Susquehanna operators suspended after prioritizing reactor operation ahead of safety

Susquehanna nuclaer power plant in Salem Twp., PAAs Susan Schwartz of the Press Enterprise reports from Salem Twp., PA, three senior reactor operators at the Susquehanna nuclear power plant (see NRC file photo, left) have been temporaily suspended, pending retraining:

Three senior reactor operators have been temporarily disqualified after they took a safety system offline before shutting down a reactor at the Susquehanna nuclear plant in May, regulators confirm. A nuclear watchdog believes the operators did it in an effort to avoid shutting down the unit, an expensive move for the plant.

Susquehanna has two reactors, both Fukushima Daiichi sibling designs. Susquehanna Units 1 and 2 are General Electric Mark II boiling water reactors.

The article, which reports the incident took place at Unit 2, quotes Dave Lochbaum of UCS:

Watchdog’s take

But David Lochbaum, nuclear safety project director for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he suspects the operators disabled the safety system to buy themselves time in the hope of avoiding the shutdown. More.

Letter claims info on nuclear risks withheld from safety commissioners

As reported by Gloria Galloway at the Globe and Mail, an anonymous letter written by Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) staffers alleges that the agency staff has kept the CNSC Commissioners, and the CNSC President, in the dark about significant safety issues at Canadian nuclear power plants such as Darlington just east of Toronto, and Bruce on the Lake Huron shore just upstream of Port Huron and Detroit, Michigan.

The letter was sent not only to CNSC President Michael Binder, but also to two leadinng Canadian environmental groups, Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) and Greenpeace Canada.

As the article reports:

...Although it is impossible to verify that the letter was written by CNSC specialists, environmentalists who received copies of the document say the level of detail, the manner of speaking and the amount of complexity suggest it was written by someone with inside knowledge. And, they say, the problems are symptomatic of a culture at the commission in which employees are expected to act as boosters of the nuclear industry rather than watchdogs of nuclear safety...

Theresa McClenaghan, executive director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, who was the other environmentalist sent a copy of the letter, said actions of this sort – in which whistle-blowers make such specific allegations – are both rare and surprising. But, she said, she has no doubt it was written by someone inside the CNSC.

“We are often very concerned that commissioners are not getting the full story from the proponents or the regulatory staff,” Ms. McClenaghan said. “In the hearings, we really do see a frustrating amount of apologetics for the industry going on by staff.”

Mr. Stensil, of Greenpeace, said the most serious issue raised in the letter is the allegation suggesting that CNSC staff knows about additional risks being posed by reactors, but is ignoring them. That is what happened at Fukushima, he said.

“That’s not a nuts-and-bolts or an engineering issue,” Mr. Stensil said. “That’s a safety culture issue.” More.

Untrained Palisades security guards scapegoated by Entergy management for fire risk violations

As reported by Cody Comb's of WWMT-TV 3's I-Team, who originally broke the story of fire risk violations at Entergy Nuclear's Palisades atomic reactor earlier this month, based on whistle-blower revelations, additional whistle-blowers have revealed they are being scapegoated by management that didn't even see fit to train them properly in the first place.

A key question -- will the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) yet again be complicit with Entergy, by effectively taking part in that scapegoating?

WWMT quoted a Palisades security guard who has been placed on administrative paid leave:

"I'm on paid leave right now, and I have been for almost a month," said one of the plant workers, agreeing to speak with Newschannel 3's I-Team on the condition of anonymity.

"Now the company [Entergy] lawyer is asking us questions, saying the NRC will be speaking with us…and that we could be criminally liable," the worker added...

"The training department never once trained us on fire tours," the officer said. "Security used to have a fire brigade that had a certain number of security members on shift, but when Entergy bought the plant they got rid of that…there's a whole fire brigade staff at that plant right now that have never trained anybody on how to do the fire tours." More.

Burning down the house: Entergy & NRC learn no lessons from prior fire safety and security violations

Entergy Nuclear's Palisades atomic reactor, located on the Lake Michigan shore in Covert, MIForty-one years after a catastrophic fire at Browns Ferry, Alabama nearly caused a reactor core meltdown, and two years after Entergy was busted for fire watch falsifications at its Waterford reactor in Louisiana, NRC's Office of Investigations and the FBI are now investigating whistle-blower allegations at Entergy's problem-plagued Palisades reactor in Michigan (see photo, left) of skipped fire watches. 22 security guards at Palisades have reportedly been relieved of their duties, raising concerns that security is currently compromised. The remaining security guards have been pressured by Entergy to sign waivers, an end run around NRC fatigue rules, in order to work 75 hours per week, to compensate for the reduced force size. NRC has repeatedly let Entergy off the hook, via Alternative Dispute Resolution processes, instead of doing its job to protect public health, safety, and the environment by enforcing its regulations, and holding accountable wrongdoers. Congressional investigations are desperately needed. Beyond Nuclear has prepared two backgrounders in the past week, chronicling the long history of fire and security risks, not just at Palisades, but across Entergy's fleet of reactors, and even nationwide throughout the entire nuclear power industry. More 

Join the March for a Clean Energy Revolution, Philadelphia, PA, July 24th!

Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has issued an action alert, calling for folks to join the March for a Clean Energy Revolution in Philadelphia, PA on Sunday, July 24th, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. See the beginning of the NIRS action alert, below, and follow the link to see full action alert, including a tribute to NIRS former long-time executive director, and president, Michael Mariotte, who died on May 16th, after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. (Also, see Beyond Nuclear's own tributes to Michael Mariotte, posted at our website.)

Beyond Nuclear has joined in the NIRS-initiated planning for the March for a Clean Energy Revolution, and will take part on July 24th. Beyond Nuclear encourages everyone who can make it, to join in the Carbon-Free, Nuclear-Free contingent in Philadelphia on July 24th, as well as at the teach-ins, meetings, gatherings, etc., the day before. If you can't make it, please spread the word widely to those who can.

June 29, 2016

Dear Friends,

We invite you to join us for the next historic safe energy mobilization--the March for a Clean Energy Revolution, July 24 in Philadelphia. You can find more details on the march [as well as a tribute to the life and work of Michael Mariotte, at this link to the complete NIRS action alert.]