05000286/FIN-2007003-02
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Finding | |
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| Title | Licensee-Identified Violation |
| Description | The following Severity Level IV violation was identified by the licensee and is a violation of NRC requirements which meets the criteria of Section VI of the NRC Enforcement Policy, NUREG 1600, for being dispositioned as a non-cited violation. Prior to administering the 2006 initial licensed operator NRC examination, Entergy informed the NRC that regulations and guidelines regarding examination security may not have been followed. Specifically, a training supervisor was directing training to be conducted for examination topics that were not previously covered during the applicants training. After receiving this report, the NRC, in parallel with Entergy, conducted an investigation to determine the nature and extent of the issue. The NRC determined that the extent of the compromise was ultimately limited to two questions on the written examination and one job performance measure (JPM). To ensure the integrity of the written examination, these two questions and twenty three others were removed from the examination. These questions were replaced with other randomly selected test items that were provided by the NRC. The compromised JPM was replaced. Based upon the replaced JPM, the nature of the operating examination, and the security arrangements, the NRC did not consider the operating examination to be compromised. The examination was determined to be valid and was administered. The investigation continued to gather information to support potential enforcement actions. Following the administration of the examination, the NRC further investigated the personnel and events surrounding this issue and determined that the training supervisor had misinterpreted NRC guidance regarding what was, and what was not, appropriate activities for a person in his position. Regardless of his understanding, and although his actions were identified and corrected prior to the administration of the examination, the NRC concluded that the supervisors actions were a violation of NRC requirements as stated below. NRC regulations prohibit facility licensees from engaging in any activity that could compromise the integrity of any examination required by 10 CFR 55, \"Operator\'s Licenses.\" This finding was determined to be more than minor because the failure to administer an equitable and consistent licensed operator qualification examination had the potential to cause a credible impact on safety since operators could have been considered for licensing without demonstrating an adequate level of knowledge. This finding was considered as traditional enforcement because the issue had the potential for impacting the NRCs ability to make a licensing decision to permit individuals to operate the controls of a nuclear power plant. This finding was determined to be a Severity Level IV non-cited violation because no willfulness was involved, it was not repetitive, it was entered into the licensees corrective action program, and the licensee notified the NRC of this issue. 10 CFR 55.49, \"Integrity of Examinations and Tests,\" states in part that, applicants, licensees, and facility licensees shall not engage in any activity that compromises the integrity of any application, test, or examination required by this part. The integrity of a test or examination is considered compromised if any activity, regardless of intent, affected, or, but for detection, would have affected, the equitable and consistent administration of the test or examination. This includes activities related to the preparation and certification of license applications and all activities related to the preparation, administration, and grading of the tests and examinations required by this part. Contrary to the above, Entergy developed and submitted the 2006 Initial Licensed Operator Qualification Examination for NRC review and approval and then subsequently engaged in training activities in a manner which compromised the integrity of the examination. The training activities in question occurred in late August 2006 and throughout September 2006 in the weeks leading up to the examination which was originally scheduled for the weeks of October 23 and 30, 2006. These training activities were identified by the licensee and reported to the NRC. Subsequent investigations by the NRC during the weeks of October 10 through December 15, 2006, determined that a compromise, and thus a violation, had occurred. Entergy provided focused training on examination test items just before the examination was to be administered, thereby undermining the ability of the NRC to infer adequate mastery of the necessary knowledge and abilities for making a licensing decision. Entergy entered this issue into their corrective action program (CR IP3 2006-02786 and 03108) and immediately initiated a root cause investigation. Entergys investigation made a determination regarding the extent of the compromise, which corresponded to the results of an independent investigation conducted by the NRC. Because the issue was placed in the corrective action program and compliance was restored before the examination was administered and because the issue was not repetitive nor willful, this violation is being treated as a Severity Level IV non-cited violation, consistent with Section VI.A of the NRC Enforcement Policy. |
| Site: | Indian Point  |
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| Report | IR 05000286/2007003 Section 4OA7 |
| Date counted | Jun 30, 2007 (2007Q2) |
| Type: | TEV: Severity level IV |
| cornerstone | No Cornerstone |
| Identified by: | Licensee-identified |
| Inspection Procedure: | |
| Inspectors (proximate) | B Haagensen B Welling B Wittick D Jackson E Cobey G Bowman G Smith J Noggle J Teator J Williams M Cox R Cureton S Barr T Nicholson T Walker |
| INPO aspect | |
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Finding - Indian Point - IR 05000286/2007003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Finding List (Indian Point) @ 2007Q2
Self-Identified List (Indian Point)
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