ML20091G904

Forwards Affidavit Containing Allegations Re Facility. Affidavit Given to NRC by T Devine,Govt Accountability Project,During 830208 Public Meeting.Affidavit Entered Into NRC Allegation Tracking Sys

ML20091G904
Person / Time
Site:	Midland
Issue date:	02/09/1983
From:	Sniezek J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE)
To:	Fitzgerald J NRC OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS (OI)
Shared Package
ML17198A223	List: IR 05000329/1983008 ML20090A052 ML20090A064 ML20090A067 ML20090A071 ML20090A076 ML20090A080 ML20090A090 ML20090A103 ML20090A106 ML20090A110 ML20090A367 ML20090A377 ML20090A397 ML20090A403 ML20090A447 ML20090A451 ML20090A456 ML20090A465 ML20090A481 ML20090A487 ML20090A491 ML20090A500 ML20090A504 ML20090A514 ML20090A517 ML20090A543 ML20090A547 ML20090A559 ML20090A590 ML20090A594 ML20090A600 ML20090A613 ML20090A614 ML20090A623 ML20090A626 ML20090A631 ML20090A637 ML20090A642 ML20090A656 ML20090A658 ML20090A673 ML20090A698 ML20090A703 ML20090A733 ML20090A741 ML20090A748 ML20090A751 ML20090A758 ML20090A762 ... further results
References
CON-BOX-09, CON-BOX-9, FOIA-84-96 NUDOCS 8406040402
Download: ML20091G904 (4)

Text

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UNITED STATES y ) 3.m 3 i NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION s

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NOTE T0: Jim Fitzgerald, 0I U'

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FROM:

Jim Sniezek, IE

SUBJECT:

AFFIDAVIT CONTAINING ALLEGATION REGARDING MIDLAND Enclosed for appropriate action is an affidavit containing allegations regarding the Midland facility. The affidavit was given to the NRC by Mr. Thomas Devine (GAP) during ti:o public meeting conducted in Midland on February 8, 1983. The affidavit has been entered into the NRC Allegation Tracking. System.

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J. G. Keppler, RIII E. F. Fox, IE I

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AFFIDAVIT g

4 My name is Richard Letherer. I am submitting this affidavit freely and voluntarily, without any threats, inducements or coercion, to Mr. Thomas Devine, who has identitled himself to me as the legal director of the Government Accountability Project (GAP) of the i

Institute for Policy Studies. This statement evidences yny concerns over collusion between t-the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NBC) and the.Bechtel Corporation at the Midland Nuclear Power Plant in Midland, Michigan; as well as unquallfled Bechtel engineers and quality control (QC) personnel, mismanagement that has caused delays and compromised quality work, gross waste in the construe on of the plant, and intoxication among the workforce.

4 I am a pipefitter in Local 85 of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the U.S. and Canada. I have served my union

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as local president and as a union

• steward.

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I have worked at Midland 'as a pipefitter on and off for 3.5 years total since February 1978. Originally I worked for Power Systems Inc. Since April 1978, however, my work at Midland has been for the Bechtel Corporation. I am still employed on-site. I have 27 years of experience as a plumber and pipefitter, including 15 years as a foreman at various jobs. Among other jobs, I have worked on a local hospital, bank, apartment building, iron foundry, high school and the Dow chemical plant, For years the NRC has been colluding with Bechtel by providing warnings of exactly j

where and when tne NRC would conduct its hardware inspections. This was a routine pro-4 cedure and I cannot remember a single instance during my time at Midland where we have not been warned in advance of where and when the NRC would be'looking. I know, because i

I' Bechtel supervisors told me. They would come to the field to make sure that specific pieces could pass inspection and ignore everything else around the targeted hardware.

As a result, the government inspection reports do not provide a representative description of the plant's condition.

The most recent example of which I am aware occurred during the second or third l

week of January.1983 A Bechtel superintendent, Ted Jennings,' started climbing around d(#/

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3 Affidavit of Richard Letnerer Page 2

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the hardware system for the turbine in the 634-foot elevation of Unit 1. Jennings stepped l

on a particular duct. Since a union man had been fired for stepping on the same duct, one of my co-workers asked Jennings what he was doing in the area. He replied that this was where the NRC was going to inspect.

I can understand why Bechtel needed the advance warnings. There was a severe problem with the qualifications for certain of its quality control inspectors and engineers.

QC inspectors told me that they had never done that type of work before. They were hired i-from the secretarial pools, or off the streets. There was a similar problem with unquallfled 1

i engineers. For instance, one engineer could not accept that anything was wrong when I i

showed him that a blueprint required piping to run through a doorway.

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j In my opinion, the lack of qualified personnel constituted mismanagement and compromised the quality of work. Another example involved Bechtel's pattern of reassigning.

workers, and particularly generat foremen and supervisors, before they completed their f

assignments. As a result, the experience and expertise of the previous employees were

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lost, and a new man had to be broken in. The excuse was that they were being trained. My question is -- for what? It was certainly not to complete what they started. Superintendenta hardly ever stayed in one spot for more than six months.

Several examples illustrate my point. One general foreman worked in the auxiliary I

building for over two years. Then'he was moved to the tools area. In another case, a j

l general foreman named Dan McHenry had worked in the evaporator building for over.a year and knew his job well. With six months left to go on the evaporator work, Mc Henry was moved to the containment. Another man who was completely ignorant of McHenry's evapo-rator building project came over from the auxiliary building to replace him. The new man

. had to start from scratch.

j The effect of the mismanagement was unnecessary rework and cost ' overruns, t

i Design and installation essentially were done on a trial-and-error basis.. The same work -

was done over and over. To illustrate, we would warn Bechtel management that pipes were in locations that would obstruct other hardware or did not have sufficient space to j

vibrate during operation, but they would ignore us and order them installed. Later the work would have to be done over, j Huge pipes were installed, ripped out and later rein-stalled three to four times in numerous places. The problem also applies to pumps,'such f.6 s

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• Affidavit of Richard Letherer Page 3.

3 as the s that circulate water at the 599-foot elevation. It applies to the plates on mala steam pipes that run from the evaporator to the evaporator building. It was obvious from the start that the four-inch plates were inadequate for the 42-inch pipes. Now they are ali being replaced.

This has led to a tremendous amount of unnecessary overtime. Overtime costs

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up to $35 per hour for Bechtel, which charges Consumers Power $45-50 per hour.

Sometimes the gross waste occurred from throwing out good materials or practically giving them away. For example, when the December 1982 layoffs occurred, six Hirschfield scrap metal truckloads a day carted off small bore piping and other metal such as unused i

hangers, tube steel and angle irons for over a week. Bechtel also sold expegive steel j

tubing to the workers for less than scrap metal prices.

When I first arrived, another problem on-site was intoxication through drinking and smoking marijuan on the job. You could get high just by breathing the air in some areas j of the plant. Al. ".;;h ! :!::::d up *e crer that ! :: pud:cd, I c

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( 1; g, lada.c I WM unio ^t AOM55ENrnrlV2, 1N7Dys cATr od DECRGhsbD con.s.02fedLf I have read the above three-page statement, and it is true, accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

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s 6ftICHARD LETHERER i

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Subscribed and Sworn To before me this Tx/ day of February,1983 RICHARD F. B2Z:I'NS:'.1 Notary Pdlic. Bcy Ccunty, u.ich.

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My Commis:icn Exp!:e Nck. 30,1Hf.

Notary Public d4 I

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