ML20115J105

Intervenor Exhibit I-GANE-29,consisting of New Releases Re Problems at Georgia Tech Nuclear Reactor Being Fired. Related Correspondence

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)

Text

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l  : SecondNRC report says schoolhasn't

i taken 'significant' steps atfacility' - l l' 1

'I One of the fired employees,

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i a Two veteran health physleists PaiJ Sharpe, had said that 1

i who had complained about the safe- ' Safety has been put on the

. 1 Thu ay hoo o at the Wor. ,

i a cials, who said the moves were part .

t, of a program to " upgrade the staft" l .

! -h at the reactor. . -

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Journal-Constitution that aarety l

] i et the same time, the Nuclear has been put on the backburner" at i i a 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. )

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 w  !

actor apparently jeopardlied the 'Millspaugh hasResearch

'worke Ceeler, d al the' 'Pi i

safety of workers and the public. = actor for 18 years, and Shar'pe for N, 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 l 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

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access to Tech's president. '

• • • • W " Full ap-abou't the reorgan*isation. \

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

. reorganisation, was undermined by the staff NRC's offlee in Atlanta, said the 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. l 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.

henhouse." the NRC report issued Thurs:

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"atmishop. -were prompted by the Aug.11L the reactor "were related to the 1 health physics area." "The order restricting.yourirrg.

1 It an interview last week, distion experiments was a direct Karam sam that the health physi- result of our concern over your pasi cists " abused their authority," were performance, your unsatisfactory i

slow rate ofimprovement, and modt dwelled too long on trivial items. unnecessarily domineering and ~importa 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. i.J I

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