ML20115J105
| ML20115J105 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Neely Research Reactor |
| Issue date: | 05/22/1996 |
| From: | AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | |
| References | |
| REN-I-GANE-029, REN-I-GANE-29, NUDOCS 9607230460 | |
| Download: ML20115J105 (2) | |
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USNRC m who critic.iz.ed
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- SecondNRC report says schoolhasn't i taken 'significant' steps atfacility' -
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'I One of the fired employees, i
a Two veteran health physleists PaiJ Sharpe, had said that 1
who had complained about the safe- ' Safety has been put on the i
at the Wor.
1 Thu ay hoo o i
a cials, who said the moves were part.
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of a program to " upgrade the staft"
-h at the reactor.
Journal-Constitution that aarety
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et the same time, the Nuclear has been put on the backburner" at
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Regulatory Commission fNRC) is-the reactor. He'said experiments, i
el sued anotber scathing report.*especially those which make mon-4 u:
against Tech, saying safety condi-ey, had become mom important.
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d5 tions at the rpactor have not "signif.
. Sharpe and fellow health physi-He icantly improved" since May, when eist Steven Millspaugh were told eft the school promised to correct pu. Thursday when they repotted to im merous problems at the campus work that they had been fired, ef -.-.q facility.
,..:-- fective Feb 25. Their letters of ter-The agency said in its report on sination were signed by Dr. Ratib i
Thursday thr.1 a."isek of adequate - Karam, director of tech's Meely' management" at the 24-yeareld re-Nuclear Research Ceeler, d al the' 'P w
actor apparently jeopardlied the
'Millspaugh has 'worke i
safety of workers and the public.
= actor for 18 years, and Shar'pe for N,
i Last month, the agency ordered four years. Both men declined to an indermite halt to irradiation ex-discuss their firings late nursday. '
periments at'the reactor after it on the advice of their attorney. '
learned that a reactor operator had But both Millspaugh and Sharpe contaminated himself and the reae-have discussed safety problems at i
tor building on Aug.18 with radio-thr *eactor with NRC inspectorsi i
active cadmium after he inappro-according to agency documents. *' l priately opened a container holding The two health physicists, who',f.
i an irradiated topas gemstone. The worked in.the reactor's Omce of 1
agency said numerous safety prob-Radiation' Safety, were unhappy lems at the reactor allowed the mis-with a staff reshuffling last July, in' hap to occur, which they were put under the di!
s i
The NRC said it was unaware rect authority of Karam,whose staff that Tech had fired the tworreactor is the biggest user of radioactive health physicists Thursday.
material on the Tech campus. Be-One of the fired employees, fore rtorganisation, they had direct Paul Sharpe, hhd 6&id in a story in "
Thursday's editions of The Atlanta See TECH,Page 6A NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Docket No 80V6o-464 EXHIBIT NO.
M in the rnatter of Mo. W O StaH O Applicant G&ifitervenor O Other 960)230460 960522 PDR ADOCK 05000160 ETidentified O Received O Rejected Reporter M (_4,)
Q PDR Date 5/L2/G t.
Witness 4c c.o i V /} d r w &
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the reactor.
However, the NRC, which ver-bally a
"* pprwed the staNreorganist From Poge1-A '
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abou't the reorgan*isation. Full ap-
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access to Tech's president. '
preval of the move will require an
. Mllispaugh and Sharpe said amendment to Tech's reactor their authority to police operations
- license, and enforce safety at the reactor Ken Clark, nokesman for the
. was undermined by the staff NRC's offlee in Atlanta, said the reorganisation, Other nuclear experts had agency has demanded that Tech ef-agreed. When the reorganisation plain in a Feb. 23 " enforcement li 6 was made last summer, Dr. Melvin conference"how the reorganisatlog hasimproved safety.
Carter, an internationally recog.
nised health physicist, resigned in In addition to having its read' protest from the safety committee tor's experiments sharply curtailed' that oversaw operations at the reac-Tech also faces possible stiffer pen, tor. He said the move was tania-alties, including fines, because of mount "to the for guarding the numerous safety violations.
the NRC report issued Thurs:
henhouse."
But in a statement released day gave the results ofinspections Thursday, Karam said that a "sig-at the reactor in January, which nificant number of the problems"at -were prompted by the Aug.11L mishop.
the reactor "were related to the 1
health physics area."
"The order restricting.yourirrg.
It an interview last week, distion experiments was a direct 1
Karam sam that the health physi-result of our concern over your pasi cists " abused their authority," were performance, your unsatisfactory slow rate ofimprovement, and modt dwelled too long on trivial items. unnecessarily domineering and ~importa i
He said that reorganisation was an needed to assure that continued i effort to quell statidissension and radiation experiments would not re-t Improve safety and productivity at suit in more significant safety prod-lems," said the report.
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