ML20080B040

Requests Complete Review of Allegations Re Worker Harassment,Intimidation & Deliberate Undermining of Welding QC Program

ML20080B040
Person / Time
Site:	Catawba
Issue date:	04/21/1983
From:	Garde B GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT
To:	Hayes B, James O'Reilly NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II), NRC OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS (OI)
Shared Package
ML20080B034	List: ML20080B031 ML20080B040
References
FOIA-83-200 NUDOCS 8308040516
Download: ML20080B040 (2)

Text

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GdVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT Institute for Policy Studies 1901 Qu'e Street. N.W. Washington D.C. 20009 (202)234 9382 April 21, 1983 Mr. Benjamin Hayes Director Office of Investigations U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555 Mr. James O'Reilly Regional Administrator, Region II U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 101 Marietta Street, N. W., Suite 3100 Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Gentlemen:

l The Government Accountability Project (GAP) of the Institute for Policy Studies has recently received a request from a citizens group in Stuth Carolina to assist them with an investigation that they are conducting into the quality assurance and quality control procedures that have been employed in the construction of the Catawba Nuclear Power Station being built by the Duke Power Corporation. .

The material that we have reviewed in connection with the request has raised serious questions about the Nuclear Regulatory Com-mission's (NRC) oversight of problems that have been brought to the attention of both the resident and regional inspectors and investigators, of particular concern to us arc the allegations that were brought to the attention of the NRC regional office in January 1982 by a number of QC welding inspection personnel, and more specifically the direct orders by Duke construction management to falsify in-spection documents. These circumstances raise critical questions ,

about the conditions at the Catawba facility under which con- ,

scientious nuclear employees -- from welders to engineers --

are allowed to do their job. (See attachment 1.)

The comments originally presented by Mr. P. K. Van Doorn, the Senior Resident Inspector, have apparently been fully investigated and dismissed through a utility task force (attachment 2); however, we have requested through the Freedom of Information Act all NRC documentation that should clarify the results of any inspections I or investigations that were conducted by the NRC as a result of -

the original allegations.

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PDR FOIA GARDE 83-2OO PDR i e .. -

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Mr. Ben Hayes Mr. James O'Reilly -

2 - April 21, 1983 We request that the Office of Investigations conduct a complete review of: (1) the original allegations and (2) any investigations

. of those allegations. We think that such a review by OI is par-ticularly appropriate due to Mr. VanDoorn's and Mr. W. J. Tobin's initial reports include serious evidence of harassment, intimidation and deliberate undermining of the welding QC program.

As you are aware, the concerns of worker harassment and intimidation and similar allegations of violations of the Atomic Energy Reorgani-zation Act alleged by the unnamed sources referred to in the attached documents mirror the findings that GAP discovered at the Zimmer Nuclear Power Station in Ohio, the Midland Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan, and, most recently, the Three Mile Island cleanup opera-tions in Pennsylvania.

We look forward to your response to this request in the near future.

Very truly yo ,

BILLIE PIRNER GARDE Director, citizens Clinic

• f or Accountable Government BC/my Attachments 0

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