12/14/02

A citizens' group has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to investigate its concern that Davis-Besse nuclear plant employees are being worked to exhaustion to get the crippled reactor back on line.

"At a nuclear power plant, you need workers well-rested and attentive, particularly at Davis-Besse, where they're trying to fix a plant that's such a mess," said Amy Ryder, director of the Cleveland office of Ohio Citizen Action. "If they're being asked to work too many hours and can't do their jobs effectively, that poses a risk to public safety."

A spokesman for plant owner FirstEnergy Corp. said workers' hours are well within NRC guidelines and do not pose a safety risk.

The NRC had not yet received the complaint, which was filed late yesterday. The agency is required to look into such allegations to determine whether they have merit and require action, said spokesman Jan Strasma.

In general, NRC inspectors may track nuclear workers' hours, but Strasma said he was not sure if the agency is monitoring Davis-Besse schedules.

Citizen Action's investigation request is based on concerns raised by a relative of a Davis-Besse employee and a man with friends at the plant, Ryder said. Both questioned whether employees working long hours can do their jobs effectively.

"I'm friends with quite a few people that work out there," Oak Harbor resident Tom Lenz told NRC officials overseeing Davis-Besse during a September meeting. "I know some of them have been on 12-hour shifts or more and six and seven days a week. That cannot be a safe working environment."

The NRC's guidelines on working hours for nuclear plant employees recommend they not put in more than 16 hours straight, nor more than 16 hours in 24, nor more than 24 hours in 48. Employees should not work more than a total of 72 hours in a seven-day period.

However, the NRC policy allows flexibility when there is extensive work to be done. And the only time the NRC might order sanctions for excessive work hours is if the practice is widespread and jeopardizes safety.

The Toledo-area plant has been idle for nearly a year, after a routine inspection turned up a pineapple-sized corrosion hole in the reactor lid caused by long-standing coolant leakage. The hole threatened a major nuclear accident and is the focus of numerous federal investigations.

Davis-Besse workers doing the physical repairs work no more than 60 hours per week, with two days off, said FirstEnergy spokesman Todd Schneider. The office staff works 50-hour weeks. Exceptions to the 72-hour-per-week NRC limit are rare and must be approved by Davis-Besse management, he said.

"We certainly take into account personal considerations to work schedules," Schneider said. "If employees feel tired, we give them time off. We certainly don't want to put employees at risk from working too many hours. We take this very seriously."

Davis-Besse employees themselves have several times in recent months alerted management to working-hour concerns, Schneider acknowledged. The concerns were raised in documents called condition reports, which summarize plant issues that need to be resolved.

One such report, filed in June and obtained by The Plain Dealer, complained about uncompensated overtime and says Davis-Besse employees feel pressured to work for free or risk future merit raises. A survey of employees and contractors in August found generally low confidence in management.

Ryder said the NRC panel overseeing Davis-Besse's rehabilitation should have acted in September, when Lenz first raised his concern about long work hours. Instead, panel Chairman Jack Grobe reassured him that the NRC has restrictions on work hours and that he was sure FirstEnergy was "sensitive to that."

Because Citizen Action believes the panel disregarded Lenz, it wants the NRC to have another body determine whether Davis-Besse workers are fit for duty and are free to bring up fatigue issues without fear of reprisal.

The advocacy group wants the plant to be permanently closed. But if Davis-Besse gets the NRC's go-ahead to restart, Citizen Action's complaint asks that the fatigue issue be resolved first.

To reach these Plain Dealer reporters:

jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138

jmangels@plaind.com, 216-999-4842