ML20149M160

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Requests Attendence at 961018 Enforcement Conference
ML20149M160
Person / Time
Site: Haddam Neck File:Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co icon.png
Issue date: 10/04/1996
From: Blanch P
AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:
NRC
Shared Package
ML20149M049 List:
References
NUDOCS 9612130003
Download: ML20149M160 (1)
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From: PAUL M. BLANCH <PMBLANCH91x.netcom.com>

To: WND2.WNP3(jaz,awd),WNDI.WNP2(hjm),TWDI.TWP4(gam)

Date: 10/4/96 10:12am

Subject:

CY ENFORCEMENT CONFERENCE Update on Haddam Neck's Enforcement Conference l

Date: October 18 at 9am Place: Berlin, CT, Hawthorne Inn l

. Try to make this conference! We need to show the NRC that we are paying close attention not only of their ability to identify problems but also their

ability to enforcement compliance.

1 The enforcement conference will involve violations identified in Haddam Neck

Inspection Reports
96-08, 96-06,96-201, and 95-27 (specifically the LPSI system).

1 If possible, review these reports prior to the conference. Reports 96-08 and 96-201 are on the NRC homepage.

A message from the Citizens Awareness Network Editors Note: l s

This is likely to be a very significant conference and the first ever in the State of Connecticut. The issues to be discussed are much more significant than the recent CY event with the nitrogen. This will discuss the fact that

. had a LOCA occured, it was likely there would be no long term Emergency Core

! Cooling. There is no other safety system to back these systems up. If a loss of power occured coincident with a LOCA (design basis event), the containment may have been breached at the same time. This could have resulted in the loss of the three principal barriers (fuel clad, primary system and the containment). This condition existed for the past 28 years.

. Paul M. Blanch Energy Consultant 135 Hyde Rd.

West Hartford CT 06117 Voice 860-236-0326 Fax 860-232-9350

~

9612130003 961210 PDR ORG NRRA

From: PAUL M. BLANCH <PMBLANCH0ix.netcom.com>

l To: JZ <JAZWOL9aol.com>

Date: 10/4/96 5:30am i

Subject:

Maine Yankee  !

I John: l I understand that Ed Jordan's report on Maine Yankee will be out early next week. I hope it doesn't get delayed like the Hannon report. Please send me a copy ASAP or have someone put it on the NRC web page. What is the latest i on the Hannon report?

Paul M. Blanch Energy Consultant 1

135 Hyde Rd.

West Hartford CT 06117 i Voice 860-236-0326 I Fax 860-232-9350 i

(

-9.w3 r n H e

From: PAUL M. BLANCH <PMBLANCH91x.netcom.com>

To: WND2.4NP3(jaz,awd),WNDI.WNP2(hjm),TWDI.TWP4(gam)

Date: 10/5/96 5:31am

Subject:

Hartford Courant etc.

Rowland, saying he was left in dark, calls NU chief to task l

l By MIKE McINTIRE This story ran in the Courant October 5, 1996 )

l Saying he was kept in the dark about a serious accident at a Northeast Utilities nuclear plant over Labor Day weekend, Gov. John G. Rowland called NU Chairman Bernard M. Fox onto the carpet Friday.

Fox waited 10 minutes before Rowland ushered him into the governor's office to express his disappointment at not being adequately briefed on the accident when the two men met a couple of weeks ago.

i

Rowland said details of the incident that appeared in press reports this week showed it was far worse than he had been told.

I was disappointed that I hadn't been properly informed of this event, .

i Rowland said after Fox left. I called him back in because I had not been  !

briefed. He agreed with me, and he apologized. ,

Fox's press aide told a reporter cutside the governor's office that the NU i chairman would have no comment afterocard. But Fox stopped on his way out to l say that the seriousness of the Connecicut Yankee incident called for a personal contact with Rowland.

  • *I told him that we'll keep plugging away to get this and other matters corrected, Fox said.

Federal regulators who investigated the Labor Day incident said Wednesday that a number of operator and equipment errors came dangerously close to damaging the reactor's radioactive core.

i Nitrogen leaked into the reactor chamber and swelled into a huge bubble, l

displacing water that cools the fuel rods.

