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SAN ONOFE: More falsified documents investigated at San Onofre
Officials say there is no safety concern
By PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer | ∞
SAN ONOFRE ---- Falsified documents have spurred another investigation at the San Onofre nuclear power plant by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to paperwork provided to the North County Times by a plant employee.
San Onofre plant spokesman Gil Alexander confirmed in an e-mail Friday that an internal investigation found that a painting supervisor falsified some paint-related paperwork, but said the work did not involve any equipment related to safety at the nuclear plant.
"Each of the five concerns (are) related to administrative paperwork errors, not the actual use of incorrect equipment," Alexander wrote. "The workers did not work on the wrong components. None of the incidents affected operational issues that would impact employee or public safety."
In January 2008, the federal commission called for new training at the seaside nuclear plant after it discovered that fire safety workers falsified their watch logs for five years. This time, the falsified documents involve managerial oversight of the plant's painting crew, which applies coatings to surfaces inside and outside San Onofre's twin reactor domes.
Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Friday that the commission is looking into "issues" at San Onofre, but declined to provide specifics.
"We were made aware of some issues, and we are looking into those at this point, but there is nothing that appears to be a safety issue (at San Onofre) at this point," he said.
Most of the painters at San Onofre work for multinational engineering firm Bechtel Corp.. Bechtel company spokesman Francis Canavan said Friday that the supervisor who was found to have falsified the records was fired.
"The procedures and checks at San Onofre are for the safety of our workers and for the safety of the public," Canavan said. "He didn't do it properly. The fact that it had to do with paint is besides the point."
Always a fresh coat
Sitting as it does at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, San Onofre's steel and concrete structures require regular painting to avoid corrosion. When a component at San Onofre need a fresh coat of paint, workers are not allowed to simply grab a bucket and a brush and start swiping. All work, even painting, requires a "positive component verification" before it can be performed, plant documents indicate. That means a worker's supervisor must walk to the item that is to be painted and verify that he or she is looking at the correct component.
Likewise, workers must monitor temperature and humidity before and after they apply a coat of paint and record that data on a proper form. And workers must also come back when the paint is dry and verify that it is of the proper thickness.
Documents indicate that a supervisor falsified records for all three of these steps, simply indicating in the paperwork that proper monitoring was performed when it wasn't.
Ken Tator, an engineer who specializes in paint and corrosion and has studied nuclear power plants, said misapplied paint can cause a safety concern if it is misapplied inside a reactor dome. But he said that paint applied on equipment in the non-nuclear parts of a plant like San Onofre is much less critical.
"Outside containment, it's not nearly as important," Tator said. "The consequence is not nearly as great. There may be some cost involved, but it's not a health and safety issue."
Alexander said painting issues at San Onofre did not involve work inside the plant's nuclear areas.
Consequences
In additional to paint paperwork, documents provided to the North County Times also touch on worker qualifications. One document states that 19 plant workers, including at least one security guard, were "performing work that they were not qualified for since May 2007."
Edison spokesman Alexander said that certain training certificates for these workers had expired.
"These incidents involved previously trained employees allowing certain types of training to lapse because, at the time, they were not performing work to which the training applied," Alexander said. "None of the training (was) related to the safe operation of the plant. Upon notification, each employee successfully completed the retraining."
It remains unclear what consequences Edison and Bechtel will incur.
In January, 2008, Edison announced that it had fired or disciplined seven employees over the last two years for safety and security violations. Those people, including a contract fire-prevention specialist who skipped hourly rounds for five years and then falsified documents to indicate otherwise --- were terminated because of "willful misconduct," an Edison official said.
The federal regulator commission spokesman said Friday that the commission takes any falsification of documents, even if just for painting, very seriously.
Hannah added that the commission looks more harshly on reports that come to inspectors from employees, rather than being reported by the company that operates the plant. The fire safety-related record falsifications that led to firings in January were reported to the commission by Edison, but the latest crop of painting-related paperwork problems were reported directly to regulators by the same painter who provided the documents to the North County Times.
Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.
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Wow wrote on Jun 29, 2008 9:22 AM:Can we say sinsationalism? -
So some guy working for a contractor falsified records about the apinting he was supervising! It was discoverd and he was fired!!! As the article clearly says, none of the work was inside the containment area and it did not involve anything that was safety related.
So, where is the news here?
