Former Worker Says AmerenUE, NRC Dropped Inquiry

ALAN SCHER ZAGIER

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A former AmerenUE engineer is accusing the utility and the federal agency that regulates nuclear power of failing to adequately investigate a 2003 incident that led to a two-hour unplanned shutdown at the Callaway reactor.

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigation found that control room operators delayed a move to insert control rods — equipment required to keep the reactor shut down — since the error occurred just before a scheduled shutdown for maintenance. The NRC called the delay "not prudent," but noted it did not threaten human safety.

After discovering the problem four years after it occurred during a routine review and alerting plant managers, nuclear engineer Lawrence Criscione claimed retaliation by his supervisors, including a negative performance review and the loss of his operators' license. ...