Word: northeasterly
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Galatis helped Kacich with the amendment request, which was filed July 28. Then he and Hadley drew up another document: a petition that asked the NRC to deny Northeast's amendment request and suspend Millstone's license for 60 days. The petition, filed on behalf of Galatis and We the People, charged that Northeast had "knowingly, willingly, and flagrantly" violated Millstone 1's license for 20 years, that it had made "material false statements" to the NRC and that it would, if not punished, continue to operate unsafely...
AFTER GALATIS FILED HIS PETITION, ON AUG. 21, he found himself in many of New England's newspapers. As citizens' groups called meetings, Northeast and the NRC assured everyone that the full-core off-load was a common practice that enhanced safety for maintenance workers inside the empty reactor vessel. "We've been aware of how they off-loaded the full core," NRC spokeswoman Diane Screnci told one paper. "We could have stopped them earlier...
Galatis knew that if such things had happened, they would be reflected in operator's logs filed in Northeast's document room. So, on Oct. 6, he appeared in the room and asked for the appropriate rolls of microfiche. The logs backed up what Reynolds had said: Millstone had moved fuel as soon as 65 hrs. after shutdown--a quarter of the required time. The logs noted the sounding of alarms. Galatis wondered where the resident inspector had been...
Galatis and Hadley had been waiting two months for a reply to their petition to deny Northeast's amendment. Finally, on Oct. 26, a letter from William Russell, director of the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, informed them that their petition was "outside of the scope" of the applicable regulatory subchapter. Two weeks later, the NRC granted Northeast's amendment. Millstone started moving fuel the next morning...
Because of Galatis, the plant is still shut down. "What's especially galling," says Hadley, "is that the NRC ignored my client and denied his motion, then validated his concerns after the fact." In late December, Inspector General Norton released his preliminary report. He found that Northeast had conducted improper full-core off-loads for 20 years. Both the NRC's on-site inspectors and headquarters staff, the report said, "were aware" of the practice but somehow "did not realize" that this was a violation. In other words, the NRC's double-barreled oversight system shot blanks from both barrels...