Incident Chronology at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Plant: 1974- 2012

In 2002, a plant security officer falsified fire watch logs at Peach   Bottom Atomic Power Station. 

In April 2002, a Wackenhut contract security officer did not conduct a required fire watch but indicated on a log sheet that the action had been completed, according to NRC Office of Investigations records.

While investigating an unrelated matter in July 2006, commission investigators learned about the 2002 missed fire watch, said Neil Sheehan, a commission spokesman.

Investigators discovered that the officer believed his missed fire watch would be conducted by another officer during a scheduled tour of that same area. However, the second officer was assigned to cover the area once every four hours and not every hour as required to cover fire watches.

 

April 11, 2007 -Security guards to receive back wages 

The Miami-based company that employs guards at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station has agreed to pay $129,953 in back wages to 157 workers at the nuclear-powered plant.

A U.S. Department of Labor's Wages and Hour Division investigation found that Wackenhut Corp. paid guards their regular rates of pay regardless of how many hours they worked.

A federal act states that employees must be paid time and a half should they work more than 40 hours per week.

In the case of Wackenhut Corp., the company required security guards to arm themselves prior to the start of their shift, said Leni Uddyback-Forston, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Labor. "The arming-up process could take five to 15 minutes per employee each day" she said. "They were not being compensated for that time."

Also, regular changes to Wackenhut's work schedule resulted in some guards being paid for four hours at their regular rate instead of overtime pay, Uddyback-Forston said.

Wackenhut officers guard both Three Mile Island in Dauphin County and Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.

A representative from Wackenhut Nuclear Services said he could not comment on the reimbursement of the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station guards.

Wackenhut has paid more than 90 percent of the back wages owed, Uddyback-Forston said.

The company is in the process of reimbursing the remaining 26 of 157 guards affected, she said.

-Report by Sean Adkins of the York Dispatch

 

April 19, 2007- Plant owners request 'reduction' to code

Exelon Generation Company and AmerGen Energy Company asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commision for approval of a change to the required Quality Assurance Topical Report, required under federal code. The companies explained the requested changes to the fire protection program represents a "reduction in committment." 

Twelve nuclear power plants would be included in the requested code change. 

-Marlene Lang 

Security workers and others in critical jobs at the nation's nuclear plants will no longer be allowed to log excessive overtime hours under new rules approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Exelon Nuclear, owner of Three Mile Island, Peach Bottom and Limerick nuclear stations in Pennsylvania, and seven other plants nationwide, expects to increase security staffing to reduce overtime.

"Any area where you have 24/7 coverage is most likely to be impacted," said Craig Nesbit, a spokesman for the company.

The regulations, which should go into effect this year, end a policy that allowed plant operators to meet work-hour limits by averaging the hours of dozens of employees. The process allowed some employees to log hundreds of hours of overtime a month. The new rule bases hourly limits on individuals.

The work-hour limits apply to security, maintenance and operations staffers, such as control room operators.

The rule is common sense, said Dave Lochbaum, a nuclear safety expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group.

"Groups don't get tired. People do," he said.

David Desaulniers, an NRC staffer who helped shepherd the rule change through a seven-year administrative review, said the revision will improve plant safety.

"I think that what the commission has approved will be a substantial step forward in addressing worker fatigue issues in the future," said Desaulniers, senior human factors analyst for the agency.

The shortcomings of group averaging were evident at TMI, where some security officers employed by Wackenhut Nuclear Services logged 72-hour weeks for six weeks straight last year.

In 2005, TMI officials cited three security workers for being inattentive or sleeping on the job. Each incident occurred during the night shift. Security officers contacted by The Patriot-News at the time said the incidents were not surprising given the overtime officers were being compelled to work.

The NRC rule, which must undergo review by the federal Office of Management and budget before it goes into effect, also:

• Increases the minimum break between shifts from eight hours to 10.

• Establishes training requirements for fatigue management.

• Limits the reasons plant operators may waive the hourly limits.

• Revises drug- and alcohol-testing requirements.

A veteran security officer at TMI employed by Wackenhut welcomed the changes. "It will definitely keep things from getting really bad again like they were in '02 and '03," said the officer, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified.

Though the NRC establishes the regulations, it does not require plants to obtain agency approval before authorizing a worker to go over the limit.

Eric Epstein, chairman of the Harrisburg-based watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert, had similar concerns. "I believe the standards are contingent upon voluntary compliance," he said. "I see nothing that suggests there will be more aggressive oversight of a new fitness-for-duty program."

-Report by Garry Lenton of the Patriot-News

 

April 30, 2007- NRC calls fudged fire checks "minor" 

The NRC wrote Peach Bottom to report on an investigation of Jan. 19, 2006 incident in which an employer deliberately did not make the fire protection surveillance rounds required, and falsified reports to say the checks were made. 

