Nuclear whistleblowers: Difference between revisions
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There have been a number of '''nuclear power whistleblowers''', often nuclear engineers, who have identified safety concerns at [[nuclear power plant]]s. In 1976 [[Gregory Minor]], Richard Hubbard, and Dale Bridenbaugh "blew the whistle" on safety problems at [[nuclear power plant]]s in the United States. The three nuclear engineers gained the attention of journalists and their disclosures about the threats of [[nuclear power]] had a significant impact. [[George Galatis]] was a senior nuclear engineer who reported safety problems at the [[Millstone Nuclear Power Plant|Millstone 1 Nuclear Power Plant]], relating to reactor refueling procedures, in 1996.<ref name=Time_article>Eric Pooley. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984206-1,00.html Nuclear Warriors] ''Time Magazine'', March 4, 1996.</ref> Other nuclear power whistleblowers include [[Arnold Gundersen]] and [[David Lochbaum]]. Some nuclear power plant workers may have to decide whether to blow the whistle on their employer's [[nuclear safety]] practices or to be silent out of fear of losing their jobs. |
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==Karen Silkwood== |
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The first prominent nuclear power whistleblower was [[Karen Silkwood]], who worked as a chemical technician at a [[Kerr-McGee]] nuclear plant. Silkwood became an activist in the [[Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union]] in order to protest health and safety issues. In 1974, she testified to the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] about her concerns. A few months later she [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/interact/silkwood.html died in a car crash under mysterious conditions] on the way to a meeting with a ''[[New York Times]]'' reporter and a national union leader. The 1983 film ''[[Silkwood]]'' is an account of this story. |
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==The "GE Three"== |
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On February 2, 1976, [[Gregory Minor|Gregory C. Minor]], Richard B. Hubbard, and Dale G. Bridenbaugh (known as the [[GE Three]]) "blew the whistle" on safety problems at [[nuclear power plant]]s, and their action has been called "an exemplary instance of [[whistleblowing]]".<ref name=nuke>[http://ethics.iit.edu/career/ Whistleblower on Nuclear Plant Safety]</ref> |
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The three engineers gained the attention of journalists and their disclosures about the threats of nuclear power had a significant impact. They timed their statements to coincide with their resignations from responsible positions in [[General Electric]]'s nuclear energy division, and later established themselves as consultants on the nuclear power industry for state governments, federal agencies, and overseas governments. The consulting firm they formed, MHB Technical Associates, was technical advisor for the movie, "[[The China Syndrome]]." The three engineers participated in Congressional hearings which their disclosures precipitated.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,918045,00.html The San Jose Three]</ref><ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879643,00.html The Struggle over Nuclear Power]</ref> |
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A book chapter which discusses the whistleblowing, written by Vivian Weil, was published in 1983 as "The Browns Ferry Case" in ''Engineering Professionalism and Ethics'', edited by James H. Schaub and Karl Pavlovic, and published by [[John Wiley & Sons]].<ref name=nuke/> |
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==Ronald Goldstein== |
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Ronald J. Goldstein was a supervisor employed by [[Electric Bond and Share Company|EBASCO]], which was a major contractor for the construction of the South Texas plants. In the summer of 1985, Goldstein identified safety problems to SAFETEAM, an internal compliance program established by EBASCO and Houston Lighting, including noncompliance with safety procedures, the failure to issue safety compliance reports, and quality control violations affecting the safety of the plant. |
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SAFETEAM was promoted as an independent safe haven for employees to voice their safety concerns. The two companies did not inform their employees that they did not believe complaints reported to SAFETEAM had any legal protection. After he filed his report to SAFETEAM, Goldstein was fired. Subsequently, Golstein filed suit under federal nuclear whistleblower statutes. |
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The U.S. [[United States Department of Labor|Department of Labor]] ruled that his submissions to SAFETEAM were protected and his dismissal was invalid, a finding upheld by Labor Secretary [[Lynn Morley Martin|Lynn Martin]]. The ruling was appealed and overturned by the [[Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals]], which ruled that private programs offered no protection to whistleblowers. After Goldstein lost his case, Congress amended the federal nuclear whistleblower law to provide protection reports made to internal systems and prevent retaliation against whistleblowers.<ref name="Whistleblower's Handbook">{{cite book|last=Kohn|first=Stephen Martin|title=The Whistleblower's Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What's Right and Protecting Yourself|year=2011|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|location=Guilford, CT|isbn=9780762774791|pages=116-18}}</ref> |
