European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 4, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stabs and stripes sunday May 4,1986 Nasa official retires says he hid nothing Huntsville Ala. A George b. Hardy a Nasa official who played a key role in the decision to proceed with the fall launch of the space shuttle challenger retired Friday saying he hid nothing from the presidential commission investigating the explosion. Hardy 53, is the second senior executive at the Marshall space flight Center in Huntsville involved in the decision to launch the shuttle to leave his Post since the investigation began. Hardy said he had planned his retirement in november be fore the Jan. 28 disaster. The Deputy science and engineering director at Marshall said he and his col leagues hid nothing from the commission investigating the shuttle explosion which killed the Crew or seven. There s been no Hanky Panky no body s playing games said Hardy who retired after 26 years with the National aeronautics and apace administration. I Don t know if they will continue to Call me As a witness after i retire but i la be Avail Able he said. The commission plans to give its conclusions to president Reagan in june. I Don t expect wholesale changes at Marshall and it would be regrettable if that happened Hardy said we have been trying to give the com Mission information trying not to draw judgments but to relate what we knew and How we knew it. If that lacked dra Matics or appeared to some to have been defensive then that s unfortunate. I Don t know of any cases where there has been a Lack of personal or professional integrity in this whole matter he said. What some people As inadequacies were honest  commission chairman William Rogers has been critical of testimony from Hardy and other Marshall managers. Hardy was among those called to mar shall offices the night before the launch to discuss Booster rocket safety concerns raised by Morton Thi Okol engineers. Mar shall is in charge of Nasa s propulsion work and Morton Thi Okol manufactured the Booster rockets. On the Eye of the launch Hardy told Morton Thi Okol engineers that he was appalled at  recommendation to delay the launch because of cold weather according to testimony before the commis Sion. The engineers warned that Low tempera Tures at the Florida launch site might pre vent the of ring seals on the Booster joints from working. A lot of people have tended to think we at Marshall Are defensive about this and i Don t want to sound defensive Hardy said. I have Heartfelt sympathy for the families that were involved but going Back to that time and Given the Circum stances and the data As i assessed it it s difficult to what i might have done  last month Stanley Sci Charlz moved from his Post As chief of inc shuttle projects office Back to his old Job As chief of special projects at Marshall. In addition Jesse Moore the former associate administrator for space flight has changed jobs since the Accident although that switch was announced before the explosion. In testimony before the commission Reinhartz acknowledged that he was the offi Cial who decided that word on initial objections from Thi Okol did not need to be relayed to the Nasa officials who made the final decision to launch challenger. Meanwhile the commission held what was said to be its final hearing in which members again interviewed Marshall and Morton Thi Okol officials. The panel has found new evidence that managers at Marshall overrode internal warnings that joints in the shuttle s solid rocket boosters might fail the Washington Post reported in saturday s editions. Reports Call 1985 nuclear Power s worst year Washington a a congressman and an anti nuclear group released separate reports on atomic safety saturday and charged that 1985 was the worst year Ever or nuclear Power mishaps. The critical mass Energy project a Ralph Nader group released a study of safety violations reported to the nuclear regulatory commission since 1979. The group said problems have been on the Rise since then and called fora phase out of All . Reactors. Rep. Edward Markey d-mass., released a list of the 10 worst nuclear Power safety breaches provided to his Subco Mittie on Energy conservation and Power by the arc. He said 1985 was the worst year for safety since the three mile Island Accident in 1979. The number and severity of accidents during the past year is simply too close for Comfort Markey said. The list of close Calls strongly suggests that a major . Nuclear Accident could be lurking around the  critical mass said nuclear mishaps reported to the arc Rose from 2,310 in 1979 to 5,060 in 1983. Under a new reporting system Misti tuned in 1984,.the group said Plant operators hied 2,417 Licensee event reports on mishaps in 1984 and 2,974 in 1985. The group also said the arc levied 38 fines totalling nearly $3.8 million against utilities in 1985, si.7 million higher than in 1984. The soviet Accident has provided the United states and the rest of the world a Stark reminder that nuclear Power is a dangerous technology and that the consequences of an Accident Are enormous said Joshua Gor Don author of the critical mass report. He said the United states should re evaluate its nuclear policy and begin planning for the orderly phase out of nuclear Power. In its report to the Markey subcommittee the arc cited the failure of Cooling systems at the Davis Besse reactor near Toledo Ohio As the most serious safety breach of 1985. Arc spokesman John Kopeck said the