Top Five Most Intriguing Quotes from the Merrifield Dossier

POGO has just posted hundreds of pages of interview and memos from an Inspector General investigation of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Commissioner.  As we mentioned yesterday on the blog, the investigation, which we requested two years ago, reveals that former Commissioner Jeffrey Merrifield maintained an uncomfortably cozy relationship with some of the power plant contractors he was tasked to regulate. Merrifield went on to accept a job created for him at Shaw Group, a company that could have benefited financially from votes he cast as Commissioner.

Here, we present the top five most intriguing quotes from the dossier:

1. From a memo on interview with Christopher Crane, CEO of Exelon, the largest nuclear utility in the U.S., May 28, 2008:

"Crane recalled that at one point, Merrifield called him to ask if he could call Shaw and General Electric on his behalf because these companies were not returning Englemeyer's telephone calls. Crane did not recall when Merrifield requested him to contact these companies on his behalf. Crane said he later telephoned Richard Gill, The Shaw Group and Andy White, General Electric and recommended that they consider Merrifield for employment."

2. From a memo on  interview with Roger Davis, legal advisor to then-Chairman of the NRC, November 23, 2007:

"Merrifield had asked if [CEO of Energy Solutions Steven Creamer] Creamer had contacted his agent assisting with his employment search. Creamer responded "no," to which Merrifield asked "why not?"

3. From a memo on interview with Dr. K. P. Singh CEO of Holtec International, February 6, 2008:

"Singh occasionally called Merrifield for advice on how various committees or other parts of government worked."

4. From a memo on interview with a former Merrifield staffer, September 11, 2007:

"[The staffer] drew a distinction between firms such as PE [Progress Energy] and others such as Westinghouse or Shaw, explaining that PE was a current license and an announced applicant for a future power plants. By contrast, Westinghouse and Shaw were only vendors and thereby only potentially indirect benefactors of any Commission actions.  She indicated that one could suggest that all nuclear design vendors or even uranium mining companies could benefit by the increase in demand for their products with an increase in the number of nuclear power plants. [The staffer] felt that consideration of such firms as part of the conflict of interest rules was overly broad."

5. From a memo on interview with a former Merrifield staffer, September 11, 2007:

"Merrifield did not want the details of his job search public. The potential for having to release written documentation under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was a major reason for not documenting his recusal from commission actions."

-- Ingrid Drake and Bryan Rahija