Untrained Palisades security guards scapegoated by Entergy management for fire risk violations

As reported by Cody Comb's of WWMT-TV 3's I-Team, who originally broke the story of fire risk violations at Entergy Nuclear's Palisades atomic reactor earlier this month, based on whistle-blower revelations, additional whistle-blowers have revealed they are being scapegoated by management that didn't even see fit to train them properly in the first place.

A key question -- will the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) yet again be complicit with Entergy, by effectively taking part in that scapegoating?

WWMT quoted a Palisades security guard who has been placed on administrative paid leave:

"I'm on paid leave right now, and I have been for almost a month," said one of the plant workers, agreeing to speak with Newschannel 3's I-Team on the condition of anonymity.

"Now the company [Entergy] lawyer is asking us questions, saying the NRC will be speaking with us…and that we could be criminally liable," the worker added...

"The training department never once trained us on fire tours," the officer said. "Security used to have a fire brigade that had a certain number of security members on shift, but when Entergy bought the plant they got rid of that…there's a whole fire brigade staff at that plant right now that have never trained anybody on how to do the fire tours."

Also as reported by Combs:

According to a source with knowledge of previous Palisades labor issues and investigations...the supervisors at the plant who signed off on the [falsified] paperwork were not placed on leave during the investigation, adding concern about the seriousness of the investigation.

"There's a significant lack of leadership in the security area there, that's for sure," said the source.

WWMT also quoted Beyond Nuclear:

Beyond Nuclear, a group known for its opposition to nuclear energy, is not mincing words about the current Palisades investigation.

"Fire itself is 50% of the risk in terms of a meltdown," said Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste watchdog for Beyond Nuclear. "It's as much of a risk as all the other risks put together, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and accidents."

Kamps said he is also concerned about the Palisades track record, referencing several incidents in the [45] year old plant's recent history.

"We have such collusion at Palisades, in large measure we've got the NRC covering up for Entergy (owner of the plant), and the NRC has allowed for fire risks to go unaddressed for decades now."

The collusion to which Kamps referred was that at Fukushima Daiichi, which the Japanese Parliament, after a year-long investigation, concluded was the root cause of the nuclear catastrophe. Collusion between nuclear safety regulatory agency, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and government officials is what led to the vulnerability of the three reactors to the natural disasters that wrecked them on 3/11/11, resulting in the triple meltdown, and catastrophic releases of hazardous releases of radioactivity. 

Such collusion exists in spades at Palisades, between NRC, Entergy, and the likes of U.S. Representative Fred Upton (R-MI). Upton chairs the powerful U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee, with jurisdiction over nuclear safety. Palisades is in his congressional district. But Entergy, a major campaign contributor, can do no wrong in Upton's view.

Update on July 20, 2016 by admin

The WWMT-TV 3 update generated numerous additional news coverage at other media outlets, including: the St. Joe-Benton Harbor Herald-Palladium newspaper (the article quotes Beyond Nuclear); WZZM TV-13; WKZO radio; and AP.

Update on July 25, 2016 by admin

S&P Global/Platts Inside NRC (Volume 38/Number 15/July 25, 2016) senior editor, Jim Ostroff, also reported on this story. In an article entitled "Twenty-two Palisades guards on leave in NRC fire tour investigation," he quoted Beyond Nuclear:

Kevin Kamps, whose title is radioactive waste watchdog at the anti-nuclear group Beyond Nuclear, said in a July 21 interview that “the big question is whether there are sufficient guards left [at Palisades] to provide sufficient security” following Entergy’s assignment of 22 guards to paid leave status.

In addition, Kamps said “there should be concern” that the company is complying with NRC fitness for duty programs under regulations at 10 CFR Part 26 “by having remaining security guards sign waivers so they can work 75 hours a week.” Kamps attributed that information to local television news reports* that he said were based on interviews with security personnel placed on paid leave...

The NRC fitness for duty regulation stipulates nuclear power plant personnel can work “72 work hours in any 7-day period.” It also provides: “To the extent practicable, licensees shall rely on the granting of waivers only to address circumstances that could not have been reasonably controlled.”

