Reagan Urged to Fire Nuclear Panel Member

Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.), head of a House panel overseeing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, urged President Reagan on Thursday to fire NRC Commissioner Thomas M. Roberts.

“Mr. Roberts has betrayed the trust you showed when you named him to the NRC,” Gejdenson said in a letter to Reagan. “He has demonstrated a contempt for the process of government. Mr. Roberts’ pattern of malfeasance indicates that he cannot be an effective member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

Others in Congress have urged Roberts to resign, citing a case where his office allegedly leaked a classified document to a utility and he quashed an internal investigation of the incident.

Gejdenson, chairman of the House Interior and Insular Affairs subcommittee on general oversight and investigations, pointed to two other instances of alleged wrongdoing that he said were recently uncovered by investigators for his subcommittee.

‘Unquestionable Integrity’

“We would hope the President would do the right thing. This Administration has to understand how important having an NRC with unquestionable integrity is,” Gejdenson said.

White House officials had no immediate comment on Gejdenson’s request.

Roberts, appointed by Reagan in 1981, is serving a second five-year term, which is scheduled to expire in June, 1990.

In a May letter to Gejdenson after lawmakers urged his resignation, Roberts said a Justice Department investigation would clear him of any wrongdoing in the leaked documents case involving Louisiana Power & Light Co.

“When measured against six years of an otherwise unblemished record of service, this incident does not warrant resignation,” Roberts wrote.

Raises Two Other Cases

Gejdenson said congressional investigators had found evidence suggesting that the leaked documents case is not the only problem.

Against the wishes of government prosecutors, Gejdenson said, Roberts met privately with lawyers for Indiana & Michigan Electric Co. in September, 1985, while the utility was under criminal investigation for making false statements about fire safety at its D.C. Cook nuclear plant.