nuclear-news

Whistleblower sceptical on safety of Tennessee nuclear plant

On “The Early Show,” CBS News Chief Investigative Correspondent Armen Keteyian spotlighted one of those facilities’ post-Fukushima inspection reports.

Watts Bar, in Spring City, Tenn., is the last nuclear plant to be licensed in the U.S., and a textbook study of the pros and cons of nuclear power. It provides electricity to some 9 million people in seven states, yet is dogged with a long history of safety issues and whistle-blower lawsuits — including six by a 71-year-old great-grandmother named Ann Harris….

CBS News has obtained a copy of a National Regulatory Commission (NRC) “Post Fukushima” Watts Bar report, dated May 2011. CBS News had two nuclear engineers look at the report. One gave Watts Bar a “D-” and called it “appalling.” The other cited what he called more than 40 “disturbing findings” during a 40-hour inspection, including:

A lack of emergency responder training

• Faulty control panels

• Malfunctioning communications equipment

• Issues with portable backup diesel generators

We asked David Lochbaum, a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists why the NRC isn’t  pounding on the door of Watts Bar, saying, “Look we need these problems fixed?”

“I think the fact that there hasn’t been a major reactor accident in the United States for over three decades allows the industry and the NRC to become complacent,” Lochbaum said……

VA executives gave CBS News an extensive tour of Watts Bar’s reactor and its twin, Watts Bar 2, scheduled to go online next fall.

They showed us diesel-powered generators — one of four critical back-up systems to keep water flowing to the reactor, preventing a meltdown. They also showed CBS News the main control room, said to be able to shut down the reactor in less than three seconds.

You’ll have to pardon Ann Harris if she’s heard it all before. She’s won a record six whistle-blower lawsuits against Watts Bar over issues like millions of feet of faulty electrical cable, and says she’s paid a price for speaking out…..

There have certainly been attempts at intimidation, recrimination and really, threats on your life?

Harris responded, “Yes. They ran me off the road. They wired my car for firebombing. They dropped the universal joint out of my car.”

Harris left the TVA in 1997, but she’s still taking late-night calls from whistle-blowers, still driven to hold the TVA and NRC accountable, standing square in the cross-hairs of the nuclear power debate.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/19/earlyshow/main20080633.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

July 21, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA