Whistle-blower says he's victim of retaliation

ATLANTA — An engineer at Southern Co.'s Farley nuclear plant in Alabama says he was escorted out of the plant and suspended for five weeks for reporting safety problems there.

In a complaint filed at the U.S. Labor Department on Thursday, the engineer says Southern systematically intimidates nuclear whistle-blowers, violating federal law protecting them.

That complaint was only part of the day's bad news for Southern, at a time when the company is trying to expand nuclear operations in Georgia.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued what's called a "yellow finding" against one of Plant Farley's two units, over the company's handling of a stuck valve there. The NRC said the problem could have posed a "substantial risk" to the public in a worst-case scenario.

The finding, the second worst in the NRC's arsenal, will mean a stricter inspection regime at Southern's expense for at least two years — making Farley's Unit Two one of 11 nuclear plant units in the country with that status.

Senior engineer Michael Smith's whistle-blower complaint touches on the valve problem that led to the finding.

It says he was escorted out of Farley hours after he submitted a report suggesting that high turnover and inexperienced employees may have contributed to Southern's mishandling of the stuck valve.

The complaint says Smith took his concerns about safety and intimidation to the NRC a few days before his suspension and that the NRC has referred the issue to its investigations office. The agency said Thursday it does not confirm or deny such investigations.

In his complaint, Smith contends that some problems he identified at Farley are happening at other Southern nuclear plants.

He says he received calls in early August from "a number of" employees at Southern's corporate headquarters in Atlanta and its two Georgia nuclear plants, located in Waynesboro and Baxley.

The callers said they shared his most recent criticism of plant operation but feared retaliation if they spoke up, the complaint said.

Southern is now seeking permits that would allow it to build two new units at its Vogtle nuclear plant near Waynesboro.

The company had no comment Thursday on the whistle-blower claim, saying that it had just learned of the filing, was still digesting it and that it typically doesn't comment on ongoing litigation.

It is exploring its options on the yellow finding, said a spokeswoman for Southern Nuclear.

The company "acknowledges the NRC violation related to not promptly identifying the root cause of a valve failure during surveillance testing," spokeswoman Alyson Fuqua said.

But "Southern Nuclear is disappointed in the NRC's assessment," she said. "We are currently evaluating our options within the regulatory framework, prior to accepting the NRC's final yellow finding."

The Labor Department is a mandatory first stop for plaintiffs alleging violations of federal whistle-blower protections, said attorney Debra Katz, who represents Smith.

Katz said those protections are strong for nuclear workers — and should be.

"Nuclear workers are in fact the eyes and ears of the public," she said. "It is crucial to provide maximum protection for nuclear workers to report concerns without fearing job loss."

According to Thursday's complaint, Smith's problems at Farley followed a stellar career there — until January.

Hired in 2001, the engineer was steadily promoted for his job performance through 2006, ending as the senior engineer responsible for the plant's heating and cooling system.

Then, in January, he got a bad performance review, which the complaint says was payback for his reporting safety and other concerns.

Employees make safety concerns known by filing "condition reports," and are supposed to be protected from retaliation for doing so, the complaint says.

From January to August, Smith submitted 67 such reports.

His reports came as the plant was under NRC scrutiny for the valve problem.

The valve was part of a system designed to cool the reactor core in emergencies. It stuck during a test in April 2006. Believing the problem was just dirt, plant operators never looked inside the valve.

Employees did look inside in January when the valve stuck again. They found serious corrosion.

The NRC issued a preliminary yellow finding against Southern on Aug. 2, at a time when problems between Southern and Smith were coming to a head.

By then, Smith's reports included alleged retaliation against him, in addition to safety concerns. He'd been berated and denied a transfer to another department, the complaint said.

A week after the NRC issued its preliminary finding, Smith took his harassment complaint to the NRC.

The next day, he learned that he had gotten a job at another, coal-fired Southern plant, which he accepted.

Smith's final two condition reports came a few days later. He submitted both online from home around 3 a.m.

The first complimented a colleague for catching a data collection error by an inexperienced worker.

The second said that incident was emblematic of the plant's deteriorating safety culture.

It said high turnover among those responsible for the plants valves, as well its circuit breakers, left too many inexperienced workers in charge.

When Smith reported to work that morning, he was escorted to another manager's office and told he was a "threat to nuclear safety." He was ordered to the nurse's office to be tested for fitness for duty, escorted off-site and put on administrative leave, the complaint said.

Later that day, he received a call saying he was no longer welcome at his new job.

Smith continued to report problems to the NRC, including an allegation that Southern had concealed the significance of valve problems from the agency.

And Farley continued to have problems — this time with its circuit breakers.

The NRC sent a special team to investigate breaker failures in early September.

That same week, the complaint says, the agency informed Farley that it would officially investigate his retaliation complaint.

Smith remained on leave for five weeks, reporting back to work in late September. By then, the inspectors were gone and the faulty breaker replaced.

The complaint says Smith was immediately given another negative evaluation, in what it says was continued harassment.

Farley's problems also continued.

The NRC sent investigators back to the plant two weeks ago.

The replacement circuit breaker had failed.

Margaret Newkirk writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.