ML052490117

E-Mail from Nimitz to Vito, Phone Call with Alleger for 2002-A-0034 at Salem Unit 2

ML052490117
Person / Time
Site:	Salem
Issue date:	07/24/2002
From:	Nimitz R NRC Region 1
To:	Barkley R, Vito D NRC Region 1
References
2002-A-0034, FOIA/PA-2004-0314
Download: ML052490117 (2)

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David Vl,) - Re: Phone Call with Alleger for 2002-A-0034 at Salem Unit 2 Pageel From: Ronald Nimitz I .L..

To: David Vito; Richard Barkley Date: 7/24/02 11:21AM

Subject:

Re: Phone Call with Alleger for 2002-A-0034 at Salem Unit 2 I have been out of town for the past several weeks (vacation). Several comments:

1) He called me also. A summary was provided to allegations.

2) Generally same information. However, he did not have units for numbers, only numbers. No overexpsoure was known to have occurred as I recall.

3) Energy Employees Act is the recent act to compensate DOE workers for weapons related work. My understanding is not applicable to nuclear power workers

4) Previous referall appears to cover.

5) Licensee is to provide records. Clear requirement.

6) Worker put directly in contact with NRC records people. They needed a signed request from him to get his records from REIRS.

7) Worker could not give any specifics regarding coverup.

>>> Richard Barkley 03127/02 05:27PM >>>

Dave/Ron, At 3:30 p.m. today, I called the alleger for allegation 2002-A-0034 at Salem Unit 2 to determine whether he had received the bioassay records that he requested from PSEG last month. The individon' stated that he had not receiv-d them irnite of having been promised the records initially briohn Russell f PSEG. He indicated thaK Mr. Russ f'ater told him that he could not release his records until he had 1iie approval of PSEG's attorney; a subsequent certified letter in this matter mailed to Mr. Russell was never retumed.

The alleger stated that he was exposed to Co-58, Co-60 and Mn-54 during the April 1983 event and that he was told his exposure totaled 10.5 rems. A fellow co-worker was purportedly told that his exposure was 18 rem. He is insistent that PSEG was negligent in the way they monitored radioactivity in the Unit 2 lower containment during this event and should be compensated for the health effects he suffered due to this negligence.

The alleger stated that he is interested in making a court filing to be compensated for the health effects he has suffered since 1983 which he attributes to this exposure incident. He stated that he previously considered pursuing this case in 1986 through an attorney at that time, but later dropped the matter. He now thinks he can pursue his case after reading about the Energy Employee's Compensation Act(?) in Boilermaker's Journal.

The alleger stated that the NRC (Cheryl Burroughs of the HQ Radiation Information Reporting System) mailed him a FOIA request form so that he could request his exposure records from the NRC. He was also provided with a copy of the Preliminary Notification (PN) of the April 17, 1983 event. I suggested that he proceed with the FOIA request as recommended by Ron Nimitz.

I indicated to the alleger that we would pursue acquiring his bioassay records and inform him of what we noted in those records. He is very interested in getting a hard copy of those records if at all possible. I indicated to him that we would be mailing him an acknowledgment letter in this matter in the next week.

The alleger could not provide me any details regarding an alleged cover-up of this event by PSEG. It was the alleger's assertion that since they will not provide him with his bioassay records, they must be hiding something. Based on the absence of any substantive information to support his assertion of a cover-up, I see no reason to pursue his assertion of a PSEG cover-up unless more proof of his assertion is obtained.

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lDavid Vixen - Re: Phone Call with Alleger for 2002-A-0034 at Salem Unit 2 Paae 21 17-W I -- -- - ---- -- -- - - .

Richard S. Barkley, P.E.

Senior Project Engineer, NRC Region I 610/337-5065 Fax 610/337-5349/5354 CC: Glenn Meyer, Raymond Lorson