Sloppy work at Perry nuclear power plant concerns Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Saturday, July 18, 2009
John Funk
Plain Dealer Reporter

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is concerned about sloppy workmanship and employee inattention to detail at the Perry nuclear power plant.

The NRC wants plant owner FirstEnergy Corp. to explain how it plans to correct these problems at a public meeting Tuesday night in Mentor. The agency will also take questions from the public.

Perry's troubles cropped up more than a year ago and, despite the Akron-based utility's efforts, have continued this year, the agency said.

Perry is operating safely, the NRC stressed, but workers have continued to make small mistakes on routine, day-to-day jobs, in a number of unrelated areas.

Such mistakes are not in themselves a safety concern, but they are often the first signs at a nuclear plant that the culture of "safety first" is eroding and attention to safety is slipping.

For example, inspectors have noted inadequate documentation of routine maintenance and repairs at Perry, documentation that workers facing problems in the future would need.

On-site NRC inspectors have cataloged the little mistakes, including problems with carrying out "corrective action" programs that Perry managers designed to correct previous poor performance, according to the agency.

"Performance at the Perry nuclear power plant during the assessment period continued to exhibit weaknesses in the area of human performance," Cynthia Pederson, director of reactor projects for the region, wrote to the company in March. "The effectiveness and sustainability of your corrective actions continues to be of concern."

The letter requested that the company explain, in public, exactly what it intends to do to run a tighter ship and detail in written reports what managers have done -- and will do -- to help workers make fewer mistakes.

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