Re[2]: FACTS ABOUT TENNESSEE ILLNESSES

[steve.rima@DOEGJPO.COM (Steven Rima)]

     Ed,
     
     I love the part about DOE management and shotguns...:-)
     
     However, there ARE lots of honest, caring, conscientous HPs in the DOE 
     complex, at least among the contractors. We're not all bad apples. 
     Having worked in the nuclear power industry for years, and then the 
     DOE complex, you are correct about the difference. When I first came 
     to the DOE from nuclear power, it was a culture shock almost as severe 
     as when I went from the Navy Nuclear Power program to the civilian 
     nuclear power program.
     
     I may be in the minority, but I would welcome NRC regulation of the 
     DOE complex, at least for radiation protection matters. I've never 
     believed that any industry/agency can effectively regulate itself when 
     it also determines the funding, sets priorities, hires contractors to 
     do the work, etc.
     
     I still have a problem, however, with comparing past practices from 
     decades ago at the height of the cold war with today's scientific 
     knowledge and regulations. It's an unfair comparison. Automobiles from 
     30 or 40 years ago were terribly unsafe compared to those of today, 
     but they met government safety standards. Why not compensate past car 
     crash victims because in hindsight the government obviously allowed 
     unsafe cars to be made and sold based on today's standards?
     
     Steven D. Rima, CHP, CSP
     Manager, Health Physics and Industrial Hygiene
     MACTEC-ERS, LLC
     steve.rima@doegjpo.com


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: FACTS ABOUT TENNESSEE ILLNESSES
Author:  EASlavin@aol.com at Internet
Date:    4/6/00 2:27 PM


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
     
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