Oct-26-2000 11:34 am From-Hon John Sweeney 2022256234 T-001 P.002/003 F-919

The response is, as usual, dishonest and filled with disinformation

Department of Energy
Washington DC 20585
October 19, 2000

The Honorable John R Sweeney
U.S. House of
Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Congressman Sweeney,

Thank you for the opportunity to provide information relative to questions raised by Mr. John Shannon, a former employee at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, concerning the applicability of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to employees at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. Mr. Shannon has for over 10 years been a vocal critic of the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. His complaints, including those repeated in his most recent letters, have been reviewed numerous times by state, local, federal, and congressional investigators and found to be without merit. The following information is provided on the applicability of the proposed compensation program for DOE nuclear weapons program workers which is contained in Title XXXVI of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2001 (HR 4205/11 R 5408).

Federal and state programs are available for compensating workers whose health has been impacted by workplace exposures. However press reports and Congressional testimony have reported problems at same DOE nuclear weapons facilities that made It difficult for workers to overcome opposition to their claims and obtain benefits under the existing programs. The reported problems include, among other things, poor worker training, poor monitoring of workplace exposures, and poor record keeping. Where these problems may have adversely impacted a decision on compensation, the proposed compensation program is intended to facilitate fair adjudication of worker claims. As currently constituted, the proposed program covers claims far Illnesses potentially associated with workplace exposures to radiation, beryllium, and silica.

Since the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has not experienced the problems discussed above, the compensation program contained In the Act does not apply to work performed for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. This conclusion is supported by a well recognized record of performance as well as by an extensive fourteen-month investigation by the GAO In the early 1990's that confirmed that the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program accurately maintains records, and reports exposures. In addition, longstanding practices ensure that workers exposed to radiation or hazardous substances associated with Program work receive comprehensive training and that their exposures are kept low. For example, since the 1950's, the average occupational exposure to radiation for workers monitored at the Program's laboratory facilities is approximately one-eighth rem per year--well below the Federal limit of five rem per year and approximately one-third of the annual radiation exposure received by a typical member of the U.S. public from natural background and medical sources.

Although the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory has for over four decades been dedicated to Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program work, this was not always the case. The Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory was initially established in 1946 under contract to the Manhattan Project for the nuclear weapons program and other nuclear - related work. The Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) facility is an example of work done at the Knolls site for programs other than the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. Similarly, the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory did work for multiple programs in the late 1940's and 1950's at the Peek Street site in Schenectady and the Sacandaga Road site in Glenville. In all, about 2000 workers were employed by the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory on work outside of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program at the Knolls, Sacandaga Road, and Peek Street sites during that time. Although there is no indication that the health of these workers was impacted by their work, these employees are included in the scope of the alternate compensation program,

In conclusion, our practices and procedures fully protect Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program workers from potentially harmful substances in their workplaces. Since Congressman McNulty also received a copy of Mr. Shannon's letter I am providing his office a copy of this response. If I can provide any further formation an this issue or other issues regarding the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Signed by
Jonathen Kiell for
T. H. BECKETT
Deputy Director
for Naval Reactors

To:
Admiral Vern Clark
Chief of Naval Operations
2000 Pentagon Building
Washington, DC 20350-2000

Admiral Frank L. Bowman
Naval Sea Systems Command
2531 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22242-5160

The Honorable William S. Cohen
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000

VADM Michael D. Haskins
Naval Inspector General
Washington Navy Yard
1014 N Street SE, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20374-5006

The Honorable Richard J. Danzig
Secretary of the Navy
1000 Navy Pentagon
Washington, DC 20350-1000

Mr. W. R. Richardson
US Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20585

Gentleman:

I am enclosing the eighteen page document, covering only a small number of issues at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, because Beckett and Kiell's attempts to slander me are uncalled for, completely unprofessional, and completely untrue.

Everything that I have ever written about KAPL is completely true, the false GAO report notwithstanding, and I have documents to prove ever single word.

The Naval Reactor program, though a variety of illegal activities, has consistently prevented me from ever receiving a fair hearing in any forum, including illegally interfering with the Federal Court system.

The activity of Naval Reactors, and the reluctance of both elected and appointed officials to take any action against this corrupt and outrageous organization does not dissuade me from expressing the truth. Sooner or later I will be heard. Until that time, however, I will not tolerate any bureaucrat calling me a liar.

For your information, I am the Engineer/Physicist who designed the D1G Core 2 Nuclear Reactor. I, furthermore, did the physics studies that showed that this reactor could be used on the High Speed Nuclear Attack Submarines [HSNAS]. I was also called in to discuss the "belly band" for the HSNAS application of the D1G Core 2. Thermal design engineers had difficulty in determining the heat removal method from this solid metal "belly band." I informed them that simply drilling holes in the "belly band" would solve the problem and would furthermore improve its strength. I also brought the Nuclear Safety program into the twentieth century. I was attempting to do the same for the Industrial Safety program when my career was terminated for being too honest.

