Professionalism/Richard Perkins and the NRC

Ethical Implications

Professional Ethics Examples

Richard Perkins

Richard Perkins set a strong example of professional ethics and showed that he had a deep knowledge of himself and his values. Perkins had to deal with the conflicting values of keeping sensitive information private and prioritizing public safety. Describing this conflict, Perkins said "When you're working with sensitive information, you just don't talk about it, so what I'm doing I find to be both perverse and uncomfortable, but I had to do it". His statement that he "had to do it" showed that he was able to discern which conflicting value took precedence. The action he took also required him to put his own self interest on hold to do what was right. By making his allegations about the NRC public, he jeopardized his own career. He understood and truly believed that at the NRC their "mandate is to promote safety". In Perkins words, the NRC's inaction and redactions have "allowed a very dangerous scenario to continue unaddressed for years". He claims that his "involves a violation of law and is not related to a technical opinion or distinction" and indicated that if he stayed silent, he would be complicit in the act.

Lawrence Criscione

Lawrence Criscione made it clear in his letter, to Chairman Allison Macfarlane of the NRC, that this was a matter of professional ethics. His professional ethics perspective on this issue was that "as a professional engineer and as a public servant I have a duty to the citizens of this country to address my concerns regarding the NRC’s handling of the Jocassee Dam issue with the staffs of our congressional oversight committees". In his letter, he quoted Admiral Rickover saying that "A major flaw in our system of government, and even in industry, is the latitude to do less than is necessary. Too often officials are willing to accept and adapt to situations they know to be wrong. The tendency is to downplay problems instead of actively trying to correct them". Criscione agrees with this statement about the system of government but is clearly not willing to accept or adapt to a situation he knew was wrong.

Ethics Violations

Through their statements, both Perkins and Criscione allege that the NRC was failing to uphold several of the fundamental canons of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics. In the letter that he made public, Perkins said, "I allege that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has intentionally mischaracterized relevant and noteworthy safety information as sensitive, security information in an effort to conceal the information from the public". Criscione agreed and pointed out that "Merely withholding safety-related information from Congress and thereby impeding the handling of nuclear safety issues is not an acceptable way of addressing security threats". These statements indicate that they believed the NRC was violating fundamental canons one, three, and five of the NSPE code of ethics. These canons state that a professional engineer will hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public, will issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner, and will avoid deceptive acts.