NRC says plant records falsified: Westinghouse contract foreman dismissed from job
Aug 8 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Sammy Fretwell The State,
> Columbia, S.C.
>
> A contract foreman with Columbia's Westinghouse nuclear fuel
> plant has
> been fired and the company cited by federal regulators after
> inspectors
> found that the foreman falsified safety records at the Bluff Road
> facility.
>
> The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced a settlement Friday
> with
> Westinghouse in which the company said it will improve oversight of
> contractors hired to work the plant. It also agreed to an assessment
> of how
> well company employees are trained to investigate wrongdoing.
>
> Company spokesman Jackie McCoy said the contract foreman had been
> relieved of his duties, but she declined to name the person. She
> said the
> contract foreman oversaw fewer than 10 employees at the plant, near
> the
> Congaree River south of Interstate 77.
>
> Westinghouse Electric Co.'s 550,000-square-foot plant, one of
> the few
> of its kind in the United States, makes fuel rods for nuclear power
> stations
> across the country. The Bluff Road factory is one of the Columbia
> area's
> largest employers, with more than 1,000 workers.
>
> NRC records show the foreman certified that employees were
> trained in
> certain safety procedures when they had not completed the training.
>
> An order issued Friday by the NRC called the contract foreman's
> actions "an apparent willful violation'' of Westinghouse plant
> procedures.
>
> The NRC's order says the agency also found that ventilation
> data were
> falsified. The ventilation data show workers when Westinghouse needs
> to
> change air filters in the plant, McCoy said.
>
> Despite the problems, both the NRC and Westinghouse officials
> said the
> falsified records did not result in any danger to the community or the
> environment.
>
> "The result was not of a major safety significance because of
> what was
> involved,'' NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said. "But any time there is an
> individual or group that provides inaccurate information, that is
> something
> we take very seriously.''
>
> Hannah said that while no fine is being assessed, the NRC has not
> ruled that out. The plant has been cited by the NRC at least eight
> times
> since 1997 and fined at least twice. In 2004, the NRC fined
> Westinghouse
> $24,000 after a worker found uranium-contaminated ash had built up
> in an
> incinerator, which increased chances of a nuclear accident.
>
> Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537.
>
> Columbia, S.C.
>
> A contract foreman with Columbia's Westinghouse nuclear fuel
> plant has
> been fired and the company cited by federal regulators after
> inspectors
> found that the foreman falsified safety records at the Bluff Road
> facility.
>
> The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced a settlement Friday
> with
> Westinghouse in which the company said it will improve oversight of
> contractors hired to work the plant. It also agreed to an assessment
> of how
> well company employees are trained to investigate wrongdoing.
>
> Company spokesman Jackie McCoy said the contract foreman had been
> relieved of his duties, but she declined to name the person. She
> said the
> contract foreman oversaw fewer than 10 employees at the plant, near
> the
> Congaree River south of Interstate 77.
>
> Westinghouse Electric Co.'s 550,000-square-foot plant, one of
> the few
> of its kind in the United States, makes fuel rods for nuclear power
> stations
> across the country. The Bluff Road factory is one of the Columbia
> area's
> largest employers, with more than 1,000 workers.
>
> NRC records show the foreman certified that employees were
> trained in
> certain safety procedures when they had not completed the training.
>
> An order issued Friday by the NRC called the contract foreman's
> actions "an apparent willful violation'' of Westinghouse plant
> procedures.
>
> The NRC's order says the agency also found that ventilation
> data were
> falsified. The ventilation data show workers when Westinghouse needs
> to
> change air filters in the plant, McCoy said.
>
> Despite the problems, both the NRC and Westinghouse officials
> said the
> falsified records did not result in any danger to the community or the
> environment.
>
> "The result was not of a major safety significance because of
> what was
> involved,'' NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said. "But any time there is an
> individual or group that provides inaccurate information, that is
> something
> we take very seriously.''
>
> Hannah said that while no fine is being assessed, the NRC has not
> ruled that out. The plant has been cited by the NRC at least eight
> times
> since 1997 and fined at least twice. In 2004, the NRC fined
> Westinghouse
> $24,000 after a worker found uranium-contaminated ash had built up
> in an
> incinerator, which increased chances of a nuclear accident.
>
> Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537.
>