ML20070T050

Affidavit of Rl Messerly Re Shoddy Const Practices

ML20070T050
Person / Time
Site:	Comanche Peak
Issue date:	02/03/1983
From:	Messerly R BROWN & ROOT, INC. (SUBS. OF HALLIBURTON CO.), Citizens Association for Sound Energy
To:
Shared Package
ML20070T047	List: ML20070T044 ML20070T050
References
NUDOCS 8302080173
Download: ML20070T050 (8)

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA -

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD e

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In the Matter of j g I 5 APPLICATION OF TEXAS UTILITIES Docket Nos. 50-445 GENERATING COMPANY, ET AL. FOR I and 50-446 I

AN OPERATING LICENSE FOR I

COMANCHE PEAK STEAM ELECTRIC STATION UNITS #1 AND #2 (CPSES) g AFFIDAVIT OF ROBERT L. MESSERLY 1 Q: Please state your name and address for the record.

2 A: My name is Robert L. Messerly. My address is Route 10, Box 619C,

,,,_3 Fort Worth, Texas 76135. ,

4 Q: Please tell us a little about your background at Comanche Peak plant.

5 A: I worked for Brown & Root at Comanche Peak for almost five years. I 6 It would fiave been five years in February 1983. I started out in cable tray 7 hangers. I worked for four years as a supervisor in pipe hangers, until June 8 of 1982. I was foreman and supervisor over all of the area between 860 and 905 9 elevation, which includes all the main steam in the Unit 1 containment building.

10 In June of 1982 I was busted back, supposedly for absenteism but I believe for allegedly A o ,

11 pooking ribs in a' weld rod can. _

(I wasn't.) About the end of November 1982, I .

12 was, contacted by Antonio Vega about the waste of materials, and ordering of equip-13 ment for drilling through rebar and concrete and gifts received by me and others 14 for ordering all the equipment for drilling through the rebar and concrete. I was .

15 told by him that I should turn over the documentation.which I told him I had 16 on the holes I had drilled in rebar and concrete without having documentation and 8302080173 830203 PDR ADOCK 05000445 O PDR

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1 authorization to Ron Tolson. I asked Mr. Vega if I was going to have a job 4 .

y 2 Monday morning; he said, oh yeah, yeah, no problem, no problem, nobody's going i 3 to know about this. And a week later I was fired, on December 7,1982. A welder : ,

4 and I were over in the containment building delivering a tool that we had borrowed, 5 and we were fired for leaving our work area two minutes before the first whistle

, 6 blew.

7 Q: Tell us about the drilling through the rebar you mentioned.

8 A: You know the article that came out in the paper about rebar drilling i

i 9 and all that?

10 Q: The article from the FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM dated 1/7/83 titled 11 " Cover-up at Comanche Peak is charged" which I've shown you as being CASE Attach-12 ment 9 to CASE's 1/11/83 Written Argument on Issues?

13 A: Yes, that's the article. Well, I'm the one that started the rebar 14 drilling. I'm the one that ordered the material to get it, and I'm the one 15 that broke Danny Grisso (who's mentioned in the articTe) in. He used to work 16 for me. I went to Hal Goodson, who was my inmediate supervisor and told him

, 17 that I wanted something besides what I had, that I didn't want to go to the

. 18 next Brown & Root job and say I knew how to drill holes through concrete and 19 rebar. And I got out of it.

,e I 20 Q: They were buying these -- what do they call them -- rebar eaters?

21_ A: Yes, from Drillco Manufacturing Company at their branch office in i

22 Miami, Florida. I told Mr. Vega that I had taken a trip to Miami, Florida,

, 23 watched the Dallas Cowboys play; that I took about $300 down there with me i

24 and came back with more money than I took; that me and my wife took an all-25 expense paid trip, were treated to the best meals and everything else by 1

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l 1 Drillco Manufacturing Co.; and that I had been sent $400 from them as a gift 2 or whatever you want to call it through Western Union. All this was because 3 I had ordered those parts from Drillco. I told him I also knew for a fact that 4 another man had received two motorcycles as a gift because he ordered Drillco 5 pa rts . And a week later I was out on the street.

