PC 08/13/80 - Laserfiche WebLink

he had concerns with Mr. Connelly being the safety officer for this facility and at the same time a guardian of its profits. He addressed several negative comments throughout the report and had expressed concerns with the filter stored outside and questioned how many children might have played with it. Commissioner Jamieson asked Mr. Post if he had visited the plant and Mr. Post said he had not been inside. Commissioner Lindsey addressed Helgeson's reports concerning employees and in all cases all levels were acceptable. Dr. Howard Cornfeld, physician working out of Herrick Hospital's emergency room in Berkeley, spoke at the request of Marcia Taylor. He stated he has not visited the facility but does know what kind of radiation there is at the site. He stated it is primarily from a nuclear fision process. He said there are as many as 100 by-products produced by nuclear plants and that the uniforms are contaminated with these substances. He stated there is an error in the staff report - page 2, paragraph 2 - from last month and explained the error or typo- graphical error. Commissioner Jamieson asked if Dr. Cornfeld was aware they were talking about two different companies and Dr. Cornfeld stated he was aware of that. Dr. Cornfeld stated that 2000 curries is an extremely large amount and would have as an acute effect as suffered by the victims of Nagasaki. He explained Ionized radiation, and alpha, beta and gamma rays and their effect on the human body. He further suggested eventually these fision products and other corrosive products from the nuclear plants get into clothing of the people working there and it is inevitable you can't have a facility without emissions. He further stated there is great controversy now as to the maximum tolerable amounts that the human body may safely withstand. Dr. Cornfeld stated that it has been discovered persons who are ill, young or unborn are more sensitive than others in that they absorb more radiation and that this factor is not taken into consideration. Dr. Cornfeld stated he too spoke to Mr. Brown who is a very nice fellow but that he only enforces the maximum concentration allowed and that 5 millirems in an hour of operations is 30 times the normal level of background radiation. Chairperson Wilson asked how many millirems were in a chest X-ray. Dr. Cornfeld stated 30 millirems in an X-ray. Dr. Cornfeld explained that worker Juan Rodrigues in 1979, received 539 millirems and that this is the upper limit that any human should sustain. Dr. Cornfeld urged that an EIR be prepared prior to allowing this use to expand. Dr. Cornfeld stated he would be happy to answer any questions. Chairperson Wilson asked the doctor to comment on the State Department of Health and their inspection reports and asked if he had any comments to make regarding them. Dr. Cornfeld stated they are really working at the approval of NRC and that there are a lot of things which could be done such as soils samples and other and that if requested he would be -4- __.... .. .. -...--_.T__.,_._ ~, __._.._ .. .,. ._ __ __ ~ r-_,__-