![]() This is because their risk assessment calculations rely on past precipitation data that is not representative of the harsher weather and climate conditions we see today, such as severe storms and increased precipitation levels in certain regions of the US, caused by climate change. What troubles CSPW – and should trouble us all – over the irresponsible and inappropriately secretive manner in which the NRC is mishandling the vulnerability of nuclear plants to flooding – is that the actual likelihood of a major nuclear incident caused by flooding is even greater than the probability determined by NRC’s risk analysis engineers. Represented by legal counsel at Government Accountability Project, Criscione filed formal complaints with the US Office of Special Counsel (OSC) his whistleblower retaliation case is still pending, and Criscione voices his concerns publicly whenever afforded the opportunity. Though the Justice Department soon determined no felony had been committed, Criscione was so troubled by this clear act of retaliation that he took legal action to protect his federal whistleblower rights. After Congressional staffers apparently leaked Criscione’s letter and associated documents to the media and a story was published, two armed agents with the IG’s office interrogated Criscione in January 2013 and threatened him with felony charges and imprisonment. Criscione’s outreach to Congress, protected by law, was in support of a similar letter sent by NRC risk analyst Richard Perkins to the agency’s Inspector General (IG), Hubert Bell. The NRC has marked vast numbers of its documents regarding the flooding risk as “Official Use Only – Security Related Information” – one of many such “over-classification” designations Government Accountability Project has been fighting for years. For voicing their concerns to management regarding this dangerous vulnerability and seeking internal resolution of the problem, these conscientious federal employees have been met with resistance and retaliation.įederal whistleblower Lawrence (Larry) Criscione, a nuclear engineer who joined the NRC as a reliability and risk analyst in October 2009, became so troubled by the Commission’s lack of responsiveness to staff warnings and the unwarranted secrecy he was witnessing that he sent a set of detailed letters and supporting documents to Members of Congress in September 2012. Yet, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) – the federal agency responsible for protecting public health and safety from nuclear power mishaps – has been downplaying the risk and failing to ensure that the measures needed to avert disaster are implemented.Įven more troubling, the agency is deliberately concealing the threat by withholding critical information from the public eye, according to a handful of experienced NRC engineers and risk analysts. Nearly three dozen nuclear powe r plants are inadequately protected against major flooding guaranteed to occur after an upstream dam failure – flooding that could easily lead to an accident or meltdown on the scale of the 2011 nuclear power disaster in Fukushima, Japan.
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