High Court Clears Way for TMI Restart

The Supreme Court cleared the way Wednesday for the immediate restart of a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, site in 1979 of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear plant accident. A plant spokesman said the reactor could be turned on again by noon today.

The court rejected by an 8-1 vote an emergency request from a citizens’ group that said it is too risky for operations at the plant to resume.

Within several hours of the ruling, Harold Denton, director of the office of nuclear reactor regulation at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, signed a letter authorizing the restart.

Action Expected Today

Final approval must be given by Thomas Murley, the NRC’s regional administrator, who must be satisfied that the plant is ready, agency spokesman John Kopeck said. Murley was not expected to act until today, Kopeck said.

Doug Bedell, spokesman for GPU Nuclear Corp., which operates the plant, said that final checks were to be made Wednesday night and that a nine-hour process leading to a chain reaction in the nuclear core would start at 3 a.m. today.

Last week, Justice William J. Brennan temporarily halted the scheduled restart of the reactor while giving the plant operators and the NRC time to argue for the resumption of operations.

‘Irreparable’ Damage

The citizens’ organization opposed to the restart, Three Mile Island Alert, told Brennan that the operation of the plant’s Unit I reactor now will mean that “residents who live in the TMI vicinity will suffer irreparable psychological damage and risk irreparable physical harm.”

The group said that additional safety hearings are needed before operations resume. It said it plans to ask the Supreme Court to order further hearings and urged Brennan to preserve the status quo. Brennan referred the matter to the full court Monday.