ML20115J078

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Intervenor Exhibit I-GANE-18,consisting of News Article by Houston Chronicle.Related Correspondence
ML20115J078
Person / Time
Site: Neely Research Reactor
Issue date: 05/21/1996
From:
AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:
References
REN-I-GANE-018, REN-I-GANE-18, NUDOCS 9607230449
Download: ML20115J078 (5)
v • d • e


Text

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s WEADLINE ' Clamp down/The Silencing of Nuclear Industry ylorkers/NRC's ability questioned with worker's claims / Charges by Ie.nale inspector cite lax safety, harassment BYLINE JIM MORRIS CR.DIT Staff PATLINE ATIJMrA I

FibTos, CRAPHICS Photo: Rebecca Long looks through documents she has accumulated in a sexual harassment and discrimination case. e. gainst the agency (p. 30) ,

AFJ CREDIT W. Harewood/special to the Chronicle l

WTES Copyright, 1993 Ecust.on ChroDicle I 1

Arf.J.NTA -- Inspector Rebecca I,ong says she's seen th,4l dirty. side of the - N>-

flaclear ReDQlatory Comnission male managers who' crudely harassed and ,

discriminated nosf r=t her becauco of her ser and undermined some of hcr J 7 of .$pi t,C..

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MS. Long says she's seen enough good - mtpathetic NRC managers, dedicated inspectors -- to make her want to stay on, despite the leatheeme things she pys have been done to her since she joined the agency nearly eight years Ag o./'

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  • Den n ot antl-SS,C, H m d Leng, 4 0, v.is has 'ile-d u voluminnur sop. .

discru.iination and sexual harassment lawsuit against the agency in federal co urt., Some of the fineet people I've ever worked with are here, and they do a hc.11 of a job. It's just that there are pockets of problems that need to be cicaned out.*

In her first n,edia int.orvie's, Long told the Houston Chronicle laot week that ght.has been harassed since 1987 by four male managers in the NRC's Region II o$ Ca in Atlanta, which oversees 33 reactore in 10 soutJa Mtern .ttato:,

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IMfXit" ' 'T" work, ,at potentfaltrisk to1tha! pub %i~cuind femetor workers.

er ng her with de.ogatory and sometimesy# " profane pawnpn}.s.

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-mou h ng;6er 'in front of other NRC employees and licensees -- utilitics and universities . .: ., a that.>

operate remetors and are regulated by the agency.

Isepropei1[' denying h' er promotions,' overtime and bonuses. l I

1 EE.ieving tSsuas. her of her technical duties

    • as punishment for pursuingisafety u 1,., Qf,Kgyggy* > .41

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h b"94 % n % N $gy not to asso'ciate with her.y,. M g Wu.4 ~,.i . ,

The' s' igriifbt t/e' o[Long's story goes.beyond the loubish eaborsheclaims th6; Atlanta me'n dialplayed2: It castssnew doubt'on the objectivity ~and  !

Gffectiveniusef of tlie NRC, ' formed.in-1975 to protedt %rkgra and the public l from the) h EggdQogughypoper. a m Attilough Long's' allegations irivoOe one of the NRC's five regional off!ces, whole andng whistM-blowers at nuclear power plants,the ChronibippySpitn including the South Texas gl' Ant near Bayallegation sgfoty-related City.,Many of these workers believe the NRC has not taken t%d r seriously or done enough to protect them from  ;

retaliation. A congressional hearing was held on the subject last July. ,

l In her interviW with the Chronicle. Long offered a rare behind-the-scenes look managers, scem at a close-knit organization. The Imc she describes is an agency in which

/' p'oblems documented for petty r.acens, delete in inspection or water down' serious safety reports. )

ol4 boys,

  • many of them Ve.terans of the Navy's nuclear submarine progrr.m, whoIt is an ag PCWard ' ' tcam playere * ,

show too much independence.and 17sh out against workers -- especially women -- v.ho {

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Long said." I'n often told I can't amount to anything because I'm not a ' Navy nuke, ' "

l Long said she know something was amiss when she was hired by the NRC at an entry-level salary -- about $20,000 less than what male inspectors with cairparable backgrounds were getting -- even though she had 10 years' OcPerience as a nuclear en7tneer in the private sector. Once she made pay an l%uth, che said, Region II managers began retaliating against her.

Nve raised cafety issues and had a performance appraisal lowered as a R.$ ult,' Long r. aid. Because I've filed EEC cowplaints, they brand me as a traitor Mnd( not a(Equal Employment Opportunity) fbnale . ' t1 Lam player. I'rn an unwante d Three of the men identified by Long -- Frank Jape, Ken Barr and Eill Little --

are,still with Region II, Jape Bruc4 Wilson, lef t the NRC last year and is working in privateandindustry. Barr in management Jape, positions. Th BBrr and union grievarme chn Wilcon are named in Long's federal suit. Little was the subject of a filed.

