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News Archive 2004 Feds consider Indian
Point safety concerns
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
March 4, 2004
BUCHANAN – Federal regulators are weighing concerns
about unsafe mingling of electric cables inside an Indian
Point nuclear reactor after interviewing a former Entergy
manager for two hours.
Three Nuclear Regulatory Commission employees met Tuesday
night in Tuxedo Town Hall with Tuxedo resident William Lemanski,
a retired Entergy software manager who filed a complaint Feb.
20 after he said the energy company repeatedly ignored the
issue.
The interviewers – including an NRC inspector stationed
at the Indian Point plants in Buchanan – will report
their findings to a review board for further consideration.
That board will discuss the matter and decide whether to
ask Lemanski for further information, dismiss the complaint
or forward it to the NRC's investigations office, NRC spokesman
Neil Sheehan said yesterday.
He couldn't predict how long a decision might take or assess
the complaint's merits. He said the agency tries to resolve
allegations about nuclear reactors "as promptly as possible."
Lemanski says he turned over paperwork supporting his conclusions
to NRC officials who met with him Tuesday. The NRC has scheduled
no further interviews but will do so if necessary, Sheehan
said.
Lemanski, who retired from Entergy in November, fears workers
may not have properly separated some power cables in Reactor
2 that are supposed to be kept apart so that a single fire
or other accident doesn't disable both primary and backup
equipment.
The NRC has demanded segregating electrical lines for redundant
systems since a fire below the control room at an Alabama
reactor in 1975 damaged multiple systems and nearly triggered
a meltdown.
Entergy, which bought Reactor 2 at Indian Point from Consolidated
Edison in September 2001, insists Lemanski's concerns stem
from a computer glitch – not a cable problem –
and pose no safety risk.
In February 2003, an Indian Point employee reported that
the routing of the power supply and control cables for a pump
in Reactor 2 "does not meet the cable separation criteria"
in federal regulations, according to an "event notification
report" posted on the NRC Web site.
The significance of that report was unclear yesterday. Sheehan,
the NRC spokesman, read that report and two similar ones from
Indian Point but said it was too early to say if they reflected
Lemanski's concerns.
"It's all part of the bigger picture we're trying to
develop," he said.
Lemanski, when told of the 2003 report, said it seemed to
bolster his argument that further investigation is needed
to make sure the plant's cables are properly separated.
Entergy spokesman Jim Steets said making such a conclusion
was "a leap. It's an unfair leap. To really do it justice,
you have to spend more time on it." He said he would
try to question the worker who filed the report, but he was
unable to get a response by press time.
The NRC Web site also lists two reports of cable separation
issues at Reactor 3 in 2000, but both appear to involve cables
that were no longer in use.
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