ML20129F593
| ML20129F593 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 07/29/1992 |
| From: | Hayes B NRC OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS (OI) |
| To: | Kohn M KOHN, KOHN & COLAPINTO, P.C. (FORMERLY KOHN & ASSOCIA |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20129F106 | List:
|
| References | |
| FOIA-94-208 NUDOCS 9610070001 | |
| Download: ML20129F593 (4) | |
Text
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JUL-29 '92 LED 11:04 ID:"9RC/!,NT'l PE%Rf tS TEL to:71301504-23M tRC* #323 P02 i
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UNITED STATES
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3
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July 29, 1992 i
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Via F=a=4malla and First clama Mail l
Mr. Michael D. Kohn
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Kohn, Rohn & colapinto, P.C.
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517 Florida Ave., NW l
Washington, D.L*. 20001 Re Manham h v. aanrain Petrar ca-nany i
i Dear Mr. Xohns
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This letter responds to your July 28, 1992, facsimile to Daryl M.
I shapiro of the office of the General. Counsel concerning your
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release of certain documentation pertaining to an Office of Investigations (OI) investigation of Georg;,a Power company.
It is our balist that your letter inaccurately represents earlier i
i conversations with CI.
This office would prefer that all information concerning this investigation remain in striot w
l confidence in order to protect the integrity of the investigative Nonetheless it is not our intention to interfere with process.
anyofficialcongresskonalinvestigation.
Our discussions should not be construed as giving any type of instructions to you l
concerning any official congressional inquiries.
i sincerely, 2
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Ben
. Hayes, Director i
Office of Investigations i
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stADON PeoGRAM WRC TV NBC Sunday Hight News NBC Network c
August 9, 1992 6:30 PM Washington, D.C.
SAAC7 Nuclear Power Plant Whistle-blower GARRICK UTLEY:
On " Focus" this evening, we look at a l
special kind of person in our society, the whistle-blower, someoneWhen it happens 1
i who sees something wrong being done and speaks up.it can bring risks and retributi in government or in business, And we have now the story of one man who lost his job when he blew the whistle.
Here's Linda Vester.
I ALLEN MOSBAUGH:
Let's start with the 20th.
This is the first one....
Allen Mosbaugh is a former manager at the LINDA VESTER:
He says he has proot Vogel Nuclear Plant in Waynesboro, Georgia.certain officials fro His story involves an lied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
1990.
accident at the plant on March 20, And what happened here?
A truck backed into a pole and shut off off-MOSBAUGHz site power to Unit One.
VESTER:
That caused a blackout.
Engineers tried to But....:
restore power through two back-up diesel generators.
The One of them was of f-line for maintenance.
MOSBAUGH:
second one started, but then tripped.
VESTER:
It took 36 minutes to restore power.
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~2-4 There was no immediate danger.
But the incident focused attention on a different problem, the diesel generator.
Why didn't it start or stay on?
The next day engineers began testing both generators.
In the course of starting them after the site l
MOSBAUGHz
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area emergency, failures continued to occur.
1 VESTER:
Mosbaugh says there are control logs that t
document the failures.
For sXample, March 22nd.
The logs say one The next day it tripped again.
Yet i
generator tripped, shut down. Georgia Power, in an April 9th letter asking l
j to return the plant to full power, claimed "No problems have i
occurred during any of these starts of the diesel generators."
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Mosbaugh's reaction?
Yes, I believe plant management knew there had l
MOSBAUGH:
been both problems and failures.
l Georgia Power refused our request for an on-l VESTER:
But in a written statement, the camera intervists on all of this.
company said it never attempted to mislead the NRC with regard to any aspect of the incident.
Allen Mosbaugh says he can prove that Georgia Power did intend to Isislead.
The evidence:
the secretly recorded tape of a i
telephone conference call involving senior management of the plant
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and of Georgia Power, i
i Mosbaugh says he was on the call from an office at the plant.
(Clip of tape.)
r MAN:
Let's see.
What other question have we got? We've got them (to) start things....
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The other question we had, Bill, was the....
MAN:
2 MAN:
We got them started, so we didn't have no....
MAN:
No, not -- what else did we have?
i Mosbaugh claims his recording was made on April VESTER:
That is the day Georgia Power was draf ting another letter to 1
19th.
the NRC repeating its claim that no failures or problems have occurred during any of these starts of the diesel generators.
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i When the April 19th letter went out to the NRC, did plant j
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management kncw about the problems with the diesel generators?
McSBAUGH:
Absolutely.
VESTER:
How do you know?
MOSBAUGH:
I told them.
Five months after the original incident, Georgia Power wrote the NRC to admit a mistake, to say that the information VESTER:
But by on the diesel generators it had sent before was in error.Ma'd contacted the NRC The l
then Mosbaugh had blown the whistle.
whole affair is now the subject of a
federal grand jury investigation, and Congress is interested as well.
Second of all, REPRESENTATIVE JOHN DINGELL [D-Michigan):
the the matter does not appear to have been handled well either by company or by NRC in the times since the event occurred.
The Vogel Plant is And how do things stand now?The diesel generators r VESTER:
Allen Mosbaugh was fired for making secret operating at full power.
He's gone to court to get his job back and is suing been repaired.
recordings.
for damages.
Linda Vester, NBC News, Washington.
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