http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/sep/14/091407426.htmlPITTSBURGH (AP) - A contractor at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Beaver Valley nuclear power plant failed to do required reviews on a repair project and tried to cover it up, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says.
An engineer with consulting firm Demark Inc. had knowingly signed paperwork on June 1, 2005, that said 25 required reviews were done on a project the preceded plans to replace a nuclear reactor vessel head, but only two or three reviews were actually completed, according to an NRC report that followed a yearlong investigation.
The reviews are important because they are supposed to evaluate how well the replacement reactor head will work with existing safety controls, said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan.
"The safety significance of this was low because it was caught in June 2005 and the head wasn't installed until early this year," Sheehan said. "But we care because this is a major component replacement and we need to make sure it won't adversely affect any of the other major safety systems."
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