9.toched at his home last week, Little said: I don't know of any retaliation

  • q & inst Long. Jape declined ecmment. Barr did not return a telephone call to l

t M i office and Wilson did not return a call to his home.

(o  : 1dr a ncter'c degn

.* ..uclertr engincorina and spent a decmk wi th

; ,' G Uilcox, f e.@6 4

Virginia-ba':od engineering firm, before joining the I;RC in cap t'~nry 19 8 6. When she was hired by the agency, she said, che was considered 3 p ete -- r t in reactor physics. I had to give up working in ny ar m cf i

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Long,has inspected most of the nuclear power plants i three of the nation's most problem-plagued-- n Region theII,federal includingTennesse NAthority's Watts Bar and Sequoyah plants in Tennessee e Valley and its B tthaliation.against Whistle-blop%nt in Alabama, she, used to send out rowns Ferry twright M.CW. here .in:n:y own agency.w*ers and think: .y Well, k.

they've done worse to; 4 L ' 'fi6

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. Lc,g $go-year-old' father,' Franic[I6r@,bspe^n,s, . , ,

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predecessior, the Atomic Energy C#mnission, before retiring in 198623 years with

,,  :, erady fto put her.not particularly surprieled, by what his daughter . He s is..tJ,f8:

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ays has

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flQ hW@:WThe-alana em' nt of the NRC, e 'O L~' * '

as long%"as:, .946+.

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't , has protected'

.,y rongdoers' within the agency, FranX Long said. He said be .

can recall onl j of government service.or three' employees who were fired!from all his years y two the NRC or the A j

Sc C of the worst offenders, '

Se.nt" away tro college on paid sabbatical.he said, were transferred to other offices or Th6,JAC is i

supposed to look for cafety problems, rG4cived and take enforcement action it neccesary,* FrankThey've Long saidfind them, get 4mnch r safetyit problems, more like a country period." club for management. They're not seriou l s y looking Said Rebecca Long's attorney, .7en Zittring:

penmitted be.c.ause of herto do her job. There should be a place for her in this agencyDecky' competen no place for (managers'ce, ) and they've tried to drive her out. There should be person's work product when doing so has safety manifestations.* labeling some Long tells a chilling tale about a res+ arch reactor operated by G eorgia Tech' l

h8r' inspection the NRC cited the. ppiversity hDure to properly control experlinents.- , including.

for several viola

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T,ong were' sticking samples in tMleactor w$thb u tp di f -

Y ng safety analyses,*

k N. months later, she said',Frank

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knowledge, contrar/ to tW4 groce 'ures.de" retracted the citations without her ope,ratdne the reactor until Jawary 1988, vehen the ICJ:Geor$M Tech ws allowed to continue evpsriments because of a breakdow) ordered it to cease all 1ohy had identified the year before. in nanagement controlo" -- the same issue W acy put something in (the reactor) thog ht it would and the sample exploded,* contaminating a worker,that got much m Lone raia Gorgia Tech shut down the pertMssion to restart it for nine months. reactor in Fet>ruary 1928 and was not given NRC '

8 SLgr.ificant amount It also paid a $5,000 for a research reactor,' Long said. fine. .

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66eryin Toch officialsLotw3 :sid that while chr> was incpoeting the reactor,

$8;nions to the NRC. The employees that two university scmeo:c i n P.ea i o:. II ald

  • l 6Me t: wereemployees had made safety i learn who in Region II was responsible for breaching theirfired, Long said, but she w

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6 jv i (n late 196J .she said' ' ' plshh-operat%fs 'werbsA .tYihkihg'the po'sitions of i F4'rFA'is>WAM4JsM,e4 ips af ety-re' lated"c6inp6sihnt's /'- ithl%1stht officials were

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.nuc fuel, without monitoringe radiation levels. . : ?.n w, twving&;4Sarp af the bossiatstTYkine, Q. Bill Little,. di2agre'eMdibNe*% 191T Mihbs  %@ and . told her ,' i r

.she was riot [ technically competent. " she saidy 'n

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  • Long -aQN/N*kt,shhnical duties were

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,, i Ik k' tSilikte'd AgYiridt n f6 BrbwnslFUM19ys Diving her a bad perfo'rmansaGappraisal in 1909, rendering her s g afety issues

  • at incli~gpble'/ fog gi. promotion and awards.aLong filed a union grievance and the e appisiiwdhkkdMlared' null and void,'she saidFbut.thCaecision carte too late

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4 few sitbnths Sofore Little gave her tiae appraisa1, Long received a letter of c:mmendationtfrom James Sniezek, a deputy execdtiv% director for operations at

$C headquagtere, for her Browns Ferry inspection.

