Carter pledges full investigation

Press, 7 April 1979, Page 8

Carter pledges full investigation

NZPA Washington President Jimmy Carter has said that he will appoint an independent commission of experts to investigate what went wrong at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.

“You deserve a full accounting, and you will get it,” Mr Carter said in his energy speech to the nation. He promised a prompt report. But Administration officials made it clear that President Carter would not make any immediate move to shut down the United States’ 72 } nuclear generators, which j supply about 13 per cent of (the nation’s electrical power, j And they said he would I continue to push the United } States Congress to enact (legislation to cut down the (length of time needed to (license a new nuclear generating station.

Meanwhile, the White House announced that President Carter had asked the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to speed up the placement of full-time inspectors in nuclear generating plants. The N.R.C. at present has permanent inspectors at fewer than half the existing commercial nuclear reactors, although Mr Carter proposed putting inspectors at all of them more than two years ago. There was no full-time Federal inspector assigned at Three Mile Island. Mr Carter made scant mention of the incident, saying it “causes all of us concern” and “shows we have other energy problems” besides those related to petroleum, which was the primary focus of his speech.

“I have directed the establishment of an independent Presidential commission of experts to investigate the causes of this accident and to make recommendations

on how wc can improve the safety of nuclear power plants,” President Carter said.

Plans for a nuclear power plant on the Hudson River have been scrapped in what was believed to be the first such cancellation since the accident at Harrisburg. Frederick Clark, chairman of the New York Power Authority, said the trustees approved his proposal to sell the authority’s assets in the proposed 1.2 million kilowatt plant at Cementon. Mr Clark had proposed shelving the plan several weeks ago, on grounds costs had gone up 76 per cent over the last two years because of licensing delays.

In addition to the cost factor, Mr Clark alluded to “recent events which mandate caution and which will make licensing and construction more difficult.”

Seven of Japan's eight pressurised water (light) reactors are shut down and most of them are expected to be under further checks and repairs until next summer, a peak period of electricity consumption, the Japanese International Trade and Industry Ministry has said.

Officials said cracks had been found in pins supporting guidance pipes of reac« tor control rods in three nuclear plants during regular checks since last February, while another plant had trouble with a piece of equipment called a neutron source aggregate which kindles the reactor.

Besides these plants, similar to the crippled reactor in Pennsylvania, three others of the same type had been undergoing overhauls or test runs since last year, the officials said.

They added, however, none of the troubles would result in accidents, even if generation at the plants were continued. *