I am a resident of San Luis Obispo County, and an employee of Diablo Canyon (DCPP).
I understand that a good many people are very concerned about DCPP after what happened to the plant in Japan. I field questions about our plant almost every day, from neighbors and family members.
Being aware of both the plant design and conditions at the Fukushima plant and DCPP, I am not worried about a similar disaster here. I could go into the specific reasons why I do not believe such a threat is credible, but that is not why I am writing to you.
I do believe DCPP is a threat to our community, but it is not because of the plant's design, or a potential natural disaster. I believe the principle threat is the company that runs the plant, PG&E.
For the past 10 years, I have watched as PG&E upper management gives lip service to safety. In fact, it is our stated number one priority. However, what we say and what we do are radically different. DCPP management routinely breaks a myriad of laws, both federal and state, in an effort to reduce operating costs. Most of the violations are related to labor laws and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulations.
In fact, DCPP recently received three Cal/OSHA violations for unsafe conditions. What makes this unusual is not that we got cited, but that the conditions that caused the citations were identified by workers BEFORE Cal/OSHA became involved as dangerous and illegal. Workers brought this to management, and were rebuffed. This is the typical response to both safety and labor law violations, the company ignores the conditions, and only changes course when forced to do so by law enforcement entities. Does this sound like the actions of management guided by "conservative decision making?"
Most recently, our lab shut off all the emergency showers and eye wash stations for maintenance. While this is not noteworthy, what is noteworthy is that fact that management ordered work in the lab to continue as usual, without taking any precautions in case of an industrial accident. When workers protested the situation, management responded by temporarily hooking up the emergency showers to the hot water supply. If anyone had used the showers in an accident, they would have been burned by 150-degree water. This fact was apparently not made known to the workers in the lab, and when an operations employee found out and tried to stop the work in progress, management overrode the concerns and ordered work in the lab to continue. This is only one example of the "safety culture" that is in effect at the plant.
I have pasted in the contents of an email from one of the operations employees involved. I have not included his name because I did not get permission to use it. This email was sent to Chris Johns and John Conway (of PG&E), and I can guarantee there will be no response.
Mr. Johns,
It is with much regret I have filed yet another complaint with CAL OSHA for blatant safety violations in the workplace.
It does not matter if we raise valid Confined Space concerns, Electrical safety concerns, eyewash and shower concerns, safety at heights concerns, and every one of them having been validated, the company does not see the programmatic problems in the safety at DCPP.
On Friday, April 22, 2011, workers were working in the Primary Laboratory at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant as directed by management with Emergency shower deluge and eyewash stations out of service.
Management had provided an inadequate temporary shower installed and hooked up directly to the hot water system supplied by 153 deg. water supplied by the plants industrial hot water heater.
What makes the incident most egregious to the workforce is for the Primary Laboratory it is a repeat offense. (last time they had no shower or eyewash.) even after again being warned.
DCPP has received three Cal OSHA Citations--two Serious with Fines for similar issues in the last 6 months and yet work continues at the plant unabated, over the written and verbal objections of the workforce.
One week has passed since the incident and to the workforce, management has pretty much dismissed the event, not even instituting interim measures to ensure it does not happen again. The summary investigation has been concluded without talking to key personnel actually involved in the issue.
When a worker who has worked for this company for 23 years cannot shutdown a blatantly unsafe job, where workers are in immediate risk, providing color photographs, copies in hand of corporate policies and CAL/OSHA regulations being violated and workers are directed to continue working, there is something wrong.
When the workforce has sent a signed petition to Darbee two months ago, by over half of the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) represented, Operations workforce in the plant stating they believe their management is acting immorally and unethically with no response, something is wrong.
When the Premier survey continues to decline, with no action plan in place to reverse the trend, something is wrong.
What happened to the company I used to work for?
Production continues to trump safety.
With much regret,
(name withheld),
23 years at PG&E |
Do these sound like the actions of a management team you would trust with the responsibility of a nuclear power plant? The "Premier Survey" referenced in the employee's email is a survey that has been done at least three times in the past two years, and it consistently shows that our workforce overwhelmingly does not trust our management.
If the employees don't trust the management, why would the public?
I do believe it is possible to have safe nuclear power, but not with the current management culture of production at the expense of safety.
I would like to remain anonymous, as I have been the target of harassment in the past for bringing up safety concerns.
Thank you for your time.