Ty1990, Long was wo'rking for Ken Barr, who gave her another poor appraisal.

OEe said I needed to take a hit' for filing union grievances and EE0 couplainte. Long said. He said he was rocciving pressure from his management to lower the appraisal . "

Lor.; said Barr tried to supprass and undermine

  • findings she nade during a

' LS90 inspection of the TVA's Watts Bar plant, which is still under canstruction, and unneccisarily delayed

  • the issuance of her inspecticn report . I Barr also pressured me to close (worker) allegations without investigating them,* Long said.

A.F it happened, Long's Wstts Bar inspection findings wore a major tactor in a Ve,arlong suspension of construction at the plant and won her praise from ,

').egion II' Administrator Stewart Ebneter.

puring a meeting, Ebneter called it the best inspection he had ever seen,"

Long said. One of my Iindings at Watts Bar resulted in a criminal '

trosecution.'

Bruce Wilson.

Long said she also hnd trouble with Barr's boss at the time,W t*.aking miner spellina e.rvors in V/ilson repeatedly called her an idiot

  • reports and mictreated hu in othtr Wap, she, said.

but he said he'd l.ong said she asked Ebneter for help on several Region occasion II spokesman Ken Clark be.4n told by NRC attorneys to stay out of it.'

53,id Ebneter had no consnent on Long's case because of the litigation.

L.pn;'s discrimination and haru rment allt p tiens agtinst Fra nk ,'. pe -- 5 ho ,

c. f o the r I.Ti l,on3 a36, c :. .: o cLaracter dca h.r witt - u sual ep1*.het in I r r.

e C :yeer -- were heard by a tederal magistrate in 1990. The following year the, n.agistrate held that Long had f ailed to show she had been a victim of 3 cli:parate treatment' or sexual ha2.assment and rejacted her claims.

%c a fe94r91 judge who recicwd the mistrato'c ruling decide! to r.nry the cM e, which now includes additional allegations. Zimring expectc the trial to tak.A 71 a c t.: next year.

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.gid["M"yl.ang,said'she !wo' uld have4, (fed th's.. ,t$87,1When' tiha harase

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' 5 L litegal h s defended him and other; Region,Il managers who engaged in inappropriate or -

behitvior. '

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'.*  :on.. w g.ce I spoke out against snanagement, I basically became an enemy of'the .

i l(l[;?jf.hessMsh'ssaid. **They began circling the wagons.* l

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O r e, Long says, issomethingsk{eyon'n tido.
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jt f.jjk:: C. Chairman 'Ivan ' :*& Selin has.ppbild1h.TN$

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.(rtim retaliation for raising owed to protect nuclear industry wo'rkers:  !

dhgconcerns.Andsoonafterhetcokthepost

  • Mw3n July 1991, he distributed;sa(Ngc employees a videotape in which he outlined

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Eo. 7 l k policy regarding sexual hara,tihneht and discrimination. j T$NinferenceLongdrewwasthatSelinatleastwouldlistentoherproblems SM might even intervene on her behalf.

So,,in April 1992, ,

hi s ' ' 'irmediate in bshe cent Selin a letter su:rmarinng her case and requesting rvention.' Selin never responded to the letter or

.subJequent telechone messages, Long said. l s

.Salin said in a telephone interview last week that he could not comment on L.cng's caso because of the lawsuit, l i

However, he said, The NRC, like other federal agencies, has become ncreasingly sensitive to sexual harassment and the many different forms it can take. We have recently issued a new brochure specifically on this topic, '

l which broadens the range of remedies and opportunities available to the person l Who thinks she has been harassed and to her supervisors.

  • l l

Selin maintained that the NRC is no worse than other agencies but said: We h4ve had

%1stle a couple of cases .in the past of sexual harassment c It's been fairly harassment, l but when we looked into it the complainants were right. -

We'ro certainly not immune to this problem. "  !

Se,lin said he believes sexual discrimination is strongly covered

  • by

'4ViSting NRC policy. Long rails at such statements.

wfhey don't seem to care about discrimination,* she said, and they haven't done,,,anything about the harassment l've endured. '

y's battle soainst the Region II men, she said, has run up more than lo0,000 in legal expenses and ruined seven years of my life.

"$6 many frotA4hc days .iI weuld ecme home fren work and jurt trekt M go t; b d je Otre~t .a t *h"f's C.ono to me that day," she said. If it weren't or .Ty friends and the moral support of inspectors who weren't afraid to do

! right thing, I never would have surfived this."

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