licensing and Regulaties Eactesuress bect OGC As stated above C. T. Edwards Eber Price ee '

Mr. Clarenes h =ha, Cenniastomer ~

Fish & Wildlife Seevice

c. S. nepartment of the laterior '

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I w.v..M -- - I b I gi3 GEIM.t/J. )LIWfRIC COPPA!iY ATOMIC POWER EQUIPMUNT DEPAR'It'.lEr 175 CURTNER AVENUE g-CAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

, -Q? N April 15, 1963 Mr. Gene Benedetti, Manager Petaluma Co-op Creamery Petaluma, California Dear Mr. Benedetti The General Electric Company, which will furnish the~ atomic reactor for Bodega Ba J has designed the boiling water reactors now in service at the Vallecitos '

Atmic Laboratory, near. Livermore; at Eureka,- California; at Dresden, near Chicago; plus one each in Michigan and Germany. In addition, for 16 years the Company has operated, for the Atomic Energy Commission, the Hanford Works in the state of Washington, which involves eight reactors and two chemical sepa-rations plants.

This long experience in the operation of nuclear facilities, and data secured over several years from boiling water reactors similar to that to be provided at Bodega Bay, indicate that operation of this plant will have no effect on milk produced in Sonoma and Marin counties. Further information bearing on this is attached.

Very truly yours, l

1 L. H. McEwen, Manager Nuclear Safety Engineering l

cec Attach. i O A C

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ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF ,

BOILING WATER NUCLEAR POWER PIANTS Atomic fission involve.s generation of radioactive isotopes such as iodine-131 and strontium-90. In weapons testing,. these materials are released directly to the atmosphere and ultimately deposit on the ground. In nuclear power reactors such materials are instead retained within fuel elements inside the reactor itself. Radioactive isotopes are released from the fuel elements when they are ultimately dissolved in acid, in what is termed a chemical sepa-rations plant, or when fuel is taken apart for study in an atomic laboratory; the facility to be built at Bodega Bay does not involve operations of this sort.

This important distinction between power reactors and chemical separations plants may not be generally understood. Those unfamiliar with the atomic industry might therefore mistakenly interpret the release of radioactive materials from chemical separations plants as referring to reactor operations.

One can see what this difference amounts to by looking at some figures from the chemical separations plants at Hanford and from the Dresden Nuclear Power Stacion of the Commonwealth Edison Company, a large boiling water reactor near Chicago, which has been in operation for over three years.

For many years, iodine-131 has been released to the atmosphere at the Hanford chemical separations plants. This release, which is under continuous careful control, is currently such that the amount deposited on vegetation is indistin-guishable from background more than three miles from the stack. It is easier to measure iodine in milk than in grass, yet the Hanford contribution of iodine-131 in the nearest milk production area, 15 miles away, cannot be distinguished.

In 1962, emission of iodine-131 frcm the Dresden reactor was about 5000 times less than that from the Hanford separations plants. We cannot make a more precise estimate because such releases are extremely difficult to measure; the amounts from Dresden are far too small to be measured on vegetation or in milk. In every way, operation of the Dresden reactor has indicated that large, direct-cycle boiling water reactors will have no significant , radiation effects  !

on the surrounding area.

For example, Dresden plant operation, throughout the entire year of 1962, created a maximum radiation exposure for any person living near the plant of about 1/1000 of the permissible dose established by international authorities on radiation protection. This dose from Dresden operation was about 0.5 millirem, which may be compared with the ever-present natural background radiation, to which year.* all people are, and have been always exposed, of about 150 millirem per '

  • As a matter of information, the reader may be interested in knowing that part of .this natural background radiation arises from the consumption of food. Edible things of all kinds, including grass, hay, and milk, have always contained radio-activity. This comes from potassium, a naturally occurring element found in soil and commonly an important ingredient of fertilizers. All forms of potassium contain potassium-40, a radioactive isotope with a half life of about one billion  !

years. For example, alfalfa contains about 20 micromicrocuries of radioactive potassium-40 per gram; it was thus long before atomic energy was dreamt-of. t i n+

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The results of field measurements of radioactivity near the Dresden plant in 1962 may be also of interest. As expected, milk samples from three nearby farms, and from vegetation in the area showed radioactivity consistent w.cn samples taken in other areas by the National Surveillance Network, indicating no detectable contributions attributable to the nuclear power station. Air - I borne radioactivity from the plant was indistinguishable in measurement made at 18 monitoring stations up to 15 miles from the plant. Likewise, samples of river water and mud from upstream and downstream of the plant showed no measureable increase. in radioactivity from plant operations. Calculations show that the plar,t increased the natural background radioactivity in the river by less than one percent.  !

Experience at General Electric's Vallecitos Atomic Laboratory is similar. At this laboratory, the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor is operated with inten-  ;

tionally defected fuel to determine what would happen in a power plant under  !

these circumstances. Also, fuel elements are taken apart for study in special laboratories; iodine-131 is released under such conditions. Measurements show that grass in the laboratory area contains from one-tenth to one-half of one j

micromicrocurie of iodine-131 per gram. That is, from one-tenth to one-half i l of one millionth part of one millionth part of one curie. Since this is such a minute level, determination of the portions of this which came from weapons  ;

testing and from plant operations have not been made. The bulk of that which has come from plant operations is associated with disassembly of. fuel in the laboratories and not from the reactor.

Study of the records will show two instances where iodine-131 and strontium-90 were emitted from atomic reactors in significant quantity. Because longer half-life isotopes, such as strontium-90, happen to be far less volatile than iodine, these were emitted in far smaller quantity; the amount of strontium-90 was less than 1/1000 that of the iodine. Both cases, one in England and one in Idaho, pertained to reactor accidents.

These two accidents were in reactors importantly different from modern boiling water reactors, especially in that they were provided with no containment.

Power reactors, such as that to be built at Bodega Bay, are provided with con-tainment facilities, or provisions to contain and hold any radioactive materials which might escape from a reactor under accident conditions. The containment features of the Bodega Bay reactor are exceptional; whatever radioactive materi-als could conceivably leak from the containment pass not to the outside, but to a structure which features special equipment which will remove iodine-131 and strontium-90. The possibility that significant quantities of either isotope could be released from the Bodega Bay reactor under accident conditions is virtually zero.

eb April 25, 1963 e . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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