No Confidence in NRC: 100s of Citizen Groups Led by UCS' Lochbaum – Letter to Chairman and Commissioners
- September 15th, 2003
Chairman Nils J. Diaz
Commissioner Edward McGaffigan, Jr.
Commissioner Jeffrey S. Merrifield
SUBJECT: VOTES OF NO CONFIDENCE IN NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Dear Chairman and Commissioners:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) lists “improving public confidence” as one of its four strategic goals. Yet, Mrs. Patricia G. Norry, Deputy Executive Director for Management Services at the NRC, conceded to a group of us at the July 22nd meeting on public interfaces that the agency does not measure its progress against this goal, despite the goal having been established several years ago. The purpose of this letter is to make our views on this goal crystal clear to you:
WE LACK CONFIDENCE IN THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION.
The primary factors, in no particular order, for our votes of no confidence are:
- The Commission has held more “closed” meetings per the Sunshine Act regulation in the past three years than in the prior 15 years combined. The Commission cannot gain our confidence by hiding from us.
- The safety culture within the NRC is deplorable, as evidenced by recent surveys that report nearly half the NRC’s work force is reluctant to raise safety concerns and a third of those who voice safety concerns feel they have been retaliated against for it. The public cannot trust NRC management when so many NRC workers do not.
- The NRC recently revised its public meeting process to provide expanded opportunities for public attendees to ask questions or express concerns. But the agency has not backed up this initiative with ways for its staff to provide meaningful responses to public input. Public confidence is not improved when the NRC simply makes it easier for us to provide input that is then ignored.
- For most US nuclear power plants, the NRC makes but one appearance each year to meet with the public. The agenda for these “public” appearances is determined by the NRC and the plant owner. Members of the public cannot suggest items for the agenda and the NRC staff often refuses to discuss issues raised by the public that are not on the NRC/plant owner’s agenda. The NRC must engage us on safety matters of concern to us to warrant our confidence.
- During an NRC-sponsored workshop on public communications in December 1997, every public stakeholder in attendance, including several of the signatories to this letter, praised the agency for its Public Document Rooms (PDRs) and website. The NRC responded to that praise by stopping the flow of information to local PDRs, inflicting ADAMS on the world, and re-designing its website to make it virtually useless. The NRC cannot gain our confidence by using our praise for the agency to plan its next attacks on public participation.
- The public petition process, 10 CFR 2.206, continues to be a mockery of a meaningful way for the public to engage the agency regarding possible enforcement actions against the agency’ s licensees. This mockery will continue as long as the public lacks a formal appeal process, either within the NRC or outside it, for Director’ s Decisions. To have confidence in the NRC, we need the basic right of appeal decisions we feel are wrong, just as the nuclear industry currently has the right to appeal NRC decisions it feel is wrong..
- The NRC prepared an order to shut down the Davis-Besse nuclear plant for safety inspections, then shelved it. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act clearly indicate that the NRC knew at the time that it was violating four of the five criteria it had established for such safety decisions. The NRC cannot deliberately violate its own safety principles and gain our confidence.
- Following the tragic events of 09/11, the NRC revised security measures for nuclear facilities through a series of closed-door meetings with plant owners and trade group representatives. The NRC rebuffed every attempt by public stakeholders to engage in these important policy
discussions, even to the point where the agency refused to listen to our concerns. The NRC cannot ignore us and gain our confidence at the same time. - Following the tragic events of 09/11, the NRC removed considerable material from the public arena. Some of this material returned to the public arena after review, but much material remains in limbo awaiting the agency’ s final decision on where to draw the line on publicly available information. The reaction is understandable, but the NRC continues to proceed with ‘business as usual’ on licensing matters even though the public’ s ability to participate has been severely impaired. The NRC should have suspended all but emergency licensing actions until it finalized the post-09/11 line and returned material on the right side of the redrawn line to the public arena. The NRC could restore our confidence by distributing the 09/11 burden more
equitably between us and its licensees instead of placing the majority of the 09/11 burden on our shoulders. - In licensing proceedings since 09/11, intervenors, including several signatories to this letter, have contended that existing or proposed nuclear facilities lack proper protection against sabotage and acts of malice. The NRC has steadfastly dismissed these contentions on the grounds that such assertions are incredible. At the same time, the NRC restricts access to information and policy discussions based on the very real threat of sabotage and acts of malice. The NRC cannot gain our confidence by taking contradictory stances as needed to prevent public participation.
