[NukeNet] Nuke plant contractor accused of coverup

[MoJo]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_FirstEngergy_Nuclear_Contractor.html

Thursday, September 14, 2006 · Last updated 8:12 a.m. PT

Nuke plant contractor accused of coverup

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PITTSBURGH -- A contractor at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Beaver Valley nuclear
power plant failed to do required reviews on a repair project and tried to
cover it up, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says.

An engineer with consulting firm Demark Inc. had knowingly signed
paperwork on June 1, 2005, that said 25 required reviews were done on a
project the preceded plans to replace a nuclear reactor vessel head, but
only two or three reviews were actually completed, according to an NRC
report that followed a yearlong investigation.

The reviews are important because they are supposed to evaluate how well
the replacement reactor head will work with existing safety controls, said
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan.

"The safety significance of this was low because it was caught in June
2005 and the head wasn't installed until early this year," Sheehan said.
"But we care because this is a major component replacement and we need to
make sure it won't adversely affect any of the other major safety
systems."

Sheehan said the NRC was not aware of any similar cases involved Joliet,
Ill.-based Demark.

The cover-up was caught when a clerk at the plant noticed that supporting
documentation for the reviews was missing, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
reported Thursday.

The Demark engineer, whose name was not released, was fired and
FirstEnergy's engineers completed the reviews, said Todd Schneider, a
spokesman for Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy.

Demark President Mark Inserra said FirstEnergy had recommended the
engineer. "Why he did what he did, we don't know." Inserra said.

The NRC informed FirstEnergy last month that "escalated enforcement
action" was under consideration related to Beaver Valley. It expects to
resolve the issue through a mediator at the Institute on Conflict
Resolution at Cornell University, who will preside over a hearing later
this month, the newspaper reported.

FirstEnergy also ran the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Ohio, where
reactor head corrosion and a coverup led to more than $33 million in
fines.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Tori Woodard is a dear friend of mine who now lives in China.  She just got back from a 30-day trip through Mongolia.  The following quote is from an email to me after visiting a temple - 

"After we look at some particularly frightening gods, Muugii asks me
what my religion is. I shrug and say I don't have one. Her response
surprises me:  "Then you're free!"  

Mongolians understand freedom."

Molly Johnson 
6290 Hawk Ridge Place
San Miguel, CA  93451
Cell: 805 296-0524

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com