Nuclear Panel Member Vows He’ll Keep Job

Thomas M. Roberts vowed Friday to remain on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, dismissing new congressional charges of malfeasance as “ludicrous.”

“I continue to respect and honor the public trust that has been placed in me. I vote my mind and my principles without regard to political repercussions or recriminations. I have done nothing to warrant my resignation,” Roberts said in a letter to Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.).

Gejdenson, chairman of the House Interior and Insular Affairs subcommittee on general oversight and investigations, sent a letter to President Reagan on Thursday urging him to fire Roberts.

Improper Meeting Alleged

Gejdenson said Roberts improperly met with David Martin, director of the Office of Government Ethics, in an attempt to influence an investigation of the chief of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s nuclear power program.

The program falls under the NRC’s purview, and at the time Roberts was being considered for a post on the authority’s board of directors. The congressman said that was a conflict of interest.

But Roberts said in his letter that the meeting was “wholly above-board and appropriate.”

Responding to another charge, Roberts acknowledged that he met with the defense counsel for a utility under criminal investigation despite a request by federal prosecutors that he inform them before any such meetings were held so they could send a representative.