This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant Supervisor Gets $500 Fine For Falsifying Facility Records
The infamous 'scourge on insider-traders everywhere' Preet Bharara has taken a day off from Wall Street duties to focus on what could be considerably more of a concern. The NY Attorney General just disclosed that Daniel Wilson - the Chemistry Manager at the Indian Point Nuclear Power plant - falsified and fabricated test results for diesel fuel contamination used to power emergency generators.. in order that the plant would not have to be shut down. Have no fear though US public... especially those who live near White Plains, Bharara's punishment for this potentially disastrous 'deliberate misconduct' - a $500 fine and 18 months probation. Well that will teach him, eh?
Full statement:
Former Indian Point Supervisor Sentenced In White Plains Federal Court For Falsifying Nuclear Facility Records
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that DANIEL WILSON was sentenced today in White Plains federal court to 18 months’ probation for engaging in deliberate misconduct while serving as Chemistry Manager at Indian Point Energy Center (“Indian Point”), a nuclear power plant in Westchester County. WILSON was sentenced by United States District Judge Nelson Román, who also imposed a $500 fine.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated: “The safe operation of the Indian Point nuclear power facility is of critical importance to our communities in and around it. This Office will be vigilant about prosecuting criminal misconduct that takes place at the facility.”
According to the felony Information to which WILSON pleaded guilty, the Complaint, and information provided for purposes of sentencing:
Indian Point maintains a backup system of emergency generators for use in part to provide power in the event of a power outage and shutdown. WILSON, the Chemistry Manager at Indian Point from 2007 through 2012, was responsible for, among other things, ensuring that certain aspects of the operation at Indian Point were in compliance with technical specifications required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”).
One such requirement related to the amount of particulate matter in the diesel fuel used to power emergency generators at Indian Point, which could not exceed a set limit. In 2011, tests of the diesel fuel maintained for use in powering the emergency generators at Indian Point showed that the ratio of particulate matter in the diesel fuel exceeded the limit set by the NRC.
In February 2012, WILSON concealed material facts from his employer and the NRC by fabricating test data, falsely showing that resampling tests of diesel fuel tested below the applicable NRC limit. In fact, no such resamples were taken, and the purported test data were fabrications. Later in February 2012, WILSON, in response to questioning by other employees of Indian Point in advance of an inspection by the NRC, wrote a report – the kind on which the NRC ordinarily relies in inspecting nuclear facilities for safety – in which he gave a false explanation for the lack of supporting documentation for his fabricated test results. In a subsequent interview with NRC personnel, WILSON admitted that he had fabricated the test results so that Indian Point would not have to shut down.
In April 2012, Wilson resigned from Indian Point.
On October 16, 2013, WILSON pleaded guilty to a one-count Information charging him with deliberate misconduct in connection with a matter regulated by the NRC, in violation of Title 42, United States Code, Section 2273.
* * *
Mr. Bharara praised the efforts of the NRC Office of Investigations in connection with the investigation.
The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Allee is in charge of the prosecution.
- 7014 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -


Gold is a helluva conductor.
Who needs some rope?
a $500 fine and 18 months probation. Well that will teach him, eh?
Are you kidding? $500 is like a lifetime's wage in India.
That is 1/100th what football players get fined for bumping someone a bit too hard.
Paging ORI...
Let us know what your view is!
:)
Let me guess, you forgot the /sarc tag right? Let's hope so.
Indian Point... is in the US. White Plains... get it?
Same for that reply looking for ORI...
That's the one up by Bruce Krasting.
Someone tell him to bring the chickens inside and duck and cover and shit.
Mr. Preet Bharara also gave a very sweet deal to Steven A. Cohen:
Make no mistake, though: this could still be a sweet deal for Cohen, who set up shop twenty years ago with just twenty-five million dollars under management. Assisted by a battalion of high-priced lawyers, he has reached a “global resolution” with the Justice Department that allows him to keep the bulk of the vast fortune—some nine billion dollars, according to the New YorkTimes—that he made running a firm at which insider trading was “substantial, pervasive and on a scale without known precedent in the hedge fund industry.” And, at least for now, Cohen won’t face any criminal charges or the prospect of any jail time.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2013/11/has-steven-a-c...
You can't throw no Cohen in a can.
