Word: kenyon
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Strong words--yet Kenyon was, if anything, soft-pedaling the situation. Before he joined Northeast, the utility had become known as a nuclear scofflaw, an industry rogue that for years cut operating costs by ignoring NRC regulations, allowing chronic hardware problems to go unrepaired and harassing employees who raised safety concerns--employees such as George Galatis, the engineer whose crusade to clean up the company landed him on the cover of TIME one year ago this month ("Blowing the Whistle on Nuclear Safety," March 4, 1996). Galatis' most alarming discovery was that the NRC knew about Northeast's dangerous game...
...their fight to win back public trust, both Kenyon and Jackson have shaken up their moribund organizations. Many of the senior Northeast and NRC officials identified in the original TIME story have either retired or been forced to resign. This spring, as the Justice Department concludes an investigation into alleged criminal misconduct by Northeast--illegal operation of Millstone 1, violation of environmental laws--indictments are possible and more departures likely. The NRC has become a more aggressive regulator, displaying new teeth in January when it added eight plants to its "watch list" of problem reactors, a move the industry protested...
...million loss for the fourth quarter of 1996, the utility barely broke even for the year, reporting net income of $1.8 million, down from $282.4 million in 1995. With Northeast stock trading at about $12 a share--half its 1995 level--company chairman Bernard Fox has decided to retire. Kenyon, who was forced to negotiate a $314 million line of credit for the company last fall, admits Northeast could go bankrupt early next year if it doesn't get at least one plant running by then. "I don't know exactly where the cliff is," he says...
...transform Northeast's "culture, values, processes and standards--and get the plants safely back online," Kenyon says, he has brought in new managers from leading utilities around the country. He hired a former Northeast whistle blower named Paul Blanch to work on a revamped employee-concerns program, created a dedicated "recovery team" for each plant and asked the demoralized and skeptical Millstone rank and file to help him weed out problem managers. (Both an NRC Special Project Office and an "independent corrective-action-verification team" of industry consultants will oversee the work; plant restart will require a commission vote.) This...
...Millstone engineer named Al Cizek, alleging more wrongdoing and calling on the NRC to suspend Millstone's license if Northeast racks up more safety violations. These skeptics believe the NRC's new vigilance is mostly for show. As evidence, they point to a February working lunch between Northeast's Kenyon and the NRC's new executive director, Joe Callen. According to a Northeast memo describing the meeting, Callen told Kenyon that "the overwhelming concern of the NRC is that [it does] not become an obstacle to restart"--a troubling concept to those who believe safety should be the chief concern...