6 Q: They're not supposed to use rebar eaters onsite?

7 A: Well, they are and they aren't. If they've got documentation and 8 authorization from engineers, it's all right to use them in certain parts of 9 the buildings. If there's no documentation for it, you're just not allowed 10 to use them, period, because it'll cut through anything. It's that type of 11 drill.

12 Q: But if they cut through any of the rebar in the wall, they're supposed 13 to be careful not to damage the rebar any more than they have to and they have 14 to get approval before they do it, is that right?

15 A: Right. You've got to have approval and you've got to have documentation 16 by engineering. And some of it was done without having any kind of documentation 17 or approval. -

18 Q: Did you do some of that too?

19 A: Yes, I'm the one that originated it. I'm the one that ordered it from 20 Miami. It was over $50,000 or so when I ordered the first order of equipment 21 through Hal Goodson.

22 Q: And he was aware of it and approved it?

23 A: He approved the ordering of it and what it did because it was like 90%

24 difference in that and Hilti bolt. What it amounted tio is Hilti organization 25 came in there with the same thing, but basically you had to drill more holes

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y 1 in the wall and you had to mount Hilti bolt drills to hold this particular appara-2 tus they had; and Drillco had a vacuum plate where all you had to do was plug 3 it in the wall.and hook it on the wall and drill it. In man hours, it saved 4 a lot of time, 5 Q: But were things done that weren't supposed to be done they way they 6 were done?

7 A: Well, that's sort of what it amounted to. I've got documentation for 8 the past ils years when I took it over, and later Danny Grisso was made foreman 9 over it.

10 Q: You've got doctanentation on that?

11 A: I've got about the holes that I've drilled and was ordered to drill 12 b ecause my job was on the line. I've got about a year-and-a-half of documenta-13 tion. It's like a-diary. I kept a daily log on what percent I cut out of the 14 rebar, when it was done, the date, and everything else. And what I was told 15 by general foremen and three stripers (which are next to a gold hat, which is 16 a superior general foreman); I was tc,ld to do it or go out the gate. And this 17 is the documentation I was told to turn in to Ron Tolson.

18 Q: Did you turn it over to him?

19 A: No, I did not. I still have all the documentation.

20 Q: You said you know Danny Grisso, who was mentioned in the newspaper 21 article? -

22 A: Yes, and I also know J. R. Dillingham, who was also mentioned in 23 the ar'ticle.

24 Q: 50 what.was, said.in the article about holes being drilled through the 25 concrete and rebar is true?

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p 1 A: Yes. Also, I was ordered on several occasions to loan out my rebar 2 eater to other people. I can't swear what they did with it, but they could 3 have used it to drill holes in the concrete and rebar without anyone knowing 4 or authorizing it and without documentation.

5 Q: You said you also worked in the Unit 1 containnent on the main steam 6 line? ,

7 A: Yes. The things I've seen dcne and the things I've done under orders 8 is ridiculous. I watched a gold hat pull a main steam pipe with the polar crane 9 about six inches or so to force it into position because it didn't fit. I 10 saw him put several tons of pressure on it to move the pipe. This was a 32-11 inch main steam line. I had to remove all my temporary pipe hangers for him 12 to pull it up to six inches, and then I was told to put my pipe hangers back 13 on in order to hold it.

14 Q: Was this the main polar crane, the one that they use to refuel?

15 A: Right. I've been in steel fabrication all my life. I'm 43 years old.

16 I'm no young pup. I'm not an engineer, but I know if phat pipe ever gets in 17 a bind and comes loose, it's going to be like a rubber band that's held taut.

18 The hangers aren't going to do a bit of good.

19 I put in about 90% of the feedwater hangers, which is for your main lines 20 for flooding in case of an accident. I put them in and had to take every ,one ,

21 of them out because they were underdesigned. And you're talking about a year 22 or two of work. I had a crew of 8 to 14 people, and this was my job. I had 23 basically all of the main steam and all of the feedwater. This was after I 24 got through with the rebar drilling. ,

25 Q: We've just shown you a copy of NRC Form 3, Notice to Employees.

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1 Do you recall ever having seen that posted at Comanche Peak?

t 2 A: No, I don't. You've got bulletin boards in front of the main tool 3 room, one on the turbine deck, and one in the Administration Building. I had 4 access as a Foreman to all of them, and I don't remember ever seeing it.