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==Arnold Gundersen== |
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In 1990 [[Arnold Gundersen]] discovered radioactive material in an accounting safe at [[Nuclear Energy Services]] in Danbury, the consulting firm where he held a $120,000-a-year job as senior vice president.<ref name=gunder/> Three weeks after he notified the company president of what he believed to be radiation safety violations, Gundersen was fired. According to the ''[[New York Times]]'', for three years, Gundersen "was awakened by harassing phone calls in the middle of the night" and he "became concerned about his family's safety". Gundersen believes he was blacklisted, harassed and fired for doing what he thought was right.<ref name=gunder>{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/12/nyregion/paying-the-price-for-blowing-the-whistle.html |title=Paying The Price For Blowing The Whistle |author=Julie Miller |date=February 12, 1995 |work=The New York Times }}</ref> |
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[[The New York Times]] reports that Gundersen's case is not uncommon, especially in the nuclear industry. Even though nuclear workers are encouraged to report potential safety hazards, those who do risk demotion and dismissal. Instead of correcting the problems, whistleblowers say, industry management and government agencies attack them as the cause of the problem. Driven out of their jobs and shunned by neighbors and co-workers, whistleblowers often turn to each other for support.<ref name=gunder/> |
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==David Lochbaum== |
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In the early 1990s, nuclear engineer [[David Lochbaum]] and a colleague identified a safety problem in a plant where they were working, but were ignored when they raised the issue with the plant manager, the utility and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). After bringing their concerns to Congress, the problem was corrected not just at the original nuclear plant but at plants across the country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ecocentricblog.org/2011/06/30/our-hero-david-lochbaum-of-the-union-of-concerned-scientists/ |title=Our Hero: David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists |author= Kyle Rabin |date=06.30.2011 |work=Ecocentric }}</ref> |
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==George Galatis== |
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[[George Galatis]] was a senior nuclear engineer and [[whistleblower]] who reported safety problems at the [[Millstone Nuclear Power Plant|Millstone 1 Nuclear Power Plant]], relating to reactor refueling procedures, in 1996.<ref name=Time_article>Eric Pooley. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984206-1,00.html Nuclear Warriors] ''Time Magazine'', March 4, 1996.</ref><ref name=book>William H. Shaw. [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=m7FpySz2udUC&pg=PA267&lpg=PA267&dq=%22george+galatis%22+nuclear&source=web&ots=rMKPYeC0tR&sig=mYS9VkdfgdAf4XniNshGtJcKRvg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA268,M1 ''Business Ethics''] 2004, pp. 267-268.</ref> The unsafe procedures meant that spent fuel rod pools at Unit 1 had the potential to boil, possibly releasing [[radioactive]] steam throughout the plant.<ref>Adam Bowles. [http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/october2/9.66.html A Cry in the Nuclear Wilderness] ''Christianity Today'', October 2, 2000.</ref> Galatis eventually took his concerns to the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]], to find that they had "known about the unsafe procedures for years". As a result of going to the NRC, Galatis experienced "subtle forms of harassment, retaliation, and intimidation".<ref name=book/> |
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==Rainer Moormann== |
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[[Rainer Moormann]] is a German chemist and nuclear power whistleblower. Since 1976 he has been working at the [[Forschungszentrum Jülich]], doing research on safety problems with [[pebble bed reactor]]s, [[fusion power]] and [[Neutron source|spallation neutron sources]]. In 2008 Moormann published a critical paper on the safety of pebble bed reactors,<ref>http://juwel.fz-juelich.de:8080/dspace/bitstream/2128/3136/1/Juel_4275_Moormann.pdf</ref><ref>http://juwel.fz-juelich.de:8080/dspace/bitstream/2128/3585/1/Moormann-Juwel.pdf</ref> which raised attention among specialists in the field, and managed to distribute it via the media, facing considerable opposition. For doing this despite the occupational disadvantages he had to accept as a consequence, Moormann was awarded the whistleblower award of the [[Federation of German Scientists (VDW)]]<ref>[http://www.vdw-ev.de/images/stories/vdwdokumente/aktuelles/whistleblowerpreis%202011%20begrndung%20kurz.pdf Press statement of the VWD (in German)], official short version in English: http://ialana.net/uploads/media/Program_Whistleblower_Award_2011.pdf, inofficial English translation of the press release: https://euzicasa.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/presentation-of-whistleblower-award-2011_via-hintergrund/</ref> and of the German section of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA). |
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==Setsuo Fujiwara== |