- Since June 1998 when the US Senate threatened to slash the agency’ s budget, the NRC put its primary focus on the business objectives of the nuclear industry instead of on public health and safety. The Davis-Besse debacle can be traced to this lost focus, given that the agency failed to ensure resident inspector staffing at Davis-Besse that conformed to even its lowered staffing requirements. The improper focus also delayed resolution of long-standing safety issues including steam generator tube integrity, fire protection, and pressurized water reactor containment sump reliability. The NRC cannot gain our confidence when its priority is financial safety instead of reactor safety.
- In July 1998, an NRC senior manager cancelled the agency’ s force-on-force testing program of nuclear power plant security even though the program had not yet examined every plant site and the testing to date had revealed serious deficiencies. The ensuing public outcry forced the agency to reinstate the testing program. The same NRC senior manager then zeroed out the budget for the NRC security tests, even though a plan to replace it with an industry selfassessment program had not been piloted. Very shortly after 09/11, the same NRC senior manager recommended that the Commission relax its security measures – even as the nation’ s commercial air fleet was grounded – because they were costing nuclear plant owners too much
money.* This NRC senior manager suffers from more than a security blind spot. After an NRC inspection at the D C Cook nuclear plant in Michigan revealed problems so serious that both reactors had to be immediately shut down in September 1997 for repairs, this senior manager went to the NRC manager responsible for the inspection program and the NRC staffer leading the D C Cook inspection team – not to congratulate them for their fine job of protecting public health and safety but to chastise them. Later, this NRC senior manager ordered the NRC staff, in writing, not to bother plant owners with more than a single set of questions about reactor safety issues. When Indian Point 2’ s owner provided inadequate answers to questions about steam generators in 1999, this edict prevented the NRC staff from following up to ascertain the true facts. They allowed the plant to operate past a December 31, 1999, deadline without the required steam generator inspections. Less than 60 days later, the plant experienced an accident involving the steam generators. This NRC senior manager was also primarily responsible for the aforementioned flawed decision regarding Davis-Besse. The
NRC cannot gain our confidence when led by senior managers who repeatedly demonstrate bad judgment. - Several nuclear reactors have been relicensed by the NRC for 20 more years of operations and many others are planning to seek relicensing. The NRC’ s license renewal rule depends on a determination by the agency that the applicant has an adequate aging management program for
important systems, structures, and components. Adequate aging management means that the condition of equipment is monitored and it is repaired or replaced before it fails. Indian Point’ s broken steam generator tube (2000), Summer’ s leaking hot leg pipe (2000), Oconee’ s broken control rod drive mechanism nozzles (2001), Quad Cities’ broken jet pump (2002), and Davis-Besse’ s broken reactor vessel head are but a sampling of growing evidence that aging management programs aren’ t working. The NRC cannot gain our confidence by ignoring evidence that its basis for granting license extensions is fundamentally flawed. - The NRC’ s responses to allegations we have submitted, whether based on our own concerns or based on concerns brought to us by plant workers, have gotten worse over the past two years, declining to the point where many of us believe the NRC’ s allegation process is not viable. Many of the responses simply fail to address the issues raised. The NRC cannot gain our confidence solely by giving lip service to safety allegations we submit.
- The NRC is moving towards risk-informed regulation. Yet, the agency has neither established nor endorsed quality standards for the risk assessments that provide input for risk-informed regulatory decisions. The NRC cannot gain our confidence with “ garbage in, garbage out” as a regulatory precept.
* The NRC’ s Inspector General determined that this NRC senior manager is solely responsible for the fact that the NRC Chairman issued false information to the public related to this matter.
