From: Nigel.Allen@lambada.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Hurricane damage at Turkey Point nuclear reactors, FL
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: NDA
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 18:44:16 GMT

One Month After Andrew, Sen. Graham Urged to Investigate Damage at Turkey Point
 To: National Desk, Florida Correspondents
 Contact: Joette Lorion of Floridians for Safe Energy,
          305-661-2165;
          Chris Nichols of Safe Energy Communications Council,
          202-483-8491; or
          Harvey Wasserman of Greenpeace,
          614-231-0507 or 614-464-2964


   WASHINGTON, Sept. 24   -- One month after Hurricane
Andrew struck south Florida, a broad coalition of local, state, and
national citizen organizations has called on U.S.  Sen. Bob Graham
(D-Fla.) to investigate the performance of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and
the systems and staff of Florida Power & Light (FP&L) in response to
Hurricane Andrew's damage to the Turkey Point nuclear reactors.  The
letter to Sen. Graham, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Nuclear
Regulation, stated that serious problems must be addressed before any
funds are spent to repair, rebuild, or replace the damaged reactors
at Turkey Point.
   "We are extremely concerned that critical equipment failed, and
that the NRC may allow Turkey Point to restart with an interim fire
protection system, which the NRC says is being evaluated by FP&L,"
said Joette Lorion, president of Floridians for Safe Energy.  "It's
still hurricane season.  Where is the NRC on this one?  People living
in South Florida have been through enough disaster.  We should not be
asked to shoulder potential nuclear risks as well.
   Like much of Southern Florida, the two 646-megawatt nuclear units
at FP&L's Turkey Point plant were devastated by Andrew on Monday,
Aug. 24.  Most employees had been evacuated and owner FP&L had
ordered the plant into "hot standby." Two fossil units at the same
site also suffered extensive damage.
   Numerous structures were destroyed, including the $10 million
central receiving building with $80 million in inventory, the health
physics building, the plant water tower and all security cameras and
off-site radiation monitoring equipment.  The facility's water tower
was also leveled by Andrew's winds, rendering the fire protection
system inoperable.  A 400 foot outtake stack from the neighboring
oil-fired plant, reportedly designed to withstand 235-mph winds,
suffered a 200-foot crack that led to its being purposely destroyed.
   Despite the extensive damage, FP&L informed the NRC that it could
re-open unit 4 as early as Sept. 30. Unit 3 will remain closed.
"Hurricane Andrew proved that evacuation during, or even after a
hurricane is a fallacy," said Harvey Wasserman, senior advisor to
Greenpeace. "In its mad rush to restart these plants, FP&L appears to
be patching together a band-aid and chewing gum solution to fire
protection, apparently with NRC approval. What next? Will the NRC
allow FP&L to arm the security staff with squirt guns?"
   The letter asks Graham to investigate whether FEMA and the NRC,
when assessing the adequacy of evacuation plans, should be required
to consider the possibility that severe natural phenomena, such as
hurricanes and earthquakes, could completely disrupt emergency
response capability at vulnerable nuclear plants. The letter points
to a number of systems that failed at Turkey Point that would have
prevented evacuation of South Dade residents, such as the failure of
all communication from the Turkey Point site for over an hour during
the storm, failure of the offsite emergency siren system and offsite
radiation monitors for weeks, and complete blockage of evacuation
routes for days.
   The coalition of organizations asked Sen. Graham to begin an
independent investigation with full subpoena powers into the
performance of the plant employees, federal regulators, evacuation
authorities, and reactor systems. The coalition has asked that the
Government Accounting Office investigate whether an adequate and
workable emergency evacuation plan existed during and after the
storm.
   "This could provide the best opportunity for re-building with more
efficient, alternative sources of power than the 20-year-old Turkey
Point reactors," said Martin Gelfand, research director at the Safe
Energy Communication Council. "Turkey Point had a poor performance
record before the hurricane. FP&L should use its insurance funds to
exploit the vast energy supplies available through efficiency and
renewable sources."
   Citing the failure of the NRC to keep the public properly informed
of Turkey Point's ALERT status or other safety problems, the
organizations urged Sen. Graham that "nothing short of a full public
investigation...will ensure the health and safety, not only of those
people living around the plant, but people living in the area of
other nuclear plants susceptible to natural disasters."
 -30-


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