The US is so far behind in nuclear energy production because so many idiots try to make the firing of an incompetant supervidor into a national emergency. Let us admit that in this case it seems that someone was on the ball enought to actually find an oversite so minute as a painting superviser falsifying records concerning painting! The NRC is now checking into the reports filed by SONGS (yep, proof that they will actually follow procedures and report something as insignificant as this!), and all the paperwork is now being further investigated to ensure no other potential problems ahve or will take place. The safety and oversite procedures are WORKING!
Warner wrote on Jun 29, 2008 12:32 PM:The problem here is leadership. it is evident that management on all levels have been irresponsible in applying the proper controls to assure that the correct procedures and protocols have been followed. We are very fortunate that the poor leadership and falsefying of documents has been discovered before something drastic took place. This is very disturbing to me. I am glad the nuclear plant is in operation, but for things to get out of hand as they are now causes me to be very concerned. I live about 26 miles south east of San Onfre, and a major accident coupled with wind of the right speed from the west, which is prevalent, would put the stuff right on me and my family.
A new broom all around will sweep clean. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should dismiss all the top management and run the place until they can locate and hire new people to provide the correct leadership - in the name of safety and peace of mind for the region.
EtAl wrote on Jun 29, 2008 3:46 PM:It's not over. The Labor Board (state and federal) are also investigating discrimination practices that's been going on for years. Nepotism reigns supreme there.
Some other interesting information will be out later. Talk about DRAMA!
You're right, "Warner." But they're going to need an industrial strength shop vac to clean up that mess that's been around for decades.
JSten wrote on Jun 29, 2008 4:02 PM:Yes, but how do you know, Mister Spock?
HOW
DO
YOU
KNOW (Line feeds added for dramatic effect)
Law wrote on Jun 29, 2008 5:46 PM:So since people are considering nuclear power again, ridiculous scare tactics will surface in the papers.
This article stinks of a hidden agenda.
jvc wrote on Jun 29, 2008 8:02 PM:Knowing Bonnie's zeal and zest for upholding the law, I am sure she will get right on it!
Thank you Law wrote on Jun 29, 2008 8:31 PM:You took the words right out of my mouth!! This was to be expected now that nuclear power is being considered because it's A CLEAN way of producing electricity.
To Warner wrote on Jul 1, 2008 10:09 PM:The problem with your position of firing all top management and the NRC running the place until new management can be found is simply this:
1. The NRC is a "Regulatory" organization and NOT a group of Nuclear Power Plant operators. They have less qualification to run the plant than those you are calling incompetent!
2. With the significant failures in the US to build and operate new Nuclear Generating Station within the US the available pool of qualified individuals to take on Sr. Management roles at such facilities has dwindled to a seriously low level. Thus, replacing these people with qualified personnel would be difficult at best!
If you don't want and accident blowing into your back yard then you need to get with your legislature and lobby for a renewal of building and operating more, not less, nuclear generating stations. Then, you will find many well qualified Navy trained nuclear engineers heading into these facilities as opposed to becoming financial analysts and real estate sales persons!
EtAl wrote on Jul 10, 2008 10:02 PM:"To Warner"
I'm not saying that Nuclear is a bad thing. HOWEVER, San Onofre has some very serious issues that they HAVE been getting into trouble over. Lies and deception has been a big problem there for years. We're just now hearing about it, because they are now getting caught at it. The problems has been with a lot (not all) of the supervisors and managers. There is serious cronyism going on that trumps the professionalism that's suppose to be there.
Those who ahve been there know what's going on. There are a LOT of people who know about the problems there. A LOT of them were dealt with as 'damage control' to silence them. There are people who have stories to tell. It's now starting to come out. You should be very concerned about how the NRC is going to fix the problem there.
BTW- There are a lot more qualified individuals for those positions than you know. There are many who have refused to work there for a reason.
EtAl wrote on Jul 10, 2008 10:10 PM:"To Warner"
You should notify the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that they are lacking the skills needed to do their jobs.
Heck, they never should have written the books the Nuclear Plant Operators train from and are governed by.
I don't believe ANYONE called the Nuclear Plant Operators incompetent. They are highly trained individuals who have a lot of respect for the NRC.
Again, there have been qualified individuals who have REFUSED to work at San Onofre. That's why the management pool is dwindling. The GOOD ones won't go to San Onofre. What do you think that leaves for them to choose from?
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