5 I don't know what can be done about the waste, the materials, and 6 the back-stabbing that goes on at Comanche Peak. There are $100 plus per 7 Hilti bolt that are scrapped daily by the skip pan full. There's wood, lumber, 8 steel, and what it's costing the taxpayers, it's ungodly. There's no reason 9 for it. It's ridiculous, it's the misfits, it's the supervision you've got 10 out there. For instance, the general foreman on nights built a gold hat a 11 sun deck or porch on his house. I tried to fire this man three times but I p 12 couldn't do it; they wouldn't let me do it because he'd been out there five 13 or six years, and he was a good ole boy. I tried to fire him three times for 14 inadequate work. He could not handle his position. And here they were paying i 15 him $14 or more an hour. Now this man is a general foreman, underneath a gold 16 hat, in charge of pipe hangers on nights. The man is unqualified, incompetent, 17 can't do his work. He's cut holes in hangers where if there were any kind of 18 vibration the hanger would fall off the wall; he used a cutting torch, and l 19 you're not allowed to use a cutting torch on any kind of material out + Sere 20 on a pipe hanger unless it is done in the Fab Shop .under QA supervision.

21 Well, he cut holes in them so that sometimes he couldn't even figure out his 22 holes, he couldn't figure out the tolerances or anything. And this man is now 23 a general foreman on nights on big bore pipe hangers.

24 I can tell you lots of things. I was a supervisor for four years out 25 there. Let me just give you a general perception of 'whats going on there.

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l 1 I've,been in steel work all my life -- I've been a fabricator, I've supervised 2 a shop, and the whole bit. You've got people out there who do rebar tying.

3 You've got two pieces of steel to tie together with a piece of wire. This is 4 rebar people, all right? All they've got to do is to go up there and tie 5 the rebar, and pour the concrete around it. It's all a hidden object, right?

6 This entire rebar organization and building department has come into pipe hangers.

7 The entire rebar staff out there is a kind of clique, and they went into the 8 hanger department. They suddenly became hanger geniuses. There's one man 9 out there right now who, three weeks before he was transferred from scaffold 10 and rebar said, " Man, I don't know how in the hell you read these blueprints 11 -- I don't know how in the hell you can make these things (pipe hangers)."

12 ' And as God is my witness, three weeks later this man was a General Foreman over 13 pipe hangers. He was-a general foreman next to a gold hat over pipe hangers.

14 He suddenly knew all about pipe hangers. He suddenly knew all about steel.

15 And here was a man that has done nothing but concrete and rebar all his life.

16 But all of a sudden he is a steel genius because he is in the clique, because 17 he belongs to the building department out there, because he is one of Billy 18 Ward's little boys.

19 There's jokes floating all over that plant where they show a pipe hanger 20 tied together with wire or nailed together with wood because of the carpenters 21 and rebar hands that came over into pipe hangers. They're coming over as foremen, 22 they're coming over as General Foremen and they're coming over as gold hats 23 (superi ntendents) . And all of a sudden they know everything about pipe hangers 24 and about steel.

25 I'm just fed up with it, cause I've got to five here. I was here before

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'/ 1 they came. I'll testify in the hearings, I'll talk to anyone who can see that 2 something's done about this. I'm not sure that Comanche Peak is safe.

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Robert L. Messerl h 5

Date: 2/3/83 wh , 01 : ~

3 7 ,/ Witness 8

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9 STATE OF TEXAS -

10 On this, the 3rd day of February,1983, personally appeared Robert L. 'Messerly, 11 known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the foregoing instru-12 ment, and acknowledged to me that he executed the same for the purposes therein 13 expressed. ,,

la Subscribed and sworn before me on the 3rd day of February,1983.

16 Notary s

y Public in a e State of Texas 17 My commission expires: MJp/p,f-

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