commission is not pleased with any abnormal occurrences particularly those in 1985." another arc spokesman Bob Newlin said the Crit ical mass numbers sounded accurate but he noted these Licensee event reports Are any unplanned operational event that happens and they Range All the Way from very minor to More significant  he said abnormal occurrences the most significant events did Rise from five in 1981 to 10 in 1984 and nine last year. He added at the same time there Are More reactors in  there were 68 nuclear plants in 1979. Currently 100 plants hold operating licenses in calling for a phase out of nuclear generators. Critical mass cited arc testimony saying there is a 45 percent Chance of a major Core meltdown at a commercial us. Reactor before the year 2000. Newlin said the testimony Given last year before a congressional panel referred to a Tim Type Accident in which most radioactive releases Are confined to the containment building surrounding the reactor. Quoting arc chairman Nunzio Palladino be said the Chance of harm to individuals would be lower than the Chance of a meltdown by several orders of magnitude because containment structures would prevent offsite con sequences in All but a fraction of Core melt accidents. In its report to the Markey subcommittee the arc nuclear Power station incident at Davis Besse an Echo of three mite Island Relief valve pops open but Falls to dose when pressure drops. At three mite Island the undetected stuck valve allowed water to Boll away which uncovered radioactive Core and started a meltdown. Like three mile Island in 1979, the main feed Atar pumps at debts Besse fall at 138 am sunday june 9,1985. Turbine built of t i  / Cooling Tower four minutes later automatic auxiliary pumps kick in but immediately fall. Operators soon discover the stuck valve and Force it dose auxiliary pumps Are manually restarted within 12 minutes. Emergency is Over. No water reaching Generator pressure builds. Cheapo Titan Orapha Sara temp than Cartago Tan Natiw Nofoa said the june 9, 1985, Davis Besse Accident involved the breakdown of the main and auxiliary feed water pumps necessary to Cool the nuclear Core and could have resulted in fuel damage break of primary system significant release of  before an emergency water pump could be started at the Davis Besse reactor the Plant s two steam generators had essentially boiled dry before feed water from any source became available to them the report said. In 1980, the arc directed Toledo Edison the Plant s operator to replace one of the two steam driven engines that ran the two auxiliary feed water pumps with an engine powered by another Energy source. The order had not been carried out when the Accident occurred. The arc report also included accounts of the loss of electrical Power and a severe water Ham Mer or shuddering water pipes that caused a steam leak and damaged equipment at the san Onofre unit 1 Plant near san Clemente Calif on nov. 21, 1985. Steam Generator feed water was lost for three minutes. The commission said five safety related feed water sys tem Check valves degraded to the Point of i operability during a period of less than a year without detection. The Plant is closed temporarily. An unusual Power surge at the Virgil c. Summer nuclear station unit 1 in Broad River s.c., that caused the Plant to automatically shut Down while it was being started up by operators. Human error and procedure deficiencies were responsible for the feb 28, 1985, event thenry said. The failure of nine of 12 pressure transmitters that was discovered aug. 7, 1985, at Maine s Yankee nuclear Power Plant near Bath. The transmitters that Monitor the pressure of three steam generators were inoperable be Davis Besse nuclear Power station cause Root valves had apparently been closed for More than a year. The failure of three main steam isolation valves to close quickly at the Brunswick unit 2 on sept. 27, 1985. There was no danger because the Plant near Southport n.c., had been shut Down. But the arc noted the Inci Dent indicated a common Mode failure of the system that prevents the escape of radiation. The report also cited poor operating performance result ing from ineffective management at Tennesse Valley authority reactors in Alabama and Tennessee. Both the Browns ferry Plant in Alabama and the Sequoyah facility in Tennessee have been suspended while to a undertakes reorganization at its Sites to effect More timely Resolution of potential safely issues the report said. The commission also listed repeated equipment prob lems and personnel errors and improper installation of equipment at the Lasalle nuclear Plant near Ottawa iii., and a significant deficiency in the operator training pro Gram at the grand Gulf atomic facility near Vicksburg miss. Management deficiencies causing numerous personnel errors and violations of technical requirements were cited at the Fermi nuclear Power station near Detroit. The Plant s operation was severely restricted following a july 1, 1985, incident when fission began inadvertently during an improper Startup. Design weaknesses and vulnerabilities probably led to the overcoming of the Rancho Sacco reactor near Sacra mento Calif on dec. 26,1985, the arc said. In addition to the incidents in 1985, the arc report recounted a Jan. 4, 1986, release of uranium  at the Sequoyah fuel conversion facility that killed a worker in Gore okla. The report also mentioned the dec. 28, 1984, failure of All three safety injection pumps at the Indian Point 2 Plant in Buchanon