Are Radiation Reports At nuclear Plants Not Trustworthy?

With Fitzpatrick and ANO...the NRC made entergy notify their fleet that falsification will not be tolerated.

Indian Point supervisor arrested on federal charges

WHITE PLAINS – The former chemistry manager at the Indian Point nuclear power plant was arrested on Tuesday and charged with falsifying records to conceal a violation of Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements of the facility. Daniel Wilson, 57, of Walden, was responsible for making sure particulate matter in the diesel fuel used to power emergency generators at the facility did not exceed a set limit. In 2011, tests of the diesel fuel showed the particulate matter exceeded the NRC limit. In February 2012, Wilson concealed facts from his employer and the NRC by fabricating test data for non-existent resamples of the diesel fuel, falsely showing that the resamples of diesel fuel tested below the applicable NRC limit. Investigation revealed that no such samples were taken and the purported test data were fabrications. Later in February, Wilson responded to questioning from other employees at Indian Point in advance of an inspection by the NRC and wrote a report in which he gave a false explanation for the lack of supporting documentation for his fabricated tests. In a later interview with NRC personnel, he admitted that he had fabricated the test results so that Indian Point would not have to shut down. Wilson was charged in a two-count federal complaint with willfully violating rules of the NRC by engaging in deliberate misconduct and with making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the NRC. If convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison.

...Palisades is along Lake Michigan in Van Buren County's Covert Township, 80 miles east-northeast of Chicago. It's had nine shutdowns since September 2011.

...Leaks have been an ongoing issue at Palisades, owned by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., which shut down four times in 2012 and twice so far this year. Most recently, in February, the plant shut down for six days to repair a component cooling water heat exchanger and replace a damaged switch.

 This indicates massive issues with integrity with radiation readings at all nuclear power plant. I takes a lot of skill and high education to run a radiation department and a large nuclear utility!

So four plants, Farley, Perry,  Arkansas One and the Fitzpatrick...these are all employees employed or contracted by radiation protection departments. These are the guys who train, measure and record plant radiation and employee radiation levels. It is three large nuclear corporations. With this widespread national level of employee radiation related falsification...if a dire nuclear meltdown happened...could you trust the radiation employees like would develop for the public?

And what the hell is going at the Perry plant with the radiation protection department....just plain incompetence. I think the fish incident was maliciously trying to besmirch the reputation of the Perry plant and FirstEnergy. The employees are fed up with craziness of the bureaucracy of the Perry Plant and the hapless NRC. And the NRC sent in an unheard of special four man radiation protection inspection team in to the middle of the recent refueling outage and a fired whistle blower singing into the media on TV.

The Terrible Perry nuclear plant:

PERRY, Ohio - Safety issues at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant will be outlined Wednesday evening during a public hearing in Painesville by top Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials.

The hearing follows an exclusive 5 On Your Side investigation in February 2012 detailing concerns over radiation exposure and workers inside the plant.

Overall, the NRC found the Perry Plant operated safely in 2012 but it will remain under "increased NRC oversight" for the remainder of 2013.

The NRC also will announce an extensive series of inspections that will continue throughout 2013.

Wednesday night's meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Quail Hollow Resort, 11080 Concord-Hambden Rd. in Painesville.

At the time, NRC Regional Director Chuck Casto said, "it starts to worry you about the spread--are problems spreading...There needs to be procedure changes and they need to be sustainable."

...NRC: The NRC has sent four additional inspectors – in addition to the two Resident Inspectors – to the Perry Nuclear Plant in Ohio to watch and evaluate how the plant is ensuring the safety of these workers.

Sending these extra inspectors to monitor outage activities reflects the measure of our concern with Perry’s occupational radiation safety program – which is supposed to make sure workers don’t get exposed to unnecessary levels of radiation. The plant is under increased NRC oversight because of deficiencies in this program. Even though these issues have not resulted in any overexposures to workers, we want to make sure the plant fixes the weaknesses in this vital area.

In June, we will conduct a thorough inspection to determine if plant owner FENOC has understood the extent of the weaknesses in occupational radiation safety at Perry and has taken what we call “sufficient and sustainable actions” to fix the problems and prevent them from happening again.

These got to be smart people who did this. Sounds like the licenced operators sending t FirstEntergy a their special memo through the media. Get the metaphor...cooked with high radiation like steamed fish.  It is sophisticated  message.  They placed the fish there so they wouldn't be caught and trusted someone to report it. They chose this issue maliciously so it would question getting contraband by the security umbrella. They figured the fish story in a radiation place and radioactive water would get amplified in the media... media attractive. They knew it wasn't against the rules and knew where to get the radioactive water. A contractor couldn't do all that. That was thoughtful in such a lonely place...a boyfriend and girlfriend goldfish. They are making a cry for help!

...“Federal regulations do not prohibit workers from bringing goldfish into the plant,” Mitlyng said.  

...An investigation is underway by the U.S. Nucleaer Regulatory Commission after a pair of radioactive goldfish were discovered swimming in a lemonade pitcher in the steam tunnel of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Ohio.

The Perry Nuclear Power Plant is located about 40 miles northeast of Cleveland in North Perry, Ohio, and is situated near the coast Lake Erie.

Jennifer Young, a spokeswoman for the plant, said:

Farley speak for itself...