We respectfully ask you to direct your staff to develop an action plan for addressing these factors. The action plan must include assignments for tasks within the plan and target deadlines for completion of the tasks. To help ensure that these tasks are completed in a timely manner, we ask that you direct your staff to provide you, and the public, status reports on the action plan every six months until the final task is completed. You must realize that failure of the agency to properly respond to these identified issues will only serve to reinforce our current lack of confidence.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned (sign-ons on file)
State individuals/organizations (in alphabetical order):
California
Don Eichelberger
Abalone Alliance Safe Energy Clearinghouse
2940 16th #310
San Francisco, CA 94103
Gary Adams
Oceano, CA 93445
Mary J. Adams
Paso Robles, CA 93446
Elizabeth Apfelberg
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Sheila Baker
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Lois Barber
Shell Beach, CA 93449
Mary Beaumont
Tarzana, CA 91335
Chris Becker
Morro Bay CA 93442
Thomas J. Becker, DDS
Santa Maria, CA 93454
Rochelle Becker
1037 Ritchie Road
Grover Beach, CA 93433
Tama Becker-Varano
San Diego, CA 92422
Susan Biesek
2829 See Canyon Road
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Drew Bohan
Santa Barbara, CA 93401
Vickie Bookless
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Jackie Bradley
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Bill Brandt
Santa Margarita, CA
David Broadwater
Atascadero, CA 93422
Doug and Lee Buckmaster
Cambria, CA 93428
Margaret Carmen
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Joan Carter
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Catherine Chambers
Los Osos, CA 93402
Doug and Mary Alice Chisum
Atascadero, CA 93422
Polly Cooper
Santa Margarita, CA 93422
Cathleen Corlett
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Eugene P. Coyle, Ph.D.
Vallejo, CA 94590-5021
Kathleen DiPeri
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Dean DiSandro
Jacelyn Doherty
Long Beach, CA 90804
Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo
Pam Heatherington
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Valerie Endres
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Judith Evered
Santa Barbara, CA 93401
Julia Fairchild
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Harry Farmer
Cambria, CA 93428
Nancy H. Ferraro
1501 Quintana Road
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Don Fielding
Arroyo Grande, CA 93420
Don & Jeanie Fielding
Grover Beach, CA 93433
Carrie Filler
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Ray Foreman
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Franklin Frank
3615 Ardilla Road
Atascadero, CA 93422
Fred and Pat Frank
Atascadero, CA 93422
Judith Gier
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Charles & Neva Glen
Atascadero, CA 93422
Gail Graham
Atascadero, CA 93422
Michael Graf
Shell Beach, CA 93449
Nancy Graves
Grover Beach, Ca 93433
Marilyn Greenberg
Los Osos, CA 93402
Phillip Greenberg
Berkeley, CA
Eric Greening
Atascadero, CA 93422
Kenneth Haggard
Santa Margarita, CA 93453
Edana Hall
Templeton, CA 93465
Diane Harrison
Atascadero, CA 93422
Susan Harvey
Creston, CA 93452
Michael Hedgecock
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Russell Hodin
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Elaine Holder
Susan Howe
Oceano, CA 93445
Evy Justesen
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Frank Kahl
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Laura Karaboghosian
Grover Beach, CA 93433
Rick Keller
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Lynne Levine
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Leslie Loy
Santa Rose, CA 95403
George and Ursula Luna
Morro Bay, CA 93443
Sandra Marshall
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Michael McCleskey
Arroyo Grande, CA 93420
Lucian McDermott
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Betty McElhill
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
Karen Merriam
San Luis Obispo, CA 93406
Michael Mill
Los Osos, CA 93402
Vita Miller
Los Osos, CA 93402
Glen Mills
27691 Durazno
Mission Viejo, CA 92690
Mark Mitchell
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Kate Montgomery
Atascadero, CA 93422
Tom and Nancy Norwood
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Greg O’Kelly
San Luis Obispo, Ca 93401
James Patterson
Atascadero, CA 93422
Donna Petit
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Morgan Rafferty
Arroyo Grande, CA 93420
Ron Rattner, Attorney
1998 Broadway Street, #1204
San Francisco, CA 94109-2206
Mike Raynor
Los Osos, CA 93402
Michael Welch
Redwood Alliance
P.O. Box 293
Arcata, CA 95518
Chris Robertson
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Susan Rocha
