ML19208B385
| ML19208B385 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Zimmer |
| Issue date: | 07/09/1979 |
| From: | Harsha W HOUSE OF REP. |
| To: | Kammerer C NRC OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS (OCA) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7909200133 | |
| Download: ML19208B385 (10) | |
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Mr. Carlton Kammerer, Director e
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Dear Mr. Kammerer:
It has recently been brought to my attention that there may be incidents of i= proper construction and/or lack of compliance with quality control standards in the construction of the Zi==er Nuclear Power Plant in Moscow, Ohio.
I am enclosing copies of affadavits of three workmen employed at the Zi==er Plant, as well as a copy of a letter one of the three sent to me.
I support the continued use of nuclear power as an alternative source of energy, but I am concerned that everything possible be done to insure the safety of those people living near the nuclear facilities.
I would appreciate it if you would investigate the charges made in the enclosed affadavits and inform me of your findings as soon as possible.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Sincerely ours, William H. Harsha Representative to Congress WHH/kr enclosures
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June 5, 1970 Thoma:. D. Marti r, 8 MontFomery day //i.
Amelia, Ohio 45102 9ID William Harsha O
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Dear Congressman Harsha; C0l j
'9 Please find enclosed affidavits signed by myself and two other construction workers at the Zimmer site.
These affidavits are in re-gards to serious construction problems at Zimmer.
I am to address the ASLB during licensing hearings this month.
I contacted the NRC con-cerning control rod problems a few months ago but got no satisfactory answers from them.
I have talked with other construction workers who worked at the Zimmer site.
All those I have come in contact with have sited incidents of improper 7enstruction or incidents of not following quality control stamdards.
I hope to collect more affidavits from some of these workers.
It is also my understanding that Zimmer is exempt from new fed-eral safety standards because it was granted its construction permit before 1975 I do not know all the standards Zimmer is exempt from but I know that as a result of these exemptions, Zimmer is required to have only one system instead of two for sealing off the reactor con-tainment building to prevent radicactivity from escaping in case of an accident.
John Kemeny, chairman of the presidential investigating panel at Three Mile Island calls the issue of containment i:,olation the single T. l\\
- r largest safety issue you have to face in a plant.
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If Zimmer is grarned its license under present circumstancec, it will be dangerou:, t <, human life.
I will move my family away from it.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Any help you can rive me is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
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N $II I, Thomas Dean Martin, residing at 8 Montgomery Way, Apt.
6, Amelia, Ohio, age 28, hereby state that from May 1978 to September 1978 I worked for Reactor Control Inc. as a Millwright, inspecting control rods on the site of the Zimmer nuclear power station at koscow, Ohio and that I am a member of Local 1454 of the Brotherhood of Millwrights and Joiners and have been employed as a Millwright for six years and that I have personal knowledge as to the facts hereinafter related.
My crew, consisting of 3 journeynan millwrights and a general foreman found that approximately 75% of the reactor control rod blades exceeded the.230 " (Two hundred and eighty thousandths of an inch) gauge specification.
Because of this fact we recrated these defective rods to send them back to the manufacturer, General Electric Company.
However, after recrating the rods, my supervisor at' Reactor Control, Inc., William Fowee, instructed us to put a clamp on the rods and reinspect them. We followed these instructions, and while the clamps were en the rods they met the.280" specification.
After taking the clamp off, however, each rod returned to its original size, which did not meet the.200" specification.
A number of the rods which I inspected measured.300" or more when the clamps had been removed. The control rods are made of thin gauge metal, with
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numerous holes.
When I axpressed my concern about the defective control rods, Bud Crane, a supervisor at R.C.I. told me that when the control rods were put in the reactor vessel, clamping would not be necessary because water pressure would hold the rods to the proper specification.
I asked h_m to explain how this would be possible when there were so many holes in the rods.
I thought that the water would circulate both inside and outside of the rods, thus equalizing the water pressure, and not allowing the water pressure to push in the sides of the rods.
No one could give me an answer.
This was not the only problem'which I encountered. at the Zimmer
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We had inspected approximately half of the reactor control rods before R.C.I. provided us with a rough surface gauge for in-specting the seals on the ends of the control rods.Therefore, half of the control rod seals were not inspected at all for roughness.
