Friday, May 11, 2012

Wall Street Journal: "Nuclear Official Blocked Safety Concerns"


May 10, 2012 p. A3

Excerpt: "A letter sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission accused one of the agency's managers of suppressing negative inspection results about a Nebraska nuclear-power plant at the center of one of the most serious safety incidents in recent years."

Majia here paraphrasing rest of letter: The letter was written by staff at the NRC's western regional office and was directed to Rep. Ed Markey. The letter was a complaint by the NRC employees who claimed that the NRC management at the regional office in Arlington Texas derided the NRC employees' concerns about plant safety at Fort Calhoun.

The NRC said that a fire at Fort Calhoun on June 7, 2011 qualified as a "red" event, meaning it posed a high-level security threat. The manager apparently dismissed the significance of the fire as a major threat and also is accused of creating a "corrosive environment which inhibits the ability of inspectors to identify safety-significant issues" (quote is from the letter and is cited in the WSJ article)

Majia Here: No surprises here....

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