NRC: Farley Nuclear Plant security employees cheated on tests

May 8, 2013

WASHINGTON — Security workers at Farley Nuclear Plant in Alabama cheated on their training exams in 2010 and 2011, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Tuesday.

NRC officials said Southern Nuclear Operating Co., which operates the plant, avoided civil fines by negotiating a settlement with federal regulators.

A testing proctor at the plant near Dothan gave security officers exam answers or took the test for them, according to the agreement. Managers at the plant, which is owned by Alabama Power Co., investigated the cheating incidents and disciplined the employees involved.

All employees at the plant are required to take radiation-worker training exams regularly. (Basically like training with Arkansas one and Fitzs.)

Rather than go through a formal NRC sanctions process for violating rules about testing security, Southern Nuclear opted for mediation. The company re-tested all employees, overhauled the testing process and began randomly observing workers as they took exams.

As part of the settlement, the company is studying ways to improve testing procedures at all of its nuclear plant sites and launching new training on professional integrity….

So this is Arkansas one in a March 13, 2013 NRC Inspection report.

(Basically training related and accident preparitness) Yea, you will get the accurate accident radiation levels to panic you sufficiently.)

During the NRC OI investigation, the senior emergency planner at ANO admitted to generating false documentation over a period of four years. The false documentation does not meet the requirement under 10 CFR 50.9(a), Completeness and Accuracy of Information. This regulation states, in part, that information required by the Commission's regulations, orders, or license conditions to be maintained by the licensee shall be complete and accurate in all material respects. The false documentation included 2 miscellaneous drills involving the Post Accident Sampling (PAS) system, as recorded on December 14, 2010 and December 7, 2011, and 2 drills involving environmental monitoring, as recorded on December 14, 2010, and December 6, 2011. The drills were required by the licensee's procedure number 1903.004, "Admin and Maintenance of the Emergency Plan and Implementing Procedures," which fulfills the requirement under 10 CFR 50.47(b)(14). In addition, it was determined that the senior emergency planner at ANO falsely documented 3 surveillances required by EP-010, "Emergency Response Facility Walkthrough Surveillance, Technical Support Center (TSC)" on May 12, June 4, and September 30, 2008. The TSC surveillance required checking the operation of the NRC management counterpart link (MCL) telephone line in the TSC. The false documentation indicated that the NRC MCL line was operable. The investigation determined that the NRC MCL line in the TSC was inoperable from February 2008 through November 2008. This surveillances was also required by the emergency plan, to meet the regulatory requirement under 10 CFR 50.47(b)(8).

Operators, firefighters, maintenance, chemistry and radiation employees wear the majority of the radioactivity related respirators and forced air masks. The majority of plant employee never wear respirators of any kind. It is policy that the fat asses of senior executives are never allowed in areas that need respirators.

You get it, they slit the career and family throats of of the employee at the bottom who are trying to make their jobs more efficient for the corporations...trying to please their bosses and get promoted...while the senior executives who oversee this only get a hand slapping and generally are held unaccountable.

4 fired, 34 disciplined at James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant

September 09, 2011

A series of investigations at the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Scriba has resulted in four workers being fired and 34 being disciplined, a spokeswoman for the plant owner said Thursday.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors announced that one of the fired workers has pleaded guilty to falsifying tests of safety equipment at the plant.

Also Thursday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission notified the owner of the plant, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, that it could face civil actions in the wake of the investigations.

Results of the three investigations were handed over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Syracuse, which brought criminal charges against Michael McCarrick, 56, of Oswego, a former radiation protection technician at the plant. McCarrick admitted to falsifying records relating to more than two dozen plant worker.

In his guilty plea, he admitted he failed to adequately perform tests to make sure the workers’ emergency respirators were properly fitted and sealed, and then falsely documented that they were.

The plant is required to refit workers’ emergency respirators every year. The respirators, which protect against chemical releases or other fumes during emergencies, must fit snugly, and the fit can change as workers gain or lose weight or otherwise change.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Benedict said that on 32 documented occasions between 2006 and 2009, McCarrick falsely claimed he had completed such tests. Benedict said the incidents were investigated by special agents from the NRC.

No known injuries occurred as a result of the falsified tests

McCarrick pleaded guilty to one felony count of violating the Atomic Energy Act. He could receive up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Jan. 10.

The NRC also found that two unidentified “staff level individuals” acted with “careless disregard” by not following through on their suspicions that the respirator fit tests were inadequate.

The NRC informed Entergy that the second investigation found that McCarrick deliberately failed to document required surveillance of air samples or to make sure workers leaving the radiologically controlled area went through contamination monitors.

The third investigation found that McCarrick and another radiation protection technician failed to conduct other leak testing and surveillance duties.

McCarrick was the only worker charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office . However, the NRC notified Entergy that it could face civil action pending the result of either an enforcement conference with the NRC or a mediation session, whichever the company chooses.

Entergy spokeswoman Tammy Holden said the plant conducted an internal investigation in June 2009 after learning the NRC had received a phone call alleging a potential violation at the plant.

Most of the 34 workers who were disciplined were workers who should have known that their “fit tests” for the respirators were either not done or were incomplete, Holden said. She said those workers were removed from the site during the investigation and later received either suspensions of pay or verbal or written warnings. They were also retrained.

Holden stressed that the masks are rarely required, and that none of the workers who had inadequate fit tests did any work during that period that would have required the masks to be used.

“At no point was there any risk to the public health or safety at any time during this process,” she said