Kamps said in a July 14 statement on the Palisades matter that “[i]f an undetected fire were to spread to safety-significant systems, structures, or components, a reactor meltdown or high-level radioactive waste storage pool fire could result.”

Kamps said: “This could result in a catastrophic release of hazardous radioactivity, killing and injuring countless thousands downwind out to great distances, ruining the Great Lakes drinking water supply for 40 million people downstream in two countries, and causing over $100 billion in property damage.”

(The article is copyrighted, so cannot be posted in its entirety here.)

*Actually, the source for the information was not the WWMT-TV 3 reports, but rather a reliable, anonymous source who spoke to Beyond Nuclear on background. The source has followed issues of security, whistleblowers, regulatory violations, etc. at Palisades for many years.

Beyond Nuclear Backgrounder re: fire & security risks at Palisades in light of WWMT's “Security workers placed on leave at [Entergy's Palisades] nuclear plant”

Entergy Nuclear's Palisades atomic reactor in Covert, MI, located on the Lake Michigan shoreline four miles south of South HavenKalamazoo, MI’s (35 miles downwind of Palisades; see a photo of the reactor, left) WWMT TV-3 on July 8, 2016’s evening news broadcast aired a story entitled “Security workers placed on leave at [Entergy’s Palisades] nuclear plant.” The video, and transcript, is posted online at: http://wwmt.com/news/i-team/security-workers-placed-on-leave-at-nuclear-plant.

Regarding the revelation that Entergy Nuclear had placed security guards on paid administrative leave for “fire inspection anomalies,” and Entergy’s claim that not only security -- but also fire protection -- duties are being adequately covered by “strong interim actions,” WWMT’s ITEAM investigative reporter, Cody Combs, reported:

But over at Beyond Nuclear, a group critical of the Palisades plant, Kevin Kamps is skeptical, especially with so few details from Palisades.

“So the questions that are raised are, did security guards pretend to make their rounds and not really do it, and just fill out the paperwork like they had?” he asked.

The 45-year-old plant is no stranger to security investigations and violations. Kamps says both Palisades and the NRC need to be more forthcoming.

“There have been some major incidents at Palisades, that the NRC, to be frank, was complicit in helping to cover up,” Kamps said.

In response to the news story, on July 9th Beyond Nuclear prepared a backgrounder, to provide significant additional context, information, and documentation. See the PDF version, as well as the Word version (with live URL links to additional documentation).

Then, on July 14th, Beyond Nuclear prepared a supplementary backgrounder, entitled BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE ON NUCLEAR REGULATIONS! Palisades: Lessons NOT Learned from Entergy’s Prior Fire Safety and Security Violations. It includes a section entitled REVELATIONS FROM SIMILAR PRIOR VIOLATIONS AT ENTERGY’S WATERFORD NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN LOUISIANA COULD SHED LIGHT ON CURRENT VIOLATIONS AT PALISADES. See the PDF version, as well as the Word version (with live URL links to additional documentation).

Beyond Nuclear issued a press release about the supplemental backgrounder, and significant updates learned in recent days, such as: 22 Palisades security guards have been relieved of their duties; the remainder of the security guard force are being pressured to sign waivers, and then to work 75 hour work-weeks, in violation of NRC's standard fatigue rule limits; and the FBI has joined NRC's Office of Investigations on site to look into the violations.

Update on July 9, 2016 by admin

WHTC's Gary Stevens has reported, in an article entitled "Beyond Nuclear Wants Answers in Latest Palisades Probe":

The most outspoken opponent of the Palisades nuclear power plant wants answers.

Following a report by WWMT-TV on Friday of an investigation over several security officers at the Covert facility being placed on administrative leave, the group Beyond Nuclear on Saturday sent a “backgrounder” to media outlets that provides “significant additional context, information and documentation” about “current and long-standing security and fire risks at Palisades.”

Lead spokesman Kevin Kamps added in a statement that, “Beyond Nuclear also plans to file a Freedom of Information Act request at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission as soon as possible regarding this matter, in order to make the NRC investigations into 'fire inspection anomalies' … at Palisades accessible and transparent to the concerned public.”