I was also called upon to determine why two critical assembly experiments were producing results that could not be accurate. After looking at the experiment, for perhaps thirty seconds, I informed the experimental physicists that they had used cadmium rather than aluminum in the experiment.

These are only snippets of my many contributions to the Naval Reactor program. I deeply resent being called a liar, by bureaucrat(s), simply because I exposed a situation that interfered with another bureaucrat's bonus.

The bureaucrats noted in this letter, Beckett and Kiell, know little if anything about KAPL. To my knowledge neither of them have made any technical contributions to the Naval Reactor Program, which makes both of them little more than absurd bureaucrats, who interfere more than help.

These are also the same types of bureaucrats who did nothing to stop the illegal termination of twenty-six long term [all more than forty years of age] KAPL employees. The taxpayers now have to pay several millions of dollars for this further bureaucratic incompetence. It has been suggested that the Naval Reactor bureaucrats may have ordered the terminations, if true I would not be surprised. The law of the land seems to matter little to people who are sworn to " . . . uphold and defend . . . " etc.

Mr. Kiell has, in fact, been one of the leaders in making the lives of former Petty Officer Hills' and his family a nightmare existence. While Mr. Hills was stationed at the Naval Reactors facility in West Milton, NY, it was discovered, quite by accident, that Mr. Hills had been brutalized at boot camp several years earlier. Mr. and Mrs. Hills are still embroiled in a battle, with the Navy, and the NCIS, to have untrue information removed from their security and medical files.

What scoundrel's NR does now employ!

John P. Shannon

Mr. T. H. Beckett
Deputy Director
For Naval Reactors
Department of Energy
Washington, D.C. 20585

Mr. Beckett:

On October 15, 2000, I submitted a letter to my Congressman, John Sweeney, with the following request:

"I would like an explanation as to why KAPL/KSO, present and former employees, are being excluded from the proposed Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act of 2000."

Apparently, Mr. Sweeney forwarded this request to Naval Reactors. Rather than directing your response to the request, you make the following statement:

"Mr. Shannon has for over 10 years been a vocal critic of the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. His complaints, including those repeated in his most recent letters, have been reviewed numerous times by state, local, federal, and congressional investigators and found to be without merit."

Mr. Beckett, as a government bureaucrat, why didn't you just respond by providing the requested explanation rather than resorting to an act of character assassination? I take very extreme exception to your statement for two reasons: first because you maliciously attempt to discredit me by use of the label "vocal critic whose complaints have been found to be without merit", and secondly because your statement is absolutely untrue, as are several other parts of your letter. However, your attack-the-messenger mentality is representative of what I, and many others, have come to expect from such a no-class organization as the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. Indeed, it is the same mark of sick leadership that purges sailors from the service via psychiatric discharge if they raise health and/or safety issues at the prototypes. The most despicable aspect of your response is in lying to two elected Representatives of the people. You are well aware that Congressmen McNulty and Sweeney are not technically trained in the nuclear field and must therefore depend on offices such as yours to provide them with factual information. You, sir, have failed miserably in this responsibility.

The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program is certainly a part of the proper federal agency known as the Department of Energy [DOE]. This department has a track record over the past 50 years that reads like the ultimate horror story. The magnitude of the corruption exhibited by the DOE is exceeded only by the incompetence of its cleanup efforts. The DOE has perpetrated the greatest environmental disaster this world has ever experienced, bar none. In the process, they have wrecked havoc with the health and well-being of untold millions of U.S. citizens, including unborn children, unknowing and unsuspecting DOE workers, and innocent American families living near and far from their facilities. The DOE has literally contaminated everything in sight, and then some, including our aquifers, major rivers, lakes, prairies, cities, food supply, and the air we breathe. This folly is now costing the U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars for attempted cleanups. The joke is that those who created the problem are now being well paid to solve the problem, about which they haven't a clue. Recent independent studies funded by the DOE determined that most of the radioactively contaminated DOE facilities can never be completely cleaned and that the contamination levels at these facilities are generally ten times higher than ever reported by the DOE or its contractors.

And, as indicated by the remainder of this letter, the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has contributed more than its fair share to this unending disaster, including the Navy's dumping of massive amounts or radioactive resins into harbors around the world. In addition to the examples cited below, there have been many other major Naval Reactors fiascoes that have wasted untold billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars on hair brained schemes, such as the sodium-cooled reactor, the rodless core, the D2W reactor design, and failure of the ten year, multimillion dollar, ECCS projects at the Kesselring Site Operation. Naval Reactors is a rogue outfit that has been pronouncing their own excellence for the past 50 years, while hiding behind Presidential Executive Order 12344 which, in fact, offers no exemption from oversight, false claims of national security, and a gag order on contractor employees to avoid any serious independent oversight of its operations. An employee who violates the gag order is subject to loss of job, a $100,000 fine, and life imprisonment but, you know, whatever it takes to achieve "excellence".