Nuclear Committee Urges Plant Review

An ad hoc committee investigating nuclear power in Massachusetts in light of the Three Mile Island accident last March will probably urge Gov. Edward J. King to set up a permanent and independent body to review safety procedures at state nuclear plants.

Two of the committee's three members--Richard Wilson, professor of Physics and the committee's chairman, and Susan Wiltshire, head of the Massachusetts League of Women Voters--said the proposal would probably be included when the panel makes its final report at the end of this year. (The third member. George W. Rathjens, MIT professor of political science and a well-known physicist, could not be reached for comment.)

The only committees which now regularly review safety standards at the state nuclear plants are set up by the utilities and do not report to the governor, Wilson said.

Yesterday at the McCormack Building in Boston, the Wilson committee questioned representatives from state agencies and energy utilities in the second of three scheduled days of informal public hearings. Topics discussed included the need to better train nuclear plant inspectors and to clarify responsibility for decision-making should a nuclear accident occur.

"We were less than happy with some of the responses," Wilson said yesterday after the three-hour meeting.

"At Three Mile Island," Wilson said, "the whole chain of commaind broke down and the result was chaos. I'm completely unconvinced that there would not be that confusion if an accident like that happened in Massachusetts."

Two nuclear plants are currently in operation in Massachusetts, the Pilgrim I plant in Plymouth and the Yankee plant in Rowe. Boston Edison is trying to gain licensing for a third, Pilgrim II, from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In addition to investigating the state's ability to prevent or, if necessary, cope with an accident at those plants, the Wilson Committee will also check precautions at plants on line or under construction in Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire.

"We're not addressing the question of whether nuclear power should exist," Wilson said, "but looking to make strong and specific criticism as to how the current system could be improved."

The central question for the committee, Wilson said, is how the people of Massachusetts can be sure their plant operators and state officials would be better prepared to meet a nuclear emergency than those at Three Mile Island.

Wiltshire, citing Massachusetts' unique requirement that plants obtain state as well as federal licensing, said the system here has been "better all along."

Attributing most nuclear accidents to operator error and "general sloppiness," Wiltshire noted the need to "make sure safety procedures are maintained and updated through the whole life of each plant."

"I think a permanent review committee really would fill that gap," she added.

The committee, approved by King and the state legislature after the Three Mile Island accident, held its first hearings October 10 and "is really in high gear now," Wilson said. The next session, open to all interested parties, is scheduled for December 14 and will cover the suitability of Plymouth for a nuclear site, the transportation of nuclear in the state, and the methods for communicating to the public after a hypothetical accident, Wilson said. "We've raised some hard questions that need addressing," said Wiltshire. "I'd hate to have a Three Mile Island every few years to keep people aware that the problems exist."