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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 10-03-2006-6aORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: October 3, 2006 Action Agenda Item No. 6 -u SUBJEGT: Resolutions Regarding Shearon Harris Fire Safety and Emergency Evacuation Issues DEPARTMENT: County Commissioners PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) no County Manager ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Resolution In Support of Bringing the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant into Barry Jacobs, Chair BOCC Compliance with existing Fire Safety County Engineer, 919-245-2303 Regulations Resolution Requesting that Progress Energy/CP&L Work with Law Enforcement and Emergency Management Officials within the 50-Mile Impact Area Around the Shearon Harris Plant to Establish and Coordinate Emergency Evacuation Planning NCWARN Resolution PURPOSE: To provide two resolutions related to safety issues at the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant to the BOCC for the .Board to review, revise as necessary and adopt. BACKGROUND: The citizens and elected officials of Orange County have, for some years, been aware of the potential for widespread and lethal consequences resulting from an airborne release of the tremendous quantity of radioactive material available from the spent nuclear fuel stored in Shearon Harris nuclear power plant's "temporary" waste storage pools. While the southernmost portion of Orange County. is approximately 15 miles north of Shearon Harris, all of the County lies within the 50 mile radius "ingestion pathway" around the plant - as do a large densely populated area and important governmental, military, industrial and education facilities (approximately 2,000,000 individuals, the state capital, Fort Bragg, the Research Triangle, four major universities and a number of smaller universities and colleges). Orange County governments and citizens have been very vocal about concerns related to those safety and security issues at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant that could lead to an incident involving a significant airborne release of nuclear waste materials. During the period of late-1998 through mid-2002, Orange County's concerns led it to work with other local governments to challenge, through a quasi judicial proceeding with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the plans. of Progress Energy/CP&L to expand the use of the Shearon Harris fuel storage pools. In May of 2002, Orange County and Chatham County co- hosted asymposium on the effects of release of a major release of nuclear materials as a consequence of terrorism. Orange County recognizes the potential consequences of an airborne release of nuclear materials, given a combination of circumstances including existing population densities, known problems with traffic gridlock under non-emergency conditions and the lack of overall coordination in emergency management, response and evacuation planning between Progress Energy/CP&L and local law enforcement/emergency management personnel. Accordingly, Orange County has, on several occasions, tried to raise this issue and these concerns with Progress Energy/CP&L and with government officials on the national, state and local level. At a recent Assembly of Governments meeting of elected~officials from Orange County, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough, Orange County indicated its intent to renew its efforts to convince Progress Energy/CP&L and appropriate state and federal agencies (the NC Utilities Commission, Department of Crime Control & Public Safety and others; and the US Department of Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency and others) to work with all of the elected, law enforcement and emergency management/ response officials within the 50 mile radius ingestion zone to develop comprehensive and effective emergency response and evacuation plans. On a separate track, the BOCC has been advised of longstanding issues with the fire protection and safety at the Shearon Harris facility. Specifically, the Board learned that the plant has experienced at least one very serious fire and has a history of prevalent non-compliance with NRC-promulgated fire safety standards and regulations. Given that approximately 50% of the risks of catastrophic nuclear plant failure are associated with fire-related accidents (as calculated by the NRC), the local governments of Orange County have expressed a high level of concern and alarm at learning of the Harris plant's shortcomings in this area. Orange County has thus indicated its willingness to support the NC Waste Awareness and Reduction Network (NCWARN), the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Nuclear Information and Research Service, NC Fair Share and Students United for a Responsible Global Environment in their emergency petition to the NRC to compel Progress Energy/CP&L to immediately correct all of the fire safety violations at the Shearon Harris facility. FINANCIAL. IMPACT: There is no direct financial implication to these resolutions, although costs associated with emergency management planning for evacuation routing, control, procedures, etc., may arise in the long term. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the BOCC review, revise as necessary and adopt the resolutions. 3 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS A Resolution In Support of an Emergency Petition to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the NC Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Nuclear Information and Research Service, NC Fair Share and Students United for a Responsible Global Environment Seeking Regulatory Action by the Commission to Enforce Existing Fire Protection Standards and Regulations Applicable to the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners has a long and well- , established practice of advocating for any and all activities that would promote the public health, safety and welfare, particularly in regard to feasible threats to that health, safety and welfare; and WHEREAS, approximately 50 percent of the risks of catastrophic nuclear plant failure are associated with fire-related accidents, as calculated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners also have a long and well- established record of concern regarding security and safety issues at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant, related to the potential magnitude and catastrophic consequences of a nuclear power plant fire leading to an airborne release of nuclear waste materials; and WHEREAS, information has recently been presented to the Board of County Commissioners as to ongoing problems with fire safety and fire protection practices at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant; and WHEREAS, Progress Energy/CP&L has indicated that it will apply to the NRC for permission to take up to nine more years to bring the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant into compliance with fire safety standards and regulations; and WHEREAS, Progress Energy/CP&L has indicated that it will apply to the NRC for a twenty-year extension of its operating license for the Shearon Harris plant while the