Inspectors cite inadequate work planning at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

The containment door of the Unit 2 reactor, opened for maintenance is 7 feet thick of reinforced concrete. Photo by Michael Mercier/ The Huntsville Times

ATHENS, Ala. — Members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspection team for the Browns Ferry “red” safety finding ticked off a litany of TVA deficiencies Thursday during a public meeting at the plant.

The team, designed to get Browns Ferry back on track after the Athens, Ala., plant received the NRC’s highest safety concern flag last year, pulled no punches.

“We did identify safety culture problems, both with the workforce and with management,” said John Jandovitz, the team leader for the second group of on-ground inspectors who spent weeks watching maintenance and other work at the plant.

“Work planning is weak, and people here told us, ‘Yeah, we know. We just live with it.’ That’s not appropriate,” Jandovitz said.

“Enforcement procedures weren’t getting done, and it was tolerated by management,” he added. “We saw work removed from the schedule and no one ever questioned it.”

Jandovitz said that as inspectors kept returning and their scrutiny continued, they saw managers and other workers begin to question schedule and work changes.

“We thought a new program had been introduced, but we learned it wasn’t new. A program had been there all along. It just hadn’t been enforced,” he said.

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Manager Keith Polson and TVA Chief Nuclear Officer and Vice President Preston Swafford took the medicine with somber faces in front of a packed conference room at the Browns Ferry Training Center.

“Our goal is to strive for excellence,” Polson said. “We get it. And we agree with what was said here today. Our goal is to be the best nuclear plant in the country.”

Swafford said TVA and the whole TVA nuclear fleet is learning “a great deal as we dig in” with the red finding inspections and with TVA’s own corrective action program.

“Some of these things have been deficient for some time. Our [corrective action] program is strong but it takes time,” Swafford said. “It’s an ugly period as we identify the issues, but you can’t get well until you get the issues up on top of the table and start fixing them.”

Joseph Smith, a resident of the Blue Water Creek community near Athens, told NRC and TVA that someone “needs to be held accountable and fired” because the plant is “not being operated in a way that protects me.”

“I’m afraid. And my neighbors and friends are afraid of this plant. It hasn’t blown up and killed us all, and I thank you for that. But you can do better,” Smith said.