Public interest groups denied motion to unseal nuclear power documents.

Plaintiffs' lawyers and consumer and anti-nuclear advocates angered by "unnecessary secrecy" in the civil justice system sought to unseal documents in a products liability lawsuit but were shut out by the decision of a federal court in Pennsylvania.

The public interest groups, led by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) and Ralph Nader's Public Citizen, filed a motion to intervene in a legal battle between Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Carolina Power & Light Co. (CP&L). The groups had hoped to break up a "national pattern of corporations using protective orders to hide deadly hazards from the public," said Anne Bloom, TLPJ staff attorney. (Westinghouse Electric Corp. v. Carolina Power & Light Co., No. CIV.A. 89-0826, 1990 WL 107428 (W.D. Pa. June 7, 1990).)

U.S. District Court Judge Alan Bloch on June 3 dismissed the groups' motion to step into the case and to unseal relevant papers.

The advocacy groups wanted to make public court documents submitted by both companies. Those documents, said Public Citizen staff attorney Jim Riccio, likely support CP&L's allegations that Westinghouse supplied it with defective nuclear reactor steam generators and then tried to cover up the error. Cracked or corroding generators can release radioactive gases into the atmosphere, but Westinghouse insists that public safety is not endangered.

At least a dozen utilities across the nation have filed similar lawsuits against Westinghouse, and five cases have been settled. In each case, the courts have agreed to seal most of the evidence and keep all settlement agreements under wraps.

In Congress, a Senate subcommittee is considering a bill to prevent judges from seating court records that contain information affecting public health and safety. (See Congress Urged to Limit Court Secrecy, TRIAL, June 1994, at 94.)

"Unnecessary secrecy undermines our system of justice, threatens the public health and safety, and subverts the democratic principles on which this country is based," Bloom said. Gaining access to these documents will aid citizens across the country in holding Westinghouse accountable for potentially putting public safety at risk and will help ensure the integrity of our judicial system."

Westinghouse spokesman Vaughn Gilbert called the groups' allegations of needless secrecy "absurd and ridiculous."

"The documents contain numerous trade secrets and proprietary information that should not be made available to our competitors," Gilbert said. "The nuclear power industry is probably the most heavily regulated, most scrutinized industry in the world. We feel we're already being quite cooperative with the government, the regulators, and the communities. There is no safety issue - not in any way, shape, or form."

Bloom said TLPJ will continue to push for access to the documents either by pursuing the issue in the CP&L case or possibly. in some other similar case against Westinghouse.