[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]
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