Slap on the Hand for Nuke Plant Manager

MANHATTAN (CN) - A manager at the Indian Point nuclear power plant was sentenced Thursday to 18 months probation and fined $500 for "deliberate misconduct," federal prosecutors said.

In a one-count information , the United States claims that Daniel Wilson, "the chemistry manager at Indian Point Energy Center, a nuclear power plant in Buchanan, New York, engaged in deliberate misconduct by fabricating chemical test results regarding diesel fuel used to power emergency generators at Indian Point, in an attempt to conceal material facts from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

That language is repeated verbatim in a two-count complaint, accusing Wilson of violation Title 42, U.S. Code § 2273, and Title 18, U.S. Code § 1001.

Despite the potential for disaster, the nuclear energy industry is spottily regulated in the United States. States are prohibited from regulating nuclear plants, as Vermont found in a long, unsuccessful fight against Entergy, whose plant in Vernon, on the Connecticut River, suffered a series of breakdowns.

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