PENNSYLVANIA
Miguel Marcial Amaro and Martin Ramos plead guilty last week to the felony offense of making and using a false document, officials stated.
Each defendant is banned from participation in or employment in Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) — licensed activities as a condition of their plea agreement—Marcial Amaro for five years and Ramos for two years.
According to court documents, Marcial Amaro and Ramos both worked for a company that provided acoustic emissions (AE) testing to nuclear power plants to detect structural defects in the plant’s equipment, including critical components within the nuclear reactors.
Between 2010 and 2021, Marcial Amaro ensured that the company’s AE testing equipment was calibrated annually; Ramos worked under Marcial Amaro as an engineer.
The two men created numerous false calibration certificates for AE testing equipment, and 15 of these false certificates were sent a total of 29 times to nuclear plant owners as part of the final testing reports required by NRC.
The falsified calibration certificates were discovered in 2021 during an external audit.
The NRC’s Office of Investigation conducted the investigation.
Senior Trial Attorney Daniel Dooher and Trial Attorney Rachel M. Roberts of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan E. Burnes for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania are prosecuting the case.