York Sunday News: Peach Bottom: Worker lied in records

Plant: Worker lied in records
Peach Bottom officials said they fired the plant worker for lying in fire-watch logs.

May 8, 2007 - Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station has not been cited even though a plant worker falsified records on two occasions, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

An NRC investigation substantiated that a low-level worker deliberately falsified fire-protection-surveillance records without the knowledge of plant management, according to an NRC document dated April 30.

Plant officials ran an investigation into the matter and fired the worker, the document states.

Exelon Nuclear checked the records of other operators to determine if anyone else was involved in the falsification of the records. The commission determined that the violation resulted from the isolated actions of one worker.

"The NRC has not cited them based on the actions that they took," said Neil Sheehan, a commission spokesman. "They took this matter very seriously and took steps to prevent a reoccurrence."

A review by Exelon Generation found that the worker didn't complete a 14-step visual inspection of the plant's Unit 3 reactor building fire system hose stations on July 7, 2004, and again on May 3, 2005. At the same times, the worker failed to run a 13-step inspection of the Unit 2 reactor building fire extinguishers.

The worker initialed a data sheet falsely indicating that he or she had "satisfactorily" inspected 16 Unit 3 fire system hose stations and eight fire extinguishers in the Unit 2 reactor building, according to an NRC document.

Plant officials discovered the deception in the course of monitoring the worker's performance, said April Schilpp, a spokeswoman for Exelon Nuclear.

"We did act quickly in self-identifying the incident," said Raymond Proska, a plant spokesman. "We continue to be vigilant in making sure our workers understand their duties."

Reach Sean Adkins at 771-2047 or sadkins@ydr.com.