Re: [Know_Nukes] Errors in NRC TMI Factsheet

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM>]

"By mid-morning, citizens (many who had not heard

about the accident) were reporting a metallic taste in

their mouths."? This is the first I have ever heard of

this.  Is this to imply their was a release of

radioactive material from the TMI plant?



Which is only exceeded by "Dr. Wing reported that

"...there were reports of erythema, hair loss,

vomiting, and pet death near TMI at the time of the

accident..."



I do believe that anyone outside of the anti-nuclear

community that believe there was an increase of cancer

deaths.



--- Norm Cohen <ncohen12@comcast.net> wrote:

> 

> 

> 

> What.s Wrong With the NRC.s 2004 Fact Sheet on the

> TMI Accident?

> Published by

> Three Mile Island Alert - March 2004

> 

> (NRC Fact sheet available at 

>

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html)

> 

> .The main feedwater pumps stopped running, caused by

> either a

> mechanical or electrical failure, which prevented

> the steam generators

> from removing heat..

> 

> The problems did not start with the feedwater pumps,

> trouble began in the

> condensate polisher system. The NRC reported this in

> 1979 but states that

> they don.t need to know the exact cause of the

> condensate polisher valves

> failure. No one knows why the accident began to this

> day.

> 

> .Signals available to the operator failed to show

> that the valve was still

> open. In addition, there was no clear signal that

> the pilot-operated relief

> valve was open..

> 

> Because TMI had been falsifying reactor leak rates

> to the NRC in the weeks

> leading to the accident, operators had learned to

> ignore the most obvious

> sign that the PORV had stuck open and that coolant

> was being lost through

> this pathway. The high temperature reading at the

> PORV drain line was a

> clear indication that coolant was escaping. But,

> operators had become

> accustomed to this anomaly because of the criminal

> falsification which

> allowed this condition to exist for several weeks.

> It should be noted that if the company had operated

> lawfully, the plant

> would have been shutdown for repairs and there would

> have been no

> accident on March 28th 1979.

> It is also noteworthy that NRC inspectors at TMI

> during the weeks before

> the accident failed to find or note the reactor

> coolant leak. Later, the

> company pleaded .no contest. to federal charges of

> criminal falsifications

> On May 22 1979, former control room operator Harold

> W. Hartman, Jr. tells

> the NRC investigators that Metropolitan Edison-

> General Public Utilities had

> been falsifying primary-coolant, leak rate data for

> months prior to the

> accident. At least two members of management were

> aware of the practice.

> NRC investigators do not follow-up or report the

> allegations to the

> commission.

> On February 29, 1984, a plea bargain between the

> Department of Justice and

> Met Ed settled the Unit 2 leak rate falsification

> case. Met Ed pleaded 

> guilty

> to one count, and no contest to six counts of an 11

> count indictment.

> 

> .In a worst-case accident, the melting of nuclear

> fuel would lead to a

> breach of the walls of the containment building and

> release massive

> quantities of radiation to the environment. But this

> did not occur as a

> result of the Three Mile Island accident..

> 

> It was only by luck that the reactor walls were not

> breached. The industry

> conjectured that voids in the coolant prevented

> molten fuel from burning

> through the reactor walls. It is not known if these

> voids will form to 

> prevent

> a total meltdown in future accidents. Fifteen

> million curies of 

> radiation is a

> .massive quantity..

> 

> .The accident caught federal and state authorities

> off-guard..

> 

> State officials had no means to measure radiation at

> the scene. They had to

> take field samples and return to their laboratories.

> This was not an 

> effective

> way to acquire real-time data or collect data on

> gaseous releases. Their 

> data

> collection abilities were insufficient to determine

> release rates. The 

> NRC no

> longer monitors radioactive releases at reactor

> sites.

> 

> .They did not know that the core had melted, but

> they immediately took

> steps to try to gain control of the reactor and

> ensure adequate cooling to

> the core..

> 

> Reactor core measurements taken during the first

> morning showed that fuel

> might have melted. This data was cast aside because

> operators believed it

> was not possible and therefore erroneous. During the

> first day, the NRC in

> fact distanced itself from the company by stating it

> did not tell them 

> how to

> run their plant and that they were overseers of

> regulatory matters. 

> Initially,

> the NRC was more interested in hiding from

> responsibility than offering

> advice to the company.

> 

> .Helicopters hired by TMI's owner, General Public

> Utilities Nuclear, and

> the Department of Energy were sampling radioactivity

> in the atmosphere

> above the plant by midday. A team from the

> Brookhaven National

> Laboratory was also sent to assist in radiation

> monitoring..

> 

> By mid-morning, citizens (many who had not heard

> about the accident) were

> reporting a metallic taste in their mouths. Because

> the reactor had been

> leaking for several weeks, the reactor drain tank

> was full and a pathway to

> the environs had already been created by valves

> aligned to handle the

> leaking coolant and facilitate the falsification of

> the leak rates.

> Additionally, at the time of the accident, GPU

> reported that radiation

> monitors went off-scale, filters were clogged and

> other monitoring devices

> .disappeared.. Therefore, we do not know how much

> radiation escaped

> undetected into the atmosphere. Still, the Columbia

> Study found increased

> cancer incidence, including lung cancer, from

> 1975-1985.

> 

> .In an atmosphere of growing uncertainty about the

> condition of the

> plant, the governor of Pennsylvania, Richard L.

> Thornburgh, consulted

> with the NRC about evacuating the population near

> the plant. Eventually,

> he and NRC Chairman Joseph Hendrie agreed that it

> would be prudent

> for those members of society most vulnerable to

> radiation to evacuate the

> area. Thornburgh announced that he was advising

> pregnant women and

> pre-school-age children within a 5-mile radius of

> the plant to leave the

> area..

> 

> The NRC.s agreed upon conditions of a reactor which

> would require

> evacuation of nearby communities had already been

> met two days earlier on

> Wednesday the 28th. Governor Thornburgh complained

> often about the

> conflicting and confusing data coming from the plant

> and the NRC.

> ...even though it led to no deaths or injuries to

> plant workers or

> members of the nearby community..

> In August 1996, a study by the University of North

> Carolina-Chapel Hill,

> authored by Dr. Steven Wing, reviewed the

> Susser-Hatch study (Columbia

> University; 1991). Dr. Wing reported that "...there

> were reports of 

> erythema,

> hair loss, vomiting, and pet death near TMI at the

> time of the accident...

> Accident doses were positively associated with

> cancer 

=== message truncated ===





=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"The care of human life and happiness . . . is the first and only legitimate object of good government."

Thomas Jefferson



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



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