The report went on to say: "However, the NRC escalated the severity level of Severity Level IV because the violation was a deliberate act." 

-Report by Marlene Lang

 

May 3, 2007 -NRC alerts power plants of fires

Operators told to review fire protection plans

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission informed power plant operators of two fire incidents, and their causes. 

Peach Bottom found that some of the roofing materials were improperly installed back in 1997-98, and were abutting the steel sleeve. The report explained that during an extended run of the emergency generator the steel sleeve "heated to the point that it caused the adjacent roofing materials to ignite." The exhaust stack operates at about 900 degrees Fahrenheit, but asphalt roofing paper burns at about 400 degrees. 

Another fire occurred Aug. 18, 2006 at the Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 1 reactor, during ventilation duct installation, through a concrete wall which served as a contamination barrier. A worker had stuffed combustible cotton rags around the venting, and sealed it with duct tape. When welding began, heat transfer through a metal sleeve box ignited the duct tape and rags. 

There was no continuous fire watch on the cable vault side of the fire barrier, but smoke from the burning plastic activated a smoke detector. The fire burned about six minutes, and was put out by hand, by a worker, the report said. 

Nuclear power plants were told to review their fire protection plans with this information in mind. No specific requirements were made, or specific actions required of plants. 

Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station has not been cited even though a plant worker falsified records on two occasions, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Plant officials ran an investigation into the matter and fired the worker, the document states.

Exelon Nuclear checked the records of other operators to determine if anyone else was involved in the falsification of the records. The commission determined that the violation resulted from the isolated actions of one worker.

-Report by Sean Adkins of the York Dispatch

 

May 15, 2007- NRC finds partial-flow line under full-line use  

Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station credited individuals with performing the functions of a "senior operator" who were not actually senior operators (SOs). Technical specifications and federal code require a certain number of hours and functions to be done by SOs. NRC inspectors discovered that another classification of worker was performing tasks which SOs were to be doing, as required under the plant's license. 

The report also noted that a partial-flow flush line (part of a high pressure coolant injection (HPCI)/reactor core cooling line), was being used for full-flow testing. The use, for which the line was not designed, resulted in cracked piping to the torus, which had to be replaced, according to the NRC report. 

The finding was called "more than minor" and the report said the issue had been complex to evaluate. The matter was given Green categorization as "the probability of a large early release remained low." 

Inspectors also found that procedures for effluent monitoring were inadequately established and maintained. Procedures were not adequate to detect "non-representative sampling of the 'B' train of the main stack particulate effluents sampling system." 

The finding potentially affects public health and safety, but was considered of very low safety significance because it did not involve radioactive material. The NRC report also noted that personnel were not trained properly in the procedures. 

None of the violations were cited, according to the NRC. 

-Report by Marlene Lang 

 

June 26, 2007 -NRC finds 2 violations, untimely corrections, makes no citations

An NRC inspection completed on April 21, 2006 reported that in March 2006 Peach Bottom operators failed to ensure that test procedures for the high pressure coolant injection (HPCI) and the reactor core isolation cooling (RCIC) pump had acceptance criteria incorporating limits from design documents. Failing to stay within the limits for which the pump was designed could degrade the pump to a lower limit could interfere with proper flow and discharge pressure. The subsequent inspection, completed May 18, 2007, found that the March 2006 problem was not corrected. 

An Exelon evaluation found the pumps currently met the design basis requirements and were operable, according to the report. "Exelon failed to take prompt corrective actions to address a safety issue in a timely manner," commensurate with safety significance and complexity," the report stated. 

The matter did not result in citation because it did not represent a loss of system safety function. 

A second violation also did not receive citation. Peach Bottom failed to correct a condition deemed "adverse to quality" for 22 months. The condition was associated with pressure boundary leakage, the NRC report explained. In July 2005 the NRC noted the plant had not promptly evaluated a steam leak on a high pressure coolant injection valve. The NRC report said Exelon "did not take corrective actions to address a safety issue in a timely manner."

 

July 30, 2007 -Inspection notes failures to follow procedures

The NRC followed up on a fire and other problems at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in a three-month inspection that ended June 30. 

An incorrect size matchup on a breaker caused a fire at the '4T4' 480 volt load center, NRC inspectors explained in a report that followed up on the "Unusual Event." 

The February 2007 fire was a result of human error, according to the report, which explained that "an incorrect frame size breaker was installed into a cubicle for which it was not sized. This mismatch caused an electrical fault that led to a fire and a plant transient that upset plant stability." Operators responded to the fire and "equipment losses" by cutting reactor power to half its normal rate.

NRC inspectors determined the "root cause" of the fire to be "that standards, policies, and administrative controls were not used." Maintenance technicians did not strictly follow instructions to verify the frame size during the overhaul of a spare breaker.

