Press Release:
Nuclear Plant Worker Files Whistleblower Lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Alabama

September 6, 2007

Fired Foreman Alleges Retaliation for Reporting Safety Violations at Brown's Ferry Plant

Washington, D.C. - James Speegle, a former construction foreman at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, filed a whistleblower lawsuit today against a TVA contractor in federal court in Huntsville, Alabama. Speegle's lawsuit alleges that Stone & Webster Construction, Inc. fired him in 2004 for reporting serious safety violations to the company's management and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

At the time of Speegle's termination, Stone & Webster was under intense pressure from TVA to finish its work on a $1.8 billion project to restart the Unit 1 reactor at Browns Ferry, which had been shut down for 20 years for safety concerns. In the lawsuit filed today, Speegle alleges that he complained about serious safety problems with the protective coatings used in the plant's cooling system. Stone & Webster fired Speegle on May 22, 2004, two days after he met with the NRC and immediately following a heated exchange with management about these unsafe practices. According to Speegle's lawsuit, TVA removed Stone & Webster from the coatings project following his termination, and hired another contractor to redo the work he had complained about. The NRC later cited Stone & Webster for improper coatings work at the plant.

Speegle filed a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Labor after his termination. Despite Stone & Webster management's admission at a hearing in June 2005 that Speegle's safety complaints had influenced their decision to fire him, an administrative judge rejected the whistleblower complaint in 2006, and the Department's review panel has yet to reverse that decision. Speegle is filing his case in federal court so that an impartial body can decide the case. He has asked the court for a jury trial.

Speegle's attorney, David J. Marshall of Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP, in Washington, D.C., says he fully expects to win Speegle's case in federal court. "Mr. Speegle stood up for the health and safety of his co-workers and his community," Marshall said. "The people who work in and live near Browns Ferry rely on the workers there to blow the whistle on safety violations, and I'm confident that they want to see James Speegle vindicated for doing the right thing." Speegle is also represented by Frank B. Potts, Jr., of Potts & Young Attorneys LLP in Florence, Alabama.