Ebasco Services was a United States-based designer and constructor of energy infrastructure, most notably

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...

History

The company was formed from the

Electric Bond and Share Company The Electric Bond and Share Company (Ebasco) was a United States electric utility holding company organized by General Electric. It was forced to divest its holding companies and reorganize due to the passage of the Public Utility Holding Company A ...

, a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

that sold securities of electric utilities. It was created by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

in 1905. Electric Bond and Share was restructured after the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, forming EBASCO Services, a provider of engineering consulting and construction services. Among other projects EBASCO designed nuclear power plants. By the 1980s, EBASCO had three divisions: EBASCO Engineering, which provided engineering design and A/E services, EBASCO Environmental, which provided environmental engineering and science services, and EBASCO Constructors, which provided construction and construction management. Ebasco (EBS) was included in Dow Jones Utility Average from 1938 to 1947. Ebasco Services was one of major US architect-engineers, coordinated design of many

s both in the USA and abroad including the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (units 1, 2 and 6). "Fukushima Daiichi 1 .. Fukushima Daiichi 2 .. Fukushima Daiichi 6 ... Architecture: Ebasco" EBASCO Engineering and Constructors were sold to Raytheon in 1993 and became part of a Raytheon subsidiary, United Engineers and Constructors. EBASCO Environmental was sold to Enserch Environmental before being sold to

Foster Wheeler Foster Wheeler AG (formerly Foster Wheeler Inc.) was a Swiss global engineering conglomerate with its principal executive offices in Reading, UK and its registered office in Baar, Canton of Zug, Switzerland. Foster Wheeler was added to the NASDA ...

, Inc., becoming Foster Wheeler Environmental.RAYTHEON COMPLETES EBASCO ACQUISITION FOR $210 MILLION
12/22/93

Whistleblowing case

Nuclear whistleblower Ronald J. Goldstein was a supervisor employed by EBASCO, which was a major contractor for the construction of

Houston Lighting and Power Company Houston Lighting & Power Co. (HL&P), later named Reliant Energy HL&P/Entex, was the single power and utility company that served Greater Houston of the U.S. state of Texas. It was a subsidiary of Houston Industries (HI, NYSE: HOU), which later wa ...

's South Texas Project (a complex of two nuclear power plants). In the summer of 1985, Goldstein identified safety problems to SAFETEAM, an internal compliance program established by EBASCO and Houston Lighting, including noncompliance with safety procedures, the failure to issue safety compliance reports, and quality control violations affecting the safety of the plant. SAFETEAM was promoted as an independent safe haven for employees to voice their safety concerns. The two companies did not inform their employees that they did not believe complaints reported to SAFETEAM had any legal protection. After he filed his report to SAFETEAM, Goldstein was fired. Subsequently, Golstein filed suit under federal nuclear whistleblower statutes. The U.S.

Department of Labor The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...

ruled that his submissions to SAFETEAM were protected and his dismissal was invalid, a finding upheld by Labor Secretary Lynn Martin. The ruling was appealed and overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that private programs offered no protection to whistleblowers. After Goldstein lost his case, Congress amended the federal nuclear whistleblower law to provide protection reports made to internal systems and prevent retaliation against whistleblowers.

References

{{General Electric American companies disestablished in 1993 1993 disestablishments in the United States Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1935 1935 establishments in the United States Raytheon Company General Electric American companies established in 1935