His name was Francis Sawyer.
His name was Francis Sawyer. (I miss slewie. He was like Obi Wan.)
Slewie was one of the first to start calling the Tylers out for the watering down of ZH.
The "cohens" are not fooling anyone anymore.
Yes, and green to all.
His name was Francis Sawyer.
Did Sawyer, the pi-rat and trav all get kicked off because of anti-cheesepopeness or was it something else?
personal experience has proven that the tylers are extremely sensitive to direct criticism
i.e. talking about anglo banking consortium/calling them out for defending same, or
any real spontaneous anger towards the tylers
or picking on certain 'oldtimers' here
ZH is not watered down in my opinion
it has simply changed to attract the clickers
a straight business decision and necessary for survival
integrity is a very expensive commodity and business does not require it
These are nice people and once or twice a day, I find an intriguing headline
The old days are gone and this handle commerorates the 'Slewie'
he/she was brilliant and a great loss to the site
damn!!!!
A lot of significant contributors are gone now. IMHO, it's to the detriment of the site that they are gone.
The dinosaurs weren't smart enough to see it coming.
Humans willfully ignore the signs.
Life After People
That's a pretty big fine. That's like 30 years income in India.
So the diesel generators that would maintain cooling in the event of a power outage had contaminated fuel?
So, an intentional lie that could have led to thousands of deaths in a nuclear meltdown is punished with the cost of a flat screen T.V. and 18 months of leisure time?
Typical for the American JustUs system I'd say.
Exactly. He should have done hard time.
Doubtful, but when the thing didn't run as expected he needed todays usual excuse of contaminated fuel, I mean what else could it be?
Makes no sense. Contaminated fuel is bad. But that is what filters are for.
Shut down the plant??? No way. Fuel gets containated when it ages - or the tanks rust. Contaminated fuel??? Ship it out and put fresh fuel in. May not be cheap but it wouldn't shut the plant down.
A faulty tank??? That could be a problem. They are easy to replace, but not easy to permit. I could see a permit taking five years, and if the old tank couldn't be used...then there might be no backup power...and that might shut the plant down.
Still. Why would the guy take the risk for the company? Did he contaminate the fuel? Did he not do something he should have done and hence the fuel became contaminated? I think he personally screwed up and was covering his own fanny.
Particulate contamination is not a big issue at all. As you say, "that's what the fuel filters are for" - and they will include agglomeration filters for water removal, which is a more serious problem in diesel - encourages the growth of Cladospiriun resinae, and that can really "gum up the works".
There are plenty of Contractors who will offer an on-site fuel polishing (i.e. clean-up) service, and those who rely on long-term diesel storage will no doubt have a contract for routine fuel storage and line maintenance with such Companies.
So - are we in fact being told ALL the truth?? My suspicion (and it's obviously just a suspicion) is that the funds set aside for routine fuel polishing may have been "diverted elsewhere", hence a lapse in routine maintenace ("hey, we'll NEVER have to use those Diesel GenSets / Diesel pumps, so no-one will ever know"), but someone was caught out. Wonder who "ratted", and why. . . .
>>>My suspicion (and it's obviously just a suspicion) is that the funds set aside for routine fuel polishing may have been "diverted elsewhere", hence a lapse in routine maintenace ("hey, we'll NEVER have to use those Diesel GenSets / Diesel pumps, so no-one will ever know"), but someone was caught out.<<<
I think you have it. The guy's brother in law probably had the contract for the "fuel quality maintenance"....and you know....if you never show up to do the work, then it is all revenue and no expense. Just keep tweaking the inspection reports - and nobody will notice - until Fukushima happens.
Sounds like the NRC did a good job. Of course the guy should have had his first born male flayed in front of his eyes.
That stuff happens all of the time. Some time ago, Patterson Energy - land driller - found that its CFP had been paying lots of bucks to a ficticious contractor (himself) to deliver gravel and drilling mud to drilling sites. Nobody ever noticed. The guy started being an idiot - buying planes and the like. People began to ask questions. BTW - Patterson is a good company, but fraud is hard to detect - just ask Jamie Dimon or Bill Black.
I've had parking tickets that cost more.
So you're the one who scarfed up Piglosi's reserved spot at Reagan National?
Nice job. I've been wondering who had the cojones.
Woe is him!
$500!
That'll teach him!
We used to call the radio-ing logs in the Navy, which he likely was once a member of due to the fact that he works(ed) at a nuke plant.
He would have been thrown out of the Navy with an other than honorable discharge. How quaint that he is getting a "talking to" by our so-called "Law".
None of the good nukes I served with work at nuke plants. Then again, that was a loooong time ago when we used slide rules. Nowadays they are kinder and gentler and let anyone graduate. They even let women in.
Good God, seek out Rickover. He must be up there in Heaven. Just do whatever he tells you to do and we can start fixing the shit down here...
Please God, if you're going to have the shit hit the fan, do it soon. I grow weary of keeping a vigil over the mess that we've become. F""k.
Ouch! That slap on the wrist hurt! What do you bet Mr. Wilson has banking blood? OR owes banks big time? Or his sister is a slut who blows banksters? Ok, that last comment was just mean.
commesurate with the fines to JPM, Goldman, etc,. for all the damage they do, no? so all's fair!
Why would Wilson put himself in personal risk just so the plant would'nt be forced to shut down ? Is he some kind of major shareholder or something ?
It was for the cheeeldren.
It always is.
Because, being a Chemistry Manager would likely have made him or his team responsible for the diesel fuel at the facility (ie, biocides, daily sampling, etc, etc).
The E-diesels dont run enough to consume what is in the tanks, and on-site treatment after fouling by organics is a mess to clean up. Further, as you bring in the trucks and filtering/treatment equipment, your diesel doesnt have the same reliability (probably a NRC issue). Therefore, it cant be trusted to be there for the cooling pumps when the SHTF. It would require a major outage.
Perhaps there is more than simple log radio-ing here. Perhaps there is conspiracy as well (which is implied by radio-ing logs). Perhaps that conspiracy extends well beyond the boundries of this facility and reaches into the offices of the DA.
Perhaps the "law" can't draw too much attention to this issue because of the fallout from Fukashima, no pun intended. Maybe we should look at the manufacturer of the reactors at this facility and their similarity to Fukashima. I'll bet there are uncanny similarities.
Given the plant location and the collateral fallout from the manufacturer of the major equipment (I have no idea if that is GE, Westinghouse, CE, Toshiba, or other, BTW) and the potential impact on the reigns of the filthy Senators in NY due to jobs, I'd say that you can paint a pretty horrifying picture. Would the "law" take orders from people that would sooner see you DIE than to do the right thing?
Some day a real rain will come and wash the scum off the streets.
Yeah, ho hum------
I suppose 'he did it'----an employee of the entity that made the gain---and not the poor little old utility company--- of whom he was the employee!!!!
How can anyone believe this shit?
How does the employee get punished without the responsible legal entity being involved whatsoever?
This smells like paid 'patsy' city to me---
Hey, one you young attorneys out in ZH land help me out with this, please----there must be an explanation of why the gov't elects to pick out the employee rather than the deeper pocket employer---
he was not an employee of the gov't-----or is he?
You get fined more than that for a DWI and a DWI when gone wrong still affects less lives than what this assclown did and he only got a $500 fine.
Should be assigned to Fukishima clean up crew.
slap it on your wrist bitchez!
And now, something new!
BOMBSHELL! ISRAELI MAFIA RUNNING FUKUSHIMA CLEANUP:http://www.jimstonefreelance.com/
Unfortunately I live down wind from this Fukashima on the Hudson. What will kill me first, Indian point or the taxes. Outta here in the next couple of years.
Thorium reactors would be de jure, except for the slight problem that they don't create a lot of fuel for nuclear weapons.
One might think that would be a good thing, but the PTB beg to differ.
Disclaimer: Always wipe your rear end after taking a dump. I give neither implicit nor explicit approval to the NSA's surveillance of my personal communications.
The question is, what else are they lying about at IP?
Dude faked tests on his own?
No, someone told him to do it. Supplier of shitty diesel sucking down a government contract?
OMFG! I jut heard a radio propaganda commercial by this piece of shit place a couple of weeks ago, delivered by a famle engineer who works there, saying how safe they are, how regulated they are, how insprected they are, how she and her family live in the area because syhe knows they are safe & the plant can be trusted and blah blah blah.
FUCK YOU, YOU COONT!!