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Victor Rocha
Santa Margarita, CA 93422
Marilyn & Louie Rossa-Quade
Arroyo Grande, CA 93420
Tina and Jay Salter
Ataxcadero, CA 93422
Dan Buckmaster, Treasurer
San Luis Obispo Coastal Alliance
1965 Emmons Road
Cambria, CA 93428
Klaus Schumann, Chair of the Committee on Nuclear Waste at Diablo
San Luis Obispo GREEN Party
P.O. Box 13244
San Luis Obispo, CA 93406
San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
P.O. Box 164
Pismo Beach, CA 93448
Barbara Schoenike
Atascadero, CA 93422
Klaus Schumann and Dr. Jay Adams
26 Hillcrest Drive
Paso Robles, CA 93446
Barbara Scott
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Linda Seeley
Terra Foundataion
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Turko Semmes
Atascadero, CA 93422
Barbara Smith
Atascadero, CA 93422
Brian Spark
Morro Bay, CA 93422
Patricia Sutton, MPH
San Francisco, CA
Kenneth Thompson
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Rebecca Townsend
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Zeke & Gina Turley
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Michael Shames, Executive Director
Utility Consumers Action Network
San Diego, California 92103
N. Patrick Veesart
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Monica Vincent
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Pete & Caryl Wagner
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Kurt Weir
San Luis Obispo, Ca 93401
David Weisman
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Richard & Gari Welch
Grover Beach, CA 93433
Jacquelyn Wheeler
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
James & Elvita Wheeler
Oceano, CA 93445
Betty Winholtz
Morro Bay City Council Member
Morro Bay, CA 93442
Laurie & Robert Wolf
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Michael Wollman
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Sheila Wynne
Santa Margarita, CA 93422
Jill Zamek
Arroyo Grande, CA 93420
Connecticut
Paul M. Blanch, Energy Consultant
West Hartford, CT
Sal Mangiagli, Board Member
Connecticut Citizens Awareness Network
Haddam, CT
September 15, 2003
John Marrin
P.O. Box 16
Stevenson, CT 06491
Delaware
Frieda Berryhill
26209 Grendon Drive
Wilmington, DE 19808
District of Columbia
Wenonah Hauter, Director
Critical Mass Energy and Environment Project
Public Citizen
215 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington, DC 20003
Diane Curran, Esq.
Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg LLP
1726 M Street N.W., Suite 600
Washington, D.C. 20036
Robert Alvarez, Senior Scholar
Institute for Policy Studies
Washington, DC
David Lochbaum, Nuclear Safety Engineer
Union of Concerned Scientists
1707 H Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20006
Georgia
Adele Kushner, Executive Director
Action for a Clean Environment
319 Wynn Lake Circle
Alto, GA 30510
Joanne Steele, Oconee Nuclear Project Director
Action for a Clean Environment
320 Sal Mtn. River Road
Sautee-Nacoochee, GA 30571
Georgians Against Nuclear Energy (GANE)
P.O. Box 8574
Atlanta, GA 31106
Illinois
Sandra Lindberg, Organizer
No New Nukes (N3)
P.O. Box 361
Clinton, IL 61727
David Kraft, Executive Director
Nuclear Energy Information Service
Oscar Shirani
Geoffrey D. Ower, Co-President and
Brooke A. Barber, Co-President
Student Environmental Action Coalition, ISU Chapter
Illinois State University
387 Student Services Building
Normal, IL 61790
Indiana
Christopher Williams, Executive Director
Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana
5420 N. College Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46220
Iowa
Earth Care
1922 Lincoln Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50314
Leslie Perrigo, Executive Director
Independent Environmental Conservation & Activism Network
1825 W. 40th Street No. 7
Davenport, IA 52806
Massachusetts
Deb Katz, Executive Director
Citizens Awareness Network
Gordon Thompson, Executive Director
Institute for Resource and Security Studies
27 Ellsworth Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Minnesota
Diane McKeown
Clean Water Action of Minnesota
John Bailey
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
1313 Fifth Street, SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Michael Noble, Executive Director
Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy
http://www.me3.org
George Crocker, Executive Director
North American Water Office
P.O. Box 174
Lake Elmo, MN 55042
Bruce A. Drew, Steering Committee
Prairie Island Coalition
4425 Abbott Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55410-1444
Nevada
Kalynda Tilges, Executive Director
Shundahai Network
1350 E. Flamingo Box 255
Las Vegas, NV 89119
New Jersey
Laura Cayford
206 First Avenue, #5C
Asbury Park, NJ
Norm Cohen, Director
Coalition for Peace and Justice
321 Barr Avenue
Linwood, NJ 08221
William deCamp Jr.
