[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 21 (Friday, January 31, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4819-4820]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-2378]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-245, 50-336, 50-423 and 50-213]
Northeast Utilities, Millstone Nuclear Power Station, Units 1, 2,
and 3, Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company, Haddam Neck Plant;
Receipt of Petition for Director's Decision Under 10 CFR 2.206
Notice is hereby given that on November 25, 1996, as amended on
December 23, 1996, the Citizens Awareness Network (CAN) and the Nuclear
Information and Resource Service (NIRS) (Petitioners) submitted a
Petition pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 requesting certain actions associated
with the Haddam Neck plant, which the Petitioners refer to as
Connecticut Yankee, and the three Millstone units operated by Northeast
Utilities (NU).
Petitioners allege that NU has, over the past decade, mismanaged
its nuclear facilities in Connecticut and operated them in flagrant
disregard of NRC regulations; that NU has failed to fulfill its
commitments to the NRC; that NU management had concrete particularized
knowledge of serious on-going violations of NRC regulations culminating
in material misrepresentations to the NRC; that regulatory oversight by
the NRC to assure NU's compliance with NRC
[[Page 4820]]
regulations has been a blatant and abject failure; that NU is in
violation of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B; and that these failures have
culminated in inconsistent and inaccurate updated Final Safety Analysis
Reports at NU's nuclear facilities in Connecticut, thereby posing a
significant safety concern for either continued operation of the plants
or decommissioning.
The bases for these assertions are NU and NRC inspection findings
and NU documents referred to in the Petition, the amendment and a VHS
videotape, Exhibit A, which accompanied the Petition. The videotape has
been transcribed and placed in the Commission's Public Document Room
and local public document rooms. Areas identified are surveillance
testing, operation outside the design basis, and degraded material
condition. Petitioners assert that this information demonstrates that
there are inadequate quality assurance programs at NU's nuclear
facilities in Connecticut, that NU has made material false statements
regarding its Millstone units, and that safe decommissioning of the
Haddam Neck plant is not possible given the defective nature of the
design and licensing basis for this facility. In addition, in the
amendment the Petitioners assert that certain nitrogen calculations
performed by NU for the Haddam Neck facility may not comply with 10 CFR
Part 50, Appendix B, and that the NRC failed to identify this problem.
The videotape records an August 29, 1996, Citizens Regulatory
Commission televised interview of a former Millstone Station employee.
The interview included the former employee's views relating to NU's
poor management in allowing: Degradation of the material plant; poor
radwaste practices resulting in potential radiation exposure to
employees; and harassment intimidation and subsequent illegal
termination of employees raising safety concerns.
Petitioners request the following actions: immediate suspension or
revocation of NU's licenses to operate its nuclear facilities in
Connecticut; investigation of possible NU material misrepresentations
to the NRC; continued shutdown of the NU facilities in Connecticut
until the Department of Justice completes its investigation and the
results are reviewed by the NRC and until the NRC evaluates and
approves NU remedial actions; continued listing of the NU facilities on
the NRC ``watch list'' should NU resume operation; barring any
predecommissioning or decommissioning activity at any NU nuclear
facility in Connecticut until NU and the NRC take certain identified
steps to assure that such activities can be safely conducted; and
initiation by the NRC of an investigation into how it allowed the
asserted illegal situation at NU's nuclear facilities in Connecticut to
exist and continue for more than a decade. In addition, in the
amendment, Petitioners request copies of Connecticut Yankee's nitrogen
calculations and an immediate investigation of the need for enforcement
action for alleged violation of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B.
The issues in the Petition, as amended, are being treated pursuant
to 10 CFR Section 2.206 of the Commission's regulations and have been
referred to the Acting Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation. As provided by 10 CFR Section 2.206, appropriate action
with regard to these issues will be taken within a reasonable time. By
letter dated January 23, 1997, the Acting Director denied the request
for immediate suspension or revocation of the operating licenses for
the NU nuclear facilities in Connecticut.
A copy of the Petition, the amendment to the Petition and a
transcription of the videotape are available for inspection at the
Commission's Public Document Room at 2120 L Street, N.W., Washington,
DC 20037 and at the local public document rooms at (1) the Learning
Resources Center, Three Rivers Community-Technical College, 574 New
London Turnpike, Norwich, CT 06360, and (2) the Waterford Library,
ATTN: Vince Juliano, 49 Rope Ferry Road, Waterford, CT 06385.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 23rd day of January 1997.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Frank J. Miraglia, Jr.,
Acting Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 97-2378 Filed 1-30-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