The gauge with which we inspected the remaining control rod seals was made of metal with different degrees of roughness.
I compared the roughness of the gauge with the roughness of the seals 1 surfaces. Of the seals we inspected I did not find any as smooth as the specifications called for. When I asked an R.C.I. inspector about the discrepancy between the seals and the gauge, he asked if I had a calibrated finger. I asked him,"If I'm just supposed me to look at the seal instead of comparing it with the gauge, why hadn't they just given me a picture of the seal, instead of the rough surface gauge. I got no answer.
I then informed Scott Swain, a C.G.4 E. engineer on the project about the defective control rods and e] [1
seals. The next day my general foreman, William Fowee,got our crew together and told us, "Be quiet about the problems at the plant."
Within a week my entire crew with the exception of the general foreman was laid off, although our work was not complete, and there had been no complaints as to the quality of the crew's work.
Afterwards, a new crew was hired to complete our job.
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Sworn to and subscribed before me this 33 day of 6h, 1979.
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' Notary lic shirt.EY FAHRNBACH No,,y Public. C!,ront "cuoy. cme Mr Commission Enice Oct. 15,1979 D**D aa f.
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I, Robert Anderson, aged 35, residing at 2980 Moore Road, Rt. #2, Bethel, Ohio, hereby state that I have been a journeyman Ironworker (J.I.W.) for 10 (ten) years; that I am a memb'er of Iron Workers Local 44; that I worked at the site of the Zimmer nuclear power station at Moscow, Ohio for approximately 2 years; that I worked for the R. V.
Hardy Co. as an ironworker installing and pressure checking watertight doors and door frames at the Zimmer site for the months of February and March, 1978; and that I have personal knowledge of the facts hereinafter related:
I hereby state that after installing 12 to 15 door frames and doors I personally pressure tested 10 of the doors which I installed at 20 p.s.i.. While none of the doors or door frames leaked, all 10 (ten) of the door units leaked between the concrete and the steel angle whAch was imbedded into the concrete so that the door frame could be hung.
Therefore, none of these units would hold the test pressure of 20 p.s.i..
Five of the leaking units were located in the pump house at the plant, and the remaining five units were located in the reactor building beneath the reactor core.
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ROBERT ANDERSON t) / 4 326
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The foregoing affidavit was sworn to and subscribed before me by Robert Anderson this of.2 day of 8 &,_
1979.
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I, German L. Reynolds, aged 29, residing at Rt. 2, Box 69,Cseaman, County of Adams, Ohio, hereby s tate that I am a member of M111 wright Local 1454; that I have been a journeyman Millwright for six years ;
that I worked for Reactor Control Inc. as Millwright general foreman at the Zimmer nuclear power station, Moscow, Ohio from October, 1978 to February, 1979, and that I have personal knowledge of the facts hereinafter related:
While working for Reactor Control Inc.(R.C.I.), my crew was required to clean metal shavings frem control rod blades.
These shavings were left by the manufacturer.
We first took old cloths wrapped with a heavy gray tape and beat the sides of the blades to remove these shavings.
We then ran a magnet along them followed by a machine shop vaccum cleaner and finally wiped them down with an acetone solution.
Quality control inspectors employed by R.C.I. then ran a spot check on the blade con-formity with a "go-no go gauge".
Only about one third of the blades were checked.
In February, R.C.I. required my crew to do grinding on all the control rods (at the bottom of the blades) to remove an over-sized weld.
Small metal fragments from the grinding went into the control rod blades by way of small holes running the length of them.
When I informed R.C.I.
engineers of this I was told that these fragments could clog the rods and to wipe them down with an acetone solution.
I then told my super-
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visors that wiping with acetone alone did not get the shavings out. (The proper procedure for removing shavings was the procedure we initially used to remove those left by the manufacturer.)
They inspected the rods and passed them anyway.
When we first started the cleaning after grinding, H. I. Crane, project r.anager for R.C.I.,
told me the job would last two weeks; it 1.asted two days.
We were rushed through this job and it is to my knowledge that metal shavings still remain in the control rod blades.
I saw them reported them and R.C.I. paased inspection on them anyway.
M
. n dM GWrman L.'Wfnolds The foregoing affidavit was sworn to and subscribed before me by Gorman L. Reynolds this j/
day of M &
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