The Navy is investigating allegations that sailors at a nuclear reactor training and certification facility in Charleston, S.C. have engaged in cheating on exams, the service’s top officer said Tuesday.
“To say that I am disappointed would be an understatement,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert told reporters at hastily arranged press conference at the Pentagon.
Those under investigation include individuals who have been previously certified, have operated nuclear reactors and also serve as training instructors at the school, said Adm. John Richardson, the director of the Navy’s nuclear propulsion program, said. The testing involved re-qualifying them, he said.
Nuclear reactors power the Navy’s fleet of aircraft carriers and submarines. The allegations do not involve nuclear weapons, unlike the scandal currently embroiling the Air Force wherein airmen responsible for nuclear arms are believed to have cheated on qualification exams.
Richardson said a sailor who had been offered an opportunity to cheat instead came forward reported the matter up the chain of command.
Since the issue arose only 24 hours earlier and the investigation is still in the early stages, Richardson would not say how many sailors were involved in cheating, but said it was a small number, possibly more than a dozen. All of the implicated individuals have had their access to the facility revoked pending the outcome of the probe, he said.
If the Navy concludes that the individuals under investigation indeed cheated, they could ultimately face expulsion from the service, Richardson said.