Re: FACTS ABOUT TENNESSEE ILLNESSES

[EASlavin@aol.com]

Dear Bill:

Thanks.  The "arrogance of power" of the wannabees is also worsened by the 
"webees" -- we were here yesterday and we''ll be here tomorrow. 

People who would be fired in civilian nuclear powerplant operations get 
promoted in DOE.  Too many DOE managers are like the proverbial shotgun 
without a firing pin -- they won't work and they can't be fired. 

Too often, the DOE complex behaves like a boa constrictor, and puts its "arms 
around" the civilian nuclear powerplant industry, treating y'all like puppets 
on their string (or bullets in their gun).  That's what they did on this 
listserv with respect to the Tennessean series.   They inflamed your 
passions.  That cooptation may be more devastating to nuclear power than TMI. 
 Don't think DOE is your pal.  DOE is  fighting to survive as an agency, and 
it will do or say anything. (Like the farmer said to his grandson, "they're 
rattlesnakes in there, and they're pitiless.")

Don't let the bomb builder management culture's unpopularity, misfeasance, 
malfeasance and nonfeasance rub off on your profession. I find nuclear 
powerplant operations much more safety conscious than DOE.  IMHO NRC is much 
more whistleblower conscious than DOE.  The DNFSB is a joke and won't even 
talk about generic problems, like whistleblower retaliation, as happened 
again in Oak Ridge  last night.  In contrast, NRC tries to be proactive, even 
if its fines are paltry and years late.  It's a difference between trying and 
not trying.  DOE doesn't try.

Regards,

Ed Slavin

In a message dated 04/06/2000 3:09:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
liptonw@dteenergy.com writes:

<< As a former employee of a DOE contractor, your remark that "...I did not 
want to
 believe that these brilliant men with their good taste in opera, theatre and 
the
 like could be capable of such actions as took place there. ..." strikes a
 resonant chord.  I like to believe that education goes beyond learning a 
trade,
 and makes you a better person.  My experience with DOE strongly challenged 
that
 belief.  It's bad enough when bad things are done out of ignorance.  It 
bothered
 me a lot more when they were done by people who considered themselves 
educated  and humane, and should have known better.  The best word for this 
is arrogance.   When my supervisor and I expressed concern about this, we 
were  told by  management that they encouraged arrogance, since such people 
did better work.  I   never accepted that.  I have known some truly brilliant 
and educated people,  including a Nobel laureate, and they were not arrogant. 
 It's the wannabees who  are arrogant.  Hence, I am not at all surprised by 
the recent revelations about
 DOE sites.
 
 The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
 It's not about dose, it's about trust.
 
 Bill Lipton
 liptonw@dteenergy.com
  >>
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