The condition went undetected for four days at the plant, which has been shut down since July for repairs and refueling. When the leak was finally noticed, plant operators were able to vent the gas safely, pump water into the chamber and prevent the core from being exposed.

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigator said that had the nitrogen bubble grown any larger, it could have disabled a key safety system and it would have taken 52 minutes for the core to overheat.

l The relationship between Rowland and NU has been strained since April, when l the governor accompanied Fox on a tour of the troubled Millstone nuclear complex.

I Rowland emerged from tka visit and pronounced the plants safe, prompting

{

ridicule from NU's critics, who said the governor was allowing himself to be 3/ 00Y7

used as a public relations foil.

Stung by the response to his comments, Rowland racheted back his daily involvement in the NU crisis, curtailing contacts with Fox and abandoning plans to meet the chairman of the NRC.

Then, two weeks ago, Fox and Rowland met for the first time in months, as the l NU chairman accompanied his new nuclear operations chief, Bruce Kenyon, to 1 the capital to meet the governor. It was at that meeting that Rowland says 1 Fox did not make clear the magnitude of the problems at Connecticut Yankee.

Rowland said Friday's meeting was a step forward in improving communications between the state and its largest electric utility.

We agreed that, from now on, his people will provide the governor's offico I with a weekly briefing on events involving the nuclear plahts, Rowland said. It's important, as far as communications between us go, that we stay on track.

Note:

Was Rowland briefed about the failure of the CY ECCS for 28 tears and the 4 potential impact of this event?

Oct. 04. 1996 Mr. Bruce Kenyon VP Nuclear Services Northeast Nuclear Energy Service Co POB 128 Waterford, CT. 06385 Mr. Kenyon I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am one the 104 individuals laid off in January 1996. I attended the meeting in September held at the Waterford Town Hall at which you and I briefly spoke towards the end of the evening concerning consideration on your part for rehiring those individuals terminated in January.

I understand that your time is relatively occupied with regards to the problems concerning Millstone, but please understand that in the lives of those people who were let go, this issue is the most important on our minds.

Please understand that our professional, and personal lives were totally disrupted that day in January. The majority of us are over the age of 40 and with rather limited areas of expertise that are applicable only to nuclear facilities, thus making us relatively unemployable elsewhere.

I find myself sitting here on the sidelines helpless as I watch as Millstone descend further and further. Like the other individuals laid off at the same time, we all wonder why Northeast Utilities has chosen to bring in contractors to assist rather than call us back to help.

We realize that we were not " laid-off" due to lack of work, as the work levels if anything have increased at Millstone according to the papers. With )

you coming on board there is new hope that you would revisit this gross 1 mistake and hopefully rectify it. l Mr. Kenyon, I and the remaining 103 individuals place our futures in your hands and hope that you will see past the attitude of previous NU management and return us to Millstone where we can provide the assistance necessary to see Millstone through this troubled time.

I sincerely would appreciate hearing from you, either by mail, phone or would certainly be glad to meet with you to discuss this situation.

Sincerely, Paul M. Blanch Energy Consultant 135 Hyde Rd.

West Hartford CT 06117 Voice 860-236-0326 Fax 860-232-9350 4

i

From: PAUL M. BLANCH <PMBLANCH91x.netcom.com>

I To: JZ <JAZWOL9aol.com>

Date: 10/6/96 6:12am

Subject:

Fwd: SONGS LIKE MILLSTONE?

Subject:

SONGS LIKE MILLSTONE?

Sent: 10/6/96 2:44 AM Received: 10/6/96 9:40 AM From: GLEN MILLS, MILLSGLEN9msn.com To: PAUL BLANCH, PMBLANCH91x.netcom.com CC: GLEN MILLS, 102502.31259compuserve.com Mail: P.O. Box 3393, Mission Viejo, CA 92690

Phone #
714-768-0585
FAX: 714-458-6455 I E-Mail: millsglen9msn.com .

October 5, 1996 l i

The Honorable Shirley Jackson Chairperson .

l U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission i Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 l 1

l

Dear Chairperson Jackson:

+

We have been following closely the developments at Millstone in = particular Millstone Unit 2 because it was designed and built by the same NSSS = vendor  !

l (Combustion Engineering) and Architect Engineer (Bechtel) as San -  !

