On December 13, 1992, operators at Salem Unit 2 reactor across the river from Wilmington,
Delaware discovered that the control room’s visual and audible alarms were not working. They detected this situation when a printer in the control room output a message about a degraded condition that was not reflected by the alarms. The operators reset the alarm system to return it to operation.
Workers determined that a recently installed micro-processor-based alarm system caused the problem. When the operators attempted to enter files onto the micro-processor system, despite cautions against doing so, the system locked up.
The NRC’s inspectors looked into the event. Afterwards they expressed dismay about a “lack of candor demonstrated by one or more” of the operators on shift during the event. The NRC reminded Salem’s owners that “criminal sanctions may be imposed against any individual who deliberately provides inaccurate or incomplete information.”
Our Takeaway
President Richard Nixon resigned the highest office in the land because of his lack of candor.
The NRC meekly sent a notice to Salem urging them to do some candor shopping.
The NRC has long had a regulation requiring nuclear workers to provide complete and accurate information to the agency.
As in this case, the NRC has often complained about getting incomplete and inaccurate information from nuclear workers. But the NRC has very seldom enforced its regulation.
Maybe if the NRC enforced its regulations, nuclear workers would take them seriously, too.
“Fission Stories” is a weekly feature by Dave Lochbaum. For more information on nuclear power safety, see the nuclear safety section of UCS’s website and our interactive map, the Nuclear Power Information Tracker.