Posted on 10/30/2013 1:28:30 AM PDT by ransomnote
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued a confirmatory order to Exelon Generation Company, LLC for one incident involving violations of the Behavioral Observation Program at the Dresden Nuclear Power Station. In addition, the NRC issued orders prohibiting two former Dresden employees involved in the situation from participating in nuclear work regulated by the NRC.
Dresden is located in Morris, Ill., 25 miles southwest of Joliet. The NRC investigated the incident in which senior reactor operator Michael J. Buhrman, planned to rob an armored car and recruited the assistance of another senior reactor operator, Landon E. Brittain. The plan was not carried out. However, Buhrman was apprehended for aggravated vehicular carjacking and fled the country after being released on bail. He was tried and sentenced in absentia. Brittain has a number of criminal charges pending against him. The NRC concluded that Buhrman’s and Brittain’s actions while offsite demonstrated they could not be relied upon to adhere to NRC requirements to protect plant and public safety. In addition, Dresden personnel who knew about Buhrman’s plan to commit an offsite crime failed to report the situation to plant management, which is an NRC requirement for workers who have unescorted access to the plant. “We expect nuclear workers to be trustworthy and feel responsible for plant safety. This includes alerting management should they encounter questionable behavior in other workers. Plants must have effective programs and training to make sure employees adhere to these standards,” said NRC Region III Administrator Cynthia D. Pederson.“The incident at Dresden shows a failure to adhere to NRC requirements. This situation was unusual; we do not normally encounter this type of egregious behavior in plant workers. For this reason, the NRC has taken strong regulatory action against the individuals involved and the plant. Exelon is taking steps to address the problem and we will evaluate their effectiveness going forward.” The confirmatory order to Exelon was issued as a result of the Alternative Dispute Resolution process, which uses a mediator to assist the NRC and a licensee to reach an agreement for a more effective use of the enforcement process. The company agreed to abide by the conditions of the order requiring a number of actions to ensure the NRC’s concerns will be addressed. Some of the commitments include: enhancing the behavioral observation program procedure at all Exelon nuclear plants; providing training to company staff on the revision; evaluating the effectiveness of the training; and developing a presentation of the facts and lessons learned from this incident to be presented at industry forums.
Exelon agreed to address these issues according to the timelines established in the order and to notify the NRC in writing upon completion of specific actions. The orders to Buhrman and Brittain prohibit them from participating in NRC-licensed activities due to the NRC’s lack of confidence that they can meet the agency’s safety requirements. The orders state, “This action is necessary to provide the NRC with reasonable assurance that the protection of public health and safety will not be compromised by your involvement in NRC-licensed activities.” The NRC’s confirmatory order to Exelon, orders to Buhrman and Brittain, and the letter summarizing the results of the NRC’s investigation will be available on the NRC’s website.
"one incident involving violations of the Behavioral Observation Program at the Dresden Nuclear Power Station."
As if the employees failed to note specific rules about such behavior in the employee comportment manual.
"The NRC concluded that Buhrman’s and Brittain’s actions while offsite demonstrated they could not be relied upon to adhere to NRC requirements to protect plant and public safety."
No kidding? Really? What tipped them off - the signs are subtle!
"In addition, Dresden personnel who knew about Buhrman’s plan to commit an offsite crime failed to report the situation to plant management, which is an NRC requirement for workers who have unescorted access to the plant."
So reporting a potential armored car robbery is only required when the armored car robbers have a certain level of seniority?
“We expect nuclear workers to be trustworthy and feel responsible for plant safety. This includes alerting management should they encounter questionable behavior in other workers. Plants must have effective programs and training to make sure employees adhere to these standards,”
This sounds like the fact that employees didn't report the crimes being planned by senior nuclear power plant operators resulted from incorrectly implemented corporate training programs regarding plant safety!
We trust them to run the reactor, but they plan a heist?!
We were lucky.
They could have locked the doors, run the reactor into critical, and threatened a general meltdown. Held a city for ransom.
Perhaps one day, someone will do that. (Nightmare!)
I hope the NRC has considered that possibility.
A nightmare even the citizens of Mordor would cringe at contemplating.
Seems like they were so desperate for money they would plan to hold up an armored car - not an easy heist given guards are armed. With this level of aggression and desperation, they could do...well...anything. Take money to admit unauthorized people into the plant? Sell security codes to hackers??? Yikes!
The regulator’s “Tsk Tsk Tsk. We frown on this kind of behavior. Must boost the training program so people know better than to do this.” was Orwellian NEwspeak - freakish reading this.
I know it’s odd reading, but you have to consider that the NRC can’t just directly talk about every thing that is wrong in this. They have to coach it within the NRC’s purview. All notices of wrongdoing are made up of phrases taken directly from the regulations and policies to be sure there is no mistake.
As a former nuclear technician and operator, my first thought was about work scheduling. How did these guys have TIME to plan something like this? When you work in a nuclear power plant, you don’t have a whole lot of personal time.
So the NRC is banning someone who fled the country from future work at a nuke facility? LOL.
Dresdan - isn’t that tempting fate, to put up a Nuclear power plant and calling it “Dresdan”? That takes cojones...
Obviously, you have no comprehension of what goes on in a nuclear power plant’s control room...
The plant would be tripped so fast from outside the control room and safely shut down to hot stand-by outside the control room while the security force would be using all their fancy gear to get inside the control room to shoot the suckers dead!
They have emergency procedures in place just for this exact scenario.
Thank you for clarifying the use of text.
I was wrong about the money angle - they were doing it for adventure. They tried to kidnap a woman at gunpoint after watching the movie “Town” with Ben Affleck, they decided they wanted to be “daring” and brazen.
They also had time for body building. One massive lump of muscle was 6’ 3” and 275 pounds. There’s a picture of them working out at the gym. Here’s the article in case you are interested : http://enformable.com/2013/10/saga-michael-buhrman-landon-brittain/
Hey sauron,
The reactor IS CRITICAL at all times during sustained power operations. When the power is rising, lets just say perhaps during Startup, the reactor is SUPER-Critical.
No need to run.
They’re replaceable. Obama has many libyans waiting in the wings for their jobs.
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