Harmful A-waste reported at Three Mile Island plant

Nearly three years after the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, the facility still stores high-level radioactive waste which threatens public safety, a report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says. The charge was made in a report to the commission by a special decontamination panel it created.

''Although the reactor facility was presumably designed to withstand an accident as severe as this one, we know of no basis for believing that it was intended to remain in a damaged state for many years after the accident occurred ,'' panel chairman John Minnich told the commission.

Mr. Minnich said no study has been performed to determine ''whether and how long conditions will remain stable.'' He said ''serious deficiencies'' could occur from the reactor vessel's becoming brittle and from corrosion of tubing.

He recommended that a special White House liaison be named ''to cut through red tape'' to obtain financing for cleanup-operations.