plant is not in compliance with existing fire safety standards and regulations; and WHEREAS, Progress Energy/CP&~ has indicated that it is in the process of evaluation of permitting, designing and constructing two nuclear power reactors at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant while the existing plant is not in compliance with existing fire safety standards and regulations; NOW, THEREFORE, do we, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, hereby resolve to support the petition of the NC Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Nuclear Information and Research Service, NC Fair Share and Students United for a Responsible Global Environment to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission asking that the NRC compel Progress Energy/CP&L to immediately bring the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant into compliance with existing federal fire safety standards. and regulations applicable to nuclear power plants. This is the 3rd day of October, 2006 Barry Jacobs, Chair Orange County Board of Commissioners 5 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS A Resolution Calling for Coordinated Emergency Management and Evacuation Planning Within the 50-Mile Radius Ingestion Pathway for Potential Discharge of Airborne Nuclear Waste Material from the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant . WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners has a long and well- established practice of advocating for any and all activities that would ,promote the public health, safety and welfare, particularly in regard to feasible threats to that health, safety and welfare; and WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners has a long and well- established record of concern and -activism related to the potential magnitude and catastrophic consequences of an airborne release of nuclear waste materials from the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant; and WHEREAS, information developed within the least eight years has demonstrated the vulnerability of spent nuclear fuel to combustion with ensuing airborne release and dispersion of extremely harmful and dangerous nuclear waste material as a consequence of accident or sabotage/'terrorism; and WHEREAS, there exists an area of a ten-mile radius around the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant for which there are in place emergency management acid evacuation plans of debatable efficacy in case of a catastrophic accident and airborne release of nuclear waste material from the plant; and WHEREAS, an airborne release of nuclear material may stem from an uncontrollable event of several days or greater duration that would affect at least all of the fifty-mile radius ingestion pathway area; and WHEREAS, the fifty-mile radius ingestion pathway around the Shearon Harris plant contains approximately two million persons, the state capital, Fort Bragg, the Research Triangle, four major universities and a number of smaller universities, hundreds of public and private schools, thousands of businesses, dozens of local government jurisdictions; millions of pets, and a rich natural environment; and WHEREAS, there is no coordinated emergency management and evacuation planning for the portion of the ingestion pathway beyond the. area defined by the ten-mile radius around Shearon Harris; and t hic level of WHEREAS, fairly recent ice and snow storm events of a far less catas rop severity have proven capable of reducing Research Triangle area traffic to a state of extended gridlock; and WHEREAS, orderly or effective evacuation of the fifty-mile radius ingestion pathway under current emergency management and evacuation planning and coordination conditions would be fraught with difficulties, if not impossible; and WHEREAS, protection of public health, safety and welfare in regard to the atmospheric release of nuclear waste material is a responsibility that must be shared by Progress Energy/CP&L; local law enforcement and emergency management/ response agencies and others; the NC Utilities Commission, Department of Crime Control & Public Safety and others; and the US Department of Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency and others; as well as the public; NOW, THEREFORE, do we, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, hereby resolve to request and recommend that Progress Energy/CP&~; the NC Utilities Commission, Department of Crime Control & Public Safety and others; and the US Department of Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency work with the appropriate local, state and federal government transportation planning, law enforcement and emergency management/response agencies and personnel to develop and coordinate emergency management, response and evacuation plans for the entire fifty-mile radius surrounding its Shearon Harris nuclear power plant. This is the 3rd day of October, 2006 Barry Jacobs, Chair Orange County Board of Commissioners Resolution in Support of Brinclring the Shearon Harris. Nuclear Plant into Compliance with Federal Fire Safety Regulations We the undersigned support the legal action directed to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by NC WARN, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Nuclear Information and Research Service, NC. Fair Share, and Students United for a Responsible Global Environment to bring the Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant into compliance with Federal Fire Safety Regulations. The plant has operated in violation of those regulations for at least the past 14 years and as such has substantially increased the risk to the public. In' addition, the plant owner says it will apply for permission to take up to nine mare years to study its fire safety violations instead of fixing them. That legal action calls for emergency enforcement action by the NRC to: 1) Immediately suspend Shearon Harris's license until all fire safety violations are corrected, or; 2) Fine Harris $130,000 for each violation each day it operates until compliance with current law is verified by NRC -without relying on regulatory bypasses such as "interim" fire watches and operator actions. The legal action further requests that deliberations on this matter are conducted in open and public proceedings that include hearings in the. vicinity of the Shearon Harris plant: Although the bringers of the legal action are willing to enter into negotiations allowing the plant to remain operating, any continued operation must be based on the establishment of a firm timetable -not exceeding 12 months -for completing the necessary repairs. to bring the plant into full compliance with current, applicable fire safety regulations. We further call for the NRC to refuse to consider any "early relicensing" of the plant for an additional 20 years -for which an application will be submitted by year end - unless the plant has been brought into full compliance with fire regulations. Signed Printed nam Title - Date On behalf of (if applicable) the following governmental or other organization: Please return to NC WARN., P.O. Box 61051, Durham, NC 27715-1051 or ncwarn@ncwarn.org or call 919-416-5077. The resolution will be sent to the NRC in support of the legal action.