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Setsuo Fujiwara, who used to design reactors, said he clashed with supervisors over an inspection audit he conducted in March 2009 at the Tomari nuclear plant in Japan. Fujiwara refused to approve a routine test by the plant's operator, Hokkaido Electric Power, saying the test was flawed. A week later, he was summoned by his supervisor, who ordered him to ''correct'' his written report to indicate that the test had been done properly. After Fujiwara refused, his employment contract was not renewed. "They told me my job was just to approve reactors, not to raise doubts about them", said Fujiwara, 62, who is now suing the nuclear safety organization to get rehired. In a written response to questions from ''The New York Times'', the agency said it could not comment while the court case was under way.<ref>{{cite web |title=Warnings on Fukushima ignored, insiders say; They attribute failure to cozy ties between government and industry |author= |date=03/11/2012 |work=Power Engineering }}</ref> |
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==Larry Criscione and Richard H. Perkins== |
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In 2012, Larry Criscione and Richard H. Perkins publicly accused the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission of downplaying flood risks for nuclear plants which are sited on waterways downstream from large reservoirs and dams.They are engineers with over 20 years of combined government and military service who work for the NRC. Other nuclear safety advocates have supported their complaints.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/nuclear-power-whistleblowers_n_2232108.html |title=Nuclear Power Whistleblowers Charge Federal Regulators With Favoring Secrecy Over Safety |author=Tom Zeller Jr. |date=12/04/2012 |work=Huff Post Green }}</ref> |
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==Recent trends== |
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A major expansion of nuclear power could lead to "pressure to build and operate nuclear plants faster and cheaper".<ref name=law/> Lessons from history tell us that these pressures will most likely lead to a "schedule over safety" culture at some plants, and nuclear workers may be pressured to "cut corners and overlook safety problems in the interest of getting and keeping plants online and profits flowing to shareholders".<ref name=law>{{cite web |url=http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticlePrinterFriendlyNLJ.jsp?id=1202430740246 |title=Protect nuclear whistleblowers |author=Nicole J. Williams and Debra Katz |date=May 18, 2009 |work=The National Law Journal }}</ref> |
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Nuclear power plant workers may have to decide whether and how vigorously to blow the whistle on their employer's nuclear safety practices or to be silent out of fear of losing their jobs. It has been argued that these workers, who have a legal duty to report nuclear safety concerns, need to be aware of their legal rights and that nuclear power plants adhere to zero-tolerance policies that prohibit harassment and intimidation made unlawful by the [[Energy Reorganization Act of 1974]].<ref name=law/> |
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Workers at the [[San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station|San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant]] fear retaliation and possible job loss if they report a safety concern, according to a 2010 survey of workers conducted by a [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] inspector.<ref>[http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_e7fc5777-675d-5f7a-a90c-81709ffffb82.html NRC says 'fear of retaliation' lingers at nuke plant] ''North County Times'', March 02, 2010.</ref> |
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==See also== |
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*[[Nuclear accidents in the United States]] |
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*[[Nuclear safety in the United States]] |
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*[[Anti-nuclear movement in the United States]] |
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*[[Gerald W. Brown]] |
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*[[David A. Schlissel]] |
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*[[Karen Silkwood]] |
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==References== |
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<references/> |
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==External links== |
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*[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912399,00.html Watching the Watchdogs] |
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*[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEED7173CF93AA15756C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print A Nuclear Plant Gets New Equipment and a New Attitude] |
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*[http://www.whistleblower.org/ Government Accountability Project Whistleblower protection Org.] |
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{{Nuclear whistleblowers}} |
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[[Category:Whistleblowers| Nuclear]] |
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[[Category:People associated with nuclear power]] |
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[[Category:Nuclear safety| Whistle]] |
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Latest revision as of 21:49, 21 July 2016
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