The finding was labeled Green and "of very low safety significance" because it did not increase the likelihood of a plant shutdown or the likelihood that mitigation equipment functions would not be available. 

The report also noted that a missed procedure step in a surveillance test resulted in an unplanned overloading of an emergency diesel generator on March 15, 2007. This also was due to human error, according to the NRC report, which explained that workers did not follow procedure when the overload happened. 

Other emergency generators remained operable. The generator that was overloading was out of service for less than the specified outage time allowed, of seven days. The finding was labeled Green and Exelon was not cited. 

In a third Green finding, the NRC said operators failed to follow procedures while manipulating a diesel-driven fire pump cooling water valve on May 23, 2007. The improper manipulation led to misalignment of the fire pump cooling water that subsequently damaged the entire engine during operations without cooling water, the report explained. The fire pump was rendered inoperable by the damage to the engine. 

The report said operators were not provided complete and accurate instruction for cleaning the cooling water strainer, which contributed to the situation. The finding was considered of very low safety significance. 

Exelon was not cited. 

-Report by Marlene Lang

 

Aug. 31, 2007 -Performance review by NRC give good marks

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced the completion of its performance review of the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station for the first half of 2007. The report said the plant operated in such a way as not to require any additional NRC oversight beyond the regularly scheduled inspections. Those inspections were outlined in the letter to Exelon president Christopher Crane. 

NRC's Region I office which oversees Peach Bottom closed the file on the allegations made in a letter by a Wackenhut Corp. supervisor that security officers were working too long and taking naps on duty, saying the accusation was unsubstantiated. 

 

September 2007 -News station WCBS in New York provided the NRC Region I office with a videotape that depicted inattentive security officers on duty at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. "The videotape was broadcast on national television and resulted in considerable congressional and public concern," an NRC memo noted in Aug. 2008.

March: John Jasinski sends the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a letter alleging guards are sleeping throughout the nuclear plant in York County, Pa. The NRC refers the concern to plant owner Exelon and security provider Wackenhut.

December 2007-2008: NRC pledges to monitor Peach Bottom.

Between March and August of 2007, Kerry Beal videotaped 10 of his fellow Wackenhut Corp. officers at the Peach Bottom plant napping in a secure location of the plant while on the job. 

The incident prompted Exelon to fire Wackenhut from serving at the Peach Bottom plant. Exelon will conduct more inspections and is reviewing whether to continue contracts with Wackenhut for security at Exelon's other nine nuclear power plants. 

An NRC investigation also found officers has slept on duty at least four times between February and August 2007. However, the NRC determined that the plant's security program was not significantly degraded as a resulted. 

Increased NRC inspections will review the plant's transition to an in-house security force. 

-Report by Garry Lenton of the Patriot News

 

Feb. 5, 2008- Peach Bottom plant repairs safety valve

Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station operators shut down Unit 3 this morning to repair a safety valve.

In a release, Lauer said the plant's operators are investigating the cause of the equipment malfunction. There was no risk to the public, she said.

Unit 2 continues to operate at full power. Units 2 and 3 are boiling water reactors, and Unit 2 is capable of generating approximately 1,138 net megawatts and Unit 3 is capable of generating approximately1,140 net megawatts.

-Report by York Daily Record/Sunday News

 

Feb. 8, 2008 -Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station's Unit 3 reactor came back online at 3:30 p.m. Thursday after workers had replaced a safety relief valve that had malfunctioned earlier this week.

Peach Bottom's Unit 2 reactor continued to operate at full power without interruption during the Unit 3 shutdown.

-Report by Sean Adkins of the York Dispatch

 

Feb. 14, 2008- Inspection finds one violation 

An integrated inspection by the NRC found one violation deemed of low safety significance at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, according to a report by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Exelon was not cited for the "failure to include the reactor building equipment and floor drain plugs in the scope of the Maintenance Rule program." Because of this, the station "did not recognize that appropriate preventive maintenance was not being performed," the report stated. 

-Report by Marlene Lang 

 

March 3, 2008 -Annual Assessment calls for heightened oversight of guards, security

The NRC has called for "additional regulatory oversight" of Peach Bottom's performance, as a result of security officer inattentiveness revealed in the last quarter of 2007. The inspection covered all of 2007 and the plant was found to have performed satisfactorily in areas related to reactor and radiation safety. 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's report on the annual inspection told Exelon that "behaviors and interactions within the security organization did not encourage the free flow of information related to raising safety issues." 

This presumably was a reference to media reports that the Wackenhut Corp. security officer who videotaped his fellow officers sleeping on the job, claimed he had tried to report the problem within the work environment and was met with no action, before he gave the recording to local media.

The plant receive a White rating for the violations.  

-Report by Marlene Lang

Here is a brief recount of the events which led to the heightened oversight: