A rare win for a whistleblower. James Speegle, 43,
contended he was fired in May 2004 two days after he alerted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the torus, a vessel used to store cooling water for the Unit 1 nuclear reactor at Browns Ferry, had been painted improperly. In his initial complaint, Speegle reported the paint could crack, flake or peel, causing the inside of the vessel to rust and possibly cause the reactor’s emergency cooling system to malfunction. (Emphasis mine)
Get that? NUCLEAR. REACTOR. What does trying to prevent Chernobyl from happening in Northwest Alabama get you? A year of unemployment and $500,000 in attorney’s fees while you try to overturn the kangaroo-court decision of a mandatory arbitration judge. Speegle’s lawyer says
the Department of Labor rarely overturns rulings by its administrative law judges in whistle-blower cases.“Fewer than 10 percent of these cases are overturned,” he said. “This is a very important victory for whistle-blowers all over America.”
For their part, Stone and Webster Construction Inc., the government contractors who did such a bang-up job of painting the torus, are
disappointed the Administrative Review Board choose to overrule the decision of the arbitrator who conducted the hearing in this case, considered all of the evidence, and ruled in the company’s favor.
No apologies for risking nuclear meltdown on the banks of a major river that empties into the Mississippi. Just “disappointment” that the case didn’t go like the other 90%.
But hey, at least they’re not ACORN with Breitbart and the Malkin Malevolence all up in their grill.
Photo from inside a torus:
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