Skip to main content

NEI's Bowman to Serve on Baker-Led BP Panel

From today's Houston Chronicle:
BP named political heavyweight James Baker as chairman of an independent panel to review safety lapses at the troubled oil giant.

Baker, a former secretary of state and Treasury secretary, vowed Monday to lead a panel that would delve into the company's corporate culture and issue a public report within a year.

"You are going to see an aggressive and complete and thorough investigation," Baker said. "And we're going to let the chips fall where they may."

With 22 deaths since 1995, BP leads the refining industry in fatalities over the past decade, including a refinery worker killed in May at BP's Cherry Point refinery in Whatcom County and 15 people killed in an explosion at the company's Texas City, Texas, refinery in March. That explosion injured 170 people and set off widespread concern that company managers have a lax attitude toward safety.

Creation of the panel was urged two months ago by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, which has been investigating the March 23 explosion at the Texas City plant. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined BP $21.4 million -- almost double the previous record -- after finding hundreds of willful and serious violations at Texas City.
NEI's President and CEO, Skip Bowman, was also asked to serve on the panel. For more, click here to read BP's press announcement on the investigation.

Technorati tags: , , , , , ,

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...