Onofre Units 2 and 3 (SONGS 2/3) which is only 4 miles from our residential i

homes = in south San Clemente. We know that the initial design and safety analysis for = both Millstone Unit 2 and SONGS 2/3 was done in the early and mid 1970=EDs = by the same management and functional engineering personnel.

Therefore this = leads us to suspect that any nuclear safety concerns at Millstone Unit 2 are = likely to be applicable to SONGS 2/3. Please confirm  !

that the Nuclear =

Regulatory Commission has evaluated SONGS 2/3 in light of the problems at =  !

Millstone and can assure us the none of the nuclear safety concerns ar.d problems at Millstone exist at SONGS 2/3.

~

As an example of a nuclear safety concern at Millstone which maybe -

applicable to SONGS 2/3 consider the following found on the Internet:

-ECSteam = generator safety valve setpoint does not consider piping run. A review of the = steam generator design found that the pressure drop between the steam - generator and the safety valves was not taken into account in determining the = safety valves =ED setpoint. This error was discovered in the analysis for a single MSIV = closure at power. The additional pressure drop could be as high as 100 to 150 = psid. The resulting steam generator pressure would exceed 110% of ASiiE = design pressure-EE. Other Millstone Unit 2 safety concerns found which maybe = applicable to SONGS.2/3 relate to the spent fuel pool, ECCS, LOCA, etc. Please = assure us that none of the Millstone nuclear safety concerns and problems exist = at SONGS 2/3. Thank you in advance for your response.

l l

WW/ 00 T' Ii , - . - . .. . . , . _ . . . .- -

1 i

l Sincerely,

, Glen R. Mills Paul M. B1anch Energy Consultant 135 Hyde Rd.

West Hartford CT 06117 Voice 860-236-0326 Fax 860-232-9350 J

9 3

4

\

1 f

4

From: PAUL M. BLANCH <PMBLANCH0ix.netcom.com>

To: WND2.WNP3(jaz,awd),WND1.WNP2(hjm),TWDI.TWPQqam),A...

Date: 10/6/96 6:12am

Subject:

" Quash and Squash" Bob Busch's " Quash and Squash" Management Rosemary Bassilakis, a member of the antinuclear Citzens Awareness Network had it right. She said You have the feeling that they (NU nuclear) were operating the plant with incredible arrogance". She was not imagining things. NU nuclear is filled with arrogant managers.

Bob Busch was an arrogant manager - no one could tell Bob Busch anything.

When Busch would say " nuclear safety is the number one priority" you half expected him to wink as he said it. During his time he filled the NU nuclear organization with managers who felt as he did - that the economic success path for NU nuclear was to first " quash" nuclear safety concerns, and then

" squash" nuclear safety proponents. In a Hartford Courant editorial, someone referred to it as " silence the lambs and kill the rams". I call it " quash and squash" management.

It was this management technique that permitted Busch to bring MP3 on line ahead of schedule in the 1980's, which gained him a position as head of NU nuclear. Apparently all that NU's CEO Bernie Fox needed to know was that Busch

- had saved NU a lot of money.

t Busch made some big changes in NU nuclear management that turned out to be big mistakes. Busch promoted a nuclear mission statement that claimed nuclear safety was the number one goal, then proceeded to offer positions and big bonuses to managers for " quash and squash". This created forces inside NU nuclear that destroyed trust and morale, and eventually tore the organization apart.

The new head of NU nuclear, Bruce Kenyon, must undo this damage. He has already made major management changes, and this must continue. He must also change the reward system at NU 1:uclear to become consistent with the mission statement. Kenyon must not let arrogance return. He must put an end to

" silence the lambs and kill the rams". He trust not let " quash and squash" management return.

Many of the employees who were terminated from NU in the recent past were terminated for attempting to fulfill the NU mission statement and make safety the real priority, and were " quashed and squashed" for their effort. Kenyon must allow them to return to the organization. Their return, and the return of nuclear managers with a true " safety first" ethic is the way to restore NU's reputation as a safe nuclear operator.

And no more_" quash and squash".

Paul M. Blanch Energy Consultant 135 Hyde Rd.

West Hartford CT 06117

- 3 G+% Hee 90

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