NRC Acts to Bypass Local Veto of A-Plants

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday tentatively approved an easing of the emergency planning requirements for nuclear power plants, a step designed to circumvent state and local opposition to two reactors awaiting start-up on the East Coast.

The decision, if ratified after a 60-day period for public comment, would clear the way for licensing the Shoreham plant on Long Island, 55 miles east of New York City, and the Seabrook plant in New Hampshire, near the Massachusetts state line.

Facilities Opposed

Those facilities, each costing more than $4 billion, are opposed by Govs. Mario M. Cuomo of New York and Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts. They were among a score of elected officials who appeared before the commission Tuesday to protest the proposed change.

After 1979 Accident

Cuomo and Dukakis have managed to block the start-up of Shoreham and Seabrook because NRC rules adopted in the wake of the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, Pa., virtually require state and local cooperation in planning for the evacuation of residents within 10 miles of a reactor in the event of a major accident.

The two governors have refused to cooperate, saying there is no way to guarantee the safe exodus of residents in the cases of Shoreham and Seabrook.

The proposed rules change would let the NRC go ahead and license a plant in the absence of state and local cooperation on emergency plans. In such cases, the utilities would be required to develop evacuation plans, ones which could be reasonably expected to work if local authorities did in fact respond to an emergency.

Federal regulatory agencies publish proposed rules in the Federal Register, opening the proposed change to a period of public comment, after which the agency may adopt, reject or modify the proposed rule.

Joe Fouchard, an NRC spokesman, said Thursday’s action simply means the commission is opening the proposal to public comment and does not mean the commission has given any approval to the rule.

Several members of Congress, including Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), have told the NRC that, if the rules change is adopted, they will attempt to override it with legislation that would strengthen state and local officials’ power to veto nuclear power.