1229 Bay Avenue
Mantoloking, NJ 08738
Sidney Goodman, PE, MSME
158 Grandview Lane
Mahwah, NJ 07430
Edith Gbur
Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch
Carlo Popolizio
160 Ninth Avenue
Estell Manor, NJ 08319
Stephanie Tatham
62 Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08540
Norm Cohen, Director
UNPLUG Salem Campaign
321 Barr Avenue
Linwood, NJ 08221
Katherine Watt
96 Mercer Avenue
N. Plainfield, NJ 07060
New York
Connie Hogarth
Center for Social Action
Purchase, NY
Mary Jane Shimsky
Citizens for Safe Energy
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
Michel Lee, Esq.
Chairman
Council on Intelligent Energy & Conservation Policy
P.O. Box 570
White Plains, New York 10601
Mary Cronin, Steering Committee Member
Croton:CIP (Close Indian Point)
P.O. Box 134
Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520
Manna Jo Greene, Environmental Director
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
112 Market Street
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition
Maureen Ritter
Rockland Coalition to Close Indian Point & Rockland Citizens Awareness Network
Rockland, NY
Westchester Citizens Awareness Network
Cortlandt Manor, NY
North Carolina
Jim Warren, Executive Director
North Carolina Waste Awareness & Reduction Network (NC WARN)
P.O. Box 61051
Durham, NC 27715-1051
Ohio
Chris Trepal
Earth Day Coalition
3606 Bridge Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44113
Ohio Citizen Action
614 W. Superior Avenue, #1200
Cleveland, OH 44113
Amy Ryder
4406 Bader Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44109
Oregon
Nina Bell, J.D., Executive Director
Northwest Environmental Advocates
P.O. Box 12187
Portland, OR 97212
Pennsylvania
David Hughes, Executive Director
Citizen Power
2121 Murray Avenus
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Eric Joseph Epstein, Executive Director
EFMR Monitoring Group
4100 Hillsdale Road
Harrisburg, PA 17112
Judith H. Johnsrud
State College, PA
Scott Portzline, Security Consultant to Three Mile Island Alert
Harrisburg, PA
Eric Joseph Epstein, Executive Director
Three Mile Island Alert
4100 Hillsdale Road
Harrisburg, PA 17112
Tennessee
Ann Pickel Harris
We The People of Tennessee
Vermont
Steve Bagley
Halifax, VT
Jonathan M. Block
Attorney at Law
94 Main Street
P.O. Box 566
Putney, VT 05346
Jeanne Broom
Brattleboro, VT
Patricia Cavanaugh
Halifax, VT
Lisa Farino and Peter Luyckx
The Frugal Environmentalist
P.O. Box 1654
Brattleboro, VT 05302
John Greenberg
564 Butterfield Road
Brattleboro, VT 05301
Margaret, Eric, Elida, and Arnold Gundersen
139 Killarney Drive
Burlington, VT 05401
Judy Davidson
Nuclear Free Vermont in 2012
Wende Claire Mueller
53 N. Belden Hill Dr.
Guilford, VT 05301
April Nowicki
Halifax, VT
Gary Sachs
Brattleboro, VT 05302
Walter F. and Janet W. Schwarz
850 Meadowbrook Road
Brattleboro, VT 05301-2594
Timothy Stevenson
Athens, Vermont
Clay Turnbull
1799 Simpson Brook Road
Townshend VT 05353
Derrik Jordan
Vermont Citizens Awareness Network
Putney, VT
Jeff Unsicker, Ph.D., Professor
School for International Training
Dummerston, Vermont
Ruth Unsicker, Educator
Dummerston, Vermont
