Richard Levernier is an American
nuclear whistleblower.
Levernier worked for 23 years as a
nuclear security
Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the ...
professional, and identified security problems at U.S. nuclear facilities as part of his job. Specifically, after 9/11, he identified problems with contingency planning to protect US nuclear plants from
terrorist attacks
The following is a list of terrorist incidents that have not been carried out by a state or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). Assassinations are listed at List of assassinated people.
Definitions of terrori ...
. He said that the assumption that attackers would both enter and exit from facilities was not valid, since
suicide terrorists would not need to exit. In response to this complaint, the
U.S. Department of Energy withdrew Levernier's security clearance and he was assigned to clerical work. Levernier approached the
United States Office of Special Counsel
The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Pr ...
(OSC), which handles US federal
whistleblower
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
matters. It took the OSC four years to vindicate Levernier, ruling that the department's retaliation was illegal – but the OSC could not reinstate Levernier's security clearance, so he was unable to regain work in nuclear security.
Nuclear power and antiterrorism: obscuring the policy contradictions
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See also
*List of nuclear whistleblowers
There have been a number of nuclear whistleblowers, often nuclear engineers, who have identified safety concerns about nuclear power and nuclear weapons production.
List
Other nuclear whistleblowers
* Chuck Atkinson
* Dale G. Bridenbaugh
* Jo ...
* Nuclear safety
*George Galatis
George Galatis is a senior nuclear engineer and whistleblower who reported safety problems at the Millstone 1 Nuclear Power Plant, relating to reactor refueling procedures, in 1996.Shaw, William H. (2004)''Business Ethics'' pp. 267-268. The unsafe ...
*Nuclear whistleblowers
There have been a number of nuclear whistleblowers, often nuclear engineers, who have identified safety concerns about nuclear power and nuclear weapons production.
List
Other nuclear whistleblowers
* Chuck Atkinson
* Dale G. Bridenbaugh
* Joe ...
*Vulnerability of nuclear plants to attack
The vulnerability of nuclear plants to deliberate attack is of concern in the area of nuclear safety and security. Nuclear power plants, civilian research reactors, certain naval fuel facilities, uranium enrichment plants, fuel fabrication plants, ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levernier, Richard
American whistleblowers
Nuclear terrorism
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people