Watts Bar may face hurdle

Watts Bar may face hurdle
Group says TVA deceived NRC
By Randall Higgins
The Chattanooga Times

An environmental group on Tuesday questioned whether TVA should be allowed to start its Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in nine months.

The Knoxville-based Foundation for Global Sustainability, at a news conference, said it has obtained a secret report questioning the quality of the plant. The group charges TVA misrepresented the report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that must issue a license before nuclear fuel can be loaded into the reactor.

A TVA spokeswoman said Tuesday there was no misrepresentation to the NRC. Barbara Martocci said the results of the study were discussed at an open, public meeting.

TVA hired Nuclear Utility Services, an independent consulting firm, to review the work done toward getting Watts Bar Unit 1 functioning by April 1994. The result of that review was the subject of a June 18 meeting between NRC and TVA officials in Atlanta.

The report, said Danielle Droitsch, project coordinator for Global Sustainability, says Watts Bar management "emphasizes production over quality and that only one-third of all the existing problems at Watts Bar are being identified through the quality-assurance organization."

TVA told the NRC, Ms. Droitsch said, "The Watts Bar Quality Assurance Program is adequate and increased aggressiveness is required."

She said, "It appears TVA misled the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the effectiveness of their quality-control program."

Stephen Smith, Global Sustainability president, said the group obtained a copy of the NUS report from a Watts Bar worker about 10 days ago.

"This is a report they wanted to squelch within the agency," Smith said.

He said his group is asking TVA's new chairman, Craven Crowell, and new board member, Johnny Hayes, to pay close attention to Watts Bar and the agency's nuclear program. He pointed out both units at Sequoyah and two of three at Browns Ferry are not operating. Watts Bar, he noted, has been under construction for 20 years, because worker concerns about safety closed the plant just before fuel loading in the mid-1980s.

Area residents and the new TVA board, Smith said, must decide "do we need to throw good money after bad" and complete Watts Bar.

Smith said he fears TVA's "push mentality" toward an April fueling date will steamroll over employee concerns raised this time.

"First of all, it's not a secret report," Ms. Martocci said. TVA's senior management asked for the study, Ms. Martocci said, to assure standards of quality are being met at Watts Bar for a timely completion of the plant.

"What this press release (from Global Sustainability) does," Ms. Martocci said, "is take a lot of information out of context."

"We believe our program is good, although there is always room for improvement," she said.

Watts Bar officials, Ms. Martocci said, do not believe they misled the NRC. The regulatory agency got a complete copy of the NUS findings, she said.