Update on July 12, 2016 by admin

NBC 5 Investigates has reported on this story, quoting Beyond Nuclear:

Nuclear watchdog group Beyond Nuclear said the developments raise deep concerns about security and fire risks at the aging atomic reactor.

“If an undetected fire were to spread to safety-significant systems, structures, or components, a reactor meltdown or high-level radioactive waste storage pool fire could result,” said Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear.

Kamps also raises questions about why security guards are burdened with the added responsibility of making fire watch rounds in the first place.

Update on July 15, 2016 by admin

Diane Turco, a watchdog on Entergy's problem-plagued Pilgrim atomic reactor in Plymouth, MA, alerted Beyond Nuclear to yet another instance of the nationwide rash of Entergy Nuclear fire watch tour violations. She forwarded an April 12, 2016 news article by Christine Legere in the Cap Cod Times, entitled "No Penalty for Pilgrim for 2 Years of Falsified Fire Watches: Critics say federal agency continues to overlook safety problems."

A security guard at Pilgrim skipped his fire watch tours over a two year period, covering his tracks with falsified paperwork.

Yet again, NRC decided to not even fine Entergy over the violations. (Turco also alerted Beyond Nuclear to New Orleans Times-Picayune coverage, by Littice Bacon-Blood, re: NRC's decision to not fine or penalize Entergy for the similar willful violations at Waterford. Ironically enough, both NRC decisions to let Entergy off the hook -- at Pilgrim and Waterford -- took place within the same week.)

The Cape Cod Times article reports:

David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, criticized the NRC’s decision.

“I remember having an overdue library book and having to pay a nickel,” he said. “Entergy didn’t even have to pay that much.”

Local Pilgrim watchdog Diane Turco said the decision showed why the plant should be closed immediately. “The appalling lack of safety culture at Entergy coupled with the NRC's 'roll over and play dead' response to ongoing violations of their own regulations is a nuclear disaster in the making,” Turco wrote in an email. “There is no public trust in the NRC."

Regarding a warning by NRC to Entergy that any future such violations could result in a fine, Lochbaum added: 

Lochbaum said he would be surprised if that happened. “There have been a lot of fire watch falsifications; it seems to be a recurring problem,” he said of the nation’s fleet of nuclear plants. “The NRC doesn’t seem to care. I can’t recall anybody who they fined over it.” (emphasis added)

Update on July 15, 2016 by admin

Ironically enough, Entergy Pilgrim's fire protection woes continued even after the 2012-2014 fire watch tour falsifications. In October 2015, Christine Legere reported at Cape Cod Online that Entergy Pilgrim has instituted a fire watch in the control room -- nearly a quarter-century after NRC had ordered it! Of course, given the fire watch falsifications, someone had better be watching the watchers. NRC has shown that once every quarter-century or so, it can be counted on to catch lapses in fire protection at Fukushima Daiichi twin designs (Pilgrim is a General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactor, identical to the three reactors that melted down in Japan in March 2011).

Thanks to David Agnew with Cape Downwinders for alerting Beyond Nuclear to that news article linked immediately above!

Agnew also alerted us to this Feb. 2016 article by Legene in Cape Cod Times, which reported on Entergy's firing of the security guard who had skipped fire watch tours 200 times between 2012 to 2014.

As reported by Legere:

Entergy could be hit with a civil fine for the infractions — up to $140,000 per day per violation — but that probably won’t happen, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said. “We don’t believe at this point it will result in a civil penalty,” he said.

In fact, it did not happen. Which may very well have contributed to similar violations at Entergy Palisades in Michigan, as late as mid-2016. Nuclear utilities, and their employees, have learned from repeated instances of NRC not enforcing safety regulations, that most misbehavior at atomic reactors is never brought to account.

Legere's article reported:

One Pilgrim watchdog says the security officer’s actions made for a dangerous situation. “Fire represents about 50 percent of the core meltdown risk at the typical US reactor — and that’s assuming plants comply with safety regulations,” said Mary Lampert, president of the citizens group, Pilgrim Watch. “The risk only goes up as reactors operate outside those safety protocols. Pilgrim’s fire watchman failed to do fire watches 200 times; management failed to keep watch over the watchman 200 times, leaving us at high risk.”