ML20063E919
| ML20063E919 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | LaSalle  |
| Issue date: | 04/22/1982 |
| From: | Greve E AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20063E917 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-82-248, FOIA-82-A-15 NUDOCS 8207140494 | |
| Download: ML20063E919 (6) | |
Text
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A F P' I D A! V I 1 My name is Edwin Greve.
I am< submitting this affidavit freely and voluntarily,;without any threats inducements or promises.of reward
, to Mr. Thomas Devine, who has identified himself as the legal dire t c or of the Government Accountability Project Policy Studies.
of the Institute for I wish to register my concern over safety-related construction flaws at the LaSalle nu l power plant.
c ear I also want to protest construction waste that has raised the cost of thetplanti limits.
beyond reasonable I have been a pipefitter and' plumber since 1955 I worked as'a pipefitter at LaSalle during M arch and April 1981.
I did inspection and revision work on the h anger crew.
In April I tore my rightiarm out of the so k c et in an injury and have been laid upesince.
A number of my concerns involve the design i
of the plant, which was very cluttered - It was necessary to crawl between.the pipes in order to do my job Unfor-tunately, the installation of parts did not always match their location on the blueprints.
j Sonetimes one part was g
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N installed in a location where the. blueprints called for another.
On one occasion I warned.a drafting engineer d
to install a certain pipe because another.pgrt needed not to go in that space, lie responded.
."I don' t care about anything I can't see."
Another aspect of design controls involves material traceability.
Even if a pipe or hanger. support fits in a certain location, you have to insure that.the specific quality pipe or support-called for in the design is ac-tun 11y installed.
Unfortunately,,that was not always the case.
For instance, the metal inihanger supports is iden tified by a color co'de.
When construction had the right size supports but not enough of the right color, they just repainted the color on the hanger., I uncovered this prac-tice on about 5% of my inspections.
Commonwea th Edison responded that the color's were wrong in the first place.
I question whether the same metal.was installed as called for in the design.
Other times the parts didnit'even fit.
Por instance, another warker described to me how on one occasion a pipe jumped out over a foot when it was removed during a re-4 vision.
It. turned out that construction crews had to use
'I a "portapower" Jack to wedge the pipe in when it was first' '
est installed, because it was too large..
I wonder how many 8
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other pipes of the wrong dimension <are wedged in that taut.
r Those pipes will have hot water. running through th'em and 2
nove around a lot when the plant is.in operation.
In some cases I saw equipment that was damaged during 4
ins'ta11ation.
For example, 1 observed damaged gauges and electrical controls with bent arms or broken springs.
When I raised these problems with the foreman he expressed disinterest.
Although I do not have f:irst-hand knowledge, other er.ployees alerted me to questions [about the quality of the concrete.
They described how galoshes and timbers are im-bedded in the concrete, which weakens its strength.
I have been away from LaSalle for a year, so it is possible that repairs have been made..
I doubt, however, that reinspections have been thorough enough.
One ex-planation is the nature of the construction and repair All too often management:wouJ' hire Mexican or crews.
other foreign' welders off the street bf ebtaining tempo-rary work permits.
These employees Nere not always qual-ified and frequently could not communicate well due to language barriers.
But.they were very well-paid and were
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totally,atjhemercyofthecompanytokeeptheirjobs.
As a result, they could not be counted on for thorough,
'DI professional work independent of pressures to speed pro-
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e duction.
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l Another reason fo'r my doubts is the management atti-
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tude at LaSalle,1 i
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4 On balance, employee mor~ ale was'very
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low.
Most employees I spoke with hadtbecome apathetic.
They felt that thei* complaints would'not make a difference J
except for themselves - - they raight lose their jobs.
One of the most inmediately distressing problems ig-nored by management involved worker safety.
For instance, many of the men do not know how to tie the proper knots for rope pulleys that hold heavy, equipment.
Af ter I saw i
whole knots slip and thought ' about. the safety hazard, I i
suggested a picture chart that showedihow to tie the knots right.
Nothing happened.
On another occasion the exhaust and ventilation f ans quit during heavy welding.
The-room;became hot and hazy.
We were getting woozy from the' f umes. created by welding 1
and grinding into n.etal and paint..
I reported the inci-dent,'bu't' welding continued for hours before repairs were made.
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i I am not only upset about an unsafe plant and dan
.i gerous working conditions.
I am.also upset, about
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the gross waste at LaSalle.
4 There.is no excuse for some of l
the cost increases that o
the ratepayers are supposed to accept.
The same systems were revised and reinstalled
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up to five times.
One time while I was at LaSalle mass-ive structural beans had to be. ripped out and replaced, because the originals were insufficient for the stress I
load.
The utility has blamed the Nuclear Regulatory Co I
nission ("NRC") for all the rework.
m-In my opinion, how-ever, it of ten is th'e utility's cnen. fault.
While I was at LaSalle construction crews installed parts in Unit II that everyone knew were wrong.
We. knew, because the NRC already had required revisions-on the same parts in U it I n
I can point out to NRC investigators the specific problems identified in this statement, and agree to accom-pany then on any NRC investigation of these charges I am making these allegations because I am a perfectionist
, and that is what is needed to properly build a nuclear plant.
As seen above..however,. Commonwealth Edison did not follow this approach at LaSalle.
As. a resul.t, when that plant gets
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a fired up I am taking my family on a long vacation
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I have read the above.1 page statement and it is true, accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and j
a belief..-
(
n A4/4 Edwin Grhve j
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO BEF RE }lE TifIS 1.2 DAY
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