IA-87-871, Forwards Draft Response to Senator C Levin 870528 Ltr,For Review & EDO Signature.Rg Kunkle 870730 Ltr Re Improvement in Safeteam Encl.Related Info Encl.W/O Stated Response

Forwards Draft Response to Senator C Levin 870528 Ltr,For Review & EDO Signature.Rg Kunkle 870730 Ltr Re Improvement in Safeteam Encl.Related Info Encl.W/O Stated Response

ML20196J763
Person / Time
Site:	Fermi
Issue date:	07/01/1987
From:	Davis A NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III)
To:	Rehm T NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
Shared Package
ML20196J737	List: IA-87-871, Forwards Draft Response to Senator C Levin 870528 Ltr,For Review & EDO Signature.Rg Kunkle 870730 Ltr Re Improvement in Safeteam Encl.Related Info Encl.W/O Stated Response ML20196J733 ML20196J763
References
FOIA-87-871 NUDOCS 8803150044
Download: ML20196J763 (11)

Text

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i 071987 4

MEMORANDUM FOR: 1homas A. Rehm, Assistant for Operations, Office of the Executive Director for Operations FROM: )

A. Bert Davis, Regional Administrator, Region !!!

SUBJECT:

DRAFl RESPONSE TO SENATOR LEVIN (E00 CONTROL NO. 0029E;)

The attached draft response it Senator C. Levin's letter of May 2E.

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Regional Administrator ,

Attachment:

Draft Response to Senator Levin l

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- em nr W 49Ii1L/L A Sutak>ory of Detrod (ex:n July 30, 1987 M. J. Gavin, Director, Nuclear Ftryicas 146 NOC, Enrico Fermi Power Plant Detroit Edison Company subject: Improvement In SAFETEAM f

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.D e a r . Mik e : '

i This is in response to your request that describe I the improvements to SAFETEAM since Wayne Jens statement to the NRC on l July 10, 1985.

l L On July 8, 1985, Jens produced a two page document titled l

• Introduction" stating the objectives and philosophy of SAFETEAM.

Attached was a two page document titled: ' Improvements to be made i to the SAFETEAM progran*; apparently provided by A. J. Senes, the Corporate officer responsible at that l time for SAFETRAM  :

, operation. These documents attached. I can only assume that '

these changes were made as I was not on site at that time, but did receive a copy of Jens transmittal and the documents.

' In early 1986 it was decided that a third party SAFETEAM would be f an improvement and SYNCECO was I awarded a contract to operate SAFETEAM.  !

SYNDECO conducted a search for interviewers, provided train!.ng 4

., and made a final selection of interviewers between aid February and March 14, 1986. The search, training and evaluation of

! interviewers was done by F. M. McIntyre and Associates Inc., an i

i industrial psychologist and his associates.

A group of general ques tions have been prepared as a guide for j the interviewers to use in conducting interviews. A book with questions on specific subjects has been developed and is available to interviewers if needed during the interview.

^

All investigators at Termi are provided to SYNDECO by National Inspection and consultants Inc. (NIC). Each investigator is required to have prior background in the Nuclear Industry.

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are certified inspectors or auditors. In addition, N.I.C has

{ developed an investigator training program patterned after a college level law enforcement course.

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0 1 1 SYND(CQ he. Suu 2300 660 Moto Drive Detrod, %chW 48226 1 (313)237 7163

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I M. J. Gavin July 30, 1987 '

Page 3 i

i Ferai's specific training was given in addition to the general orientation required for all new employads. All SAFETEAN employees have made a guided tour of the plant, were provided a

, spccial one day program explaining the features of the plant including a session in the simulator describing operation of the plant. Video training tapes and specific training documents have i been made available and have been used to help both investigators and interviewers better understand the plant and its language. l 1 Fermi SAFETEAM management is now provided by SYNDECO and i

coordinates site activity through the Director, Nuclear services. '

In all operating respects, SAFETEAM is at arms length from the '

i Nuclear Opere*4ons Organisation.

In terms of oricific procedurws outlined in the W. S. Jens connitsent to -ort Davis, the following changes were initiated and continues 1 1. Interview audio tapes, when available, will be reviewed by an investigator to assure that concerns are fully identified. '

2. Concerns of wrongdoing will be turned over to Nuclear l

security who will conduct a detailed investigation of the concern using professional investigators. Wrongdoing involving Nuclear

), security will be assigned to another appropriate agency to I

investigate.  ;

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j '. , 3. When a concarn has been identified as a technical i specification vi ola tio n the shift supervisor will be notified immediately. The shif t Supervisor will issue a Report as appropriate. Deviation Event .

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4. When a concern has been identified as a public safety issue  !

Quality Assurance will be notified. Quality Assurance will originate a Deviation Event Report.

When the concern involves the Quality Assurance organization the director of Licensing will l be notified.

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1 Sin rely, 20 w x

' Robert G. Kunkle Director, SAFETEAM J

)nformation in this record w2: d!!cted in accordance Mhy., Freed;7 of informatich Act, enmpt.aas _L- _

F0IA _% d 7) --

88 I more valuable to the industry and to the Staff. But we think 2 the utility took a major step forward in getting the program 3 in plese.

4 COMMISSIONER ASSELSTINE: Darrell, has the company.

S in your view, been receptive and responsive to the kinds of 4 concerns that you've had in the areas where you found some 7 maybe soft spots or areas where further improvement could be 8 made in the SAFETEAM approach? And have they taken some steps 9 to upgrade the program for the longer term as they look 10 towards operation of the plant?

11 Mt. EISENHUT: Yes. I think everything I've heard 12 from the Staff --

and Tom and Bert might want to comment on it 13 more --

is that the utility has been receptive, and I think 14 the other utilities who are using the SAFETEAM soncept are 15 equally receptive. They all recognise that this is a program 16 that's just really getting underway, and I have quite a bit of 17 sonfidence that the industry, as we give them the comments, it sit down and interact with it, will be quite responsive to 69 those comments.

20 MI. DIRCKS: 1 might want to add, too, on this whole 21 area of SAFETEAM, I have asked the Staff to pull together some 22 thoughts on this subject so that we could some down and tres s I 23 Y >

41 as a polley issue with the Commission, as we have a. s 24 Coomission paper in very rough form on my desh now. 4-haven't 25 gone ever it. -B u t I think we do want to get into this issue,

30 1 pose some questions to the Commission. get some polley 2 guidaneo back, and we may want to treat it as an issue that we 3 oev1d give some guidanao to the industry on.

4 CDMAISSIONER ASSELSTINE: I think as you look down 5 the road a t. d see other esses coming along, that's a good idea.

8 and I think we have all felt the same way, but if we want to 7 provide some guidanee in this area, the sooner we do that, the 8 better. I agree with what Darrell said, I think these are 9 positive, good programs, and what we want to do is make sure 10 that they are as good as they man be, so that we aan rely on 11 them and use that information, and not have to duplicate wori 12 that's already been done.

13 MR. DIRCES: I think we have to have guidance on how

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14 much we do rely on them and how much we encourage utilities to  :

15 ask us to give them credit for it.

18 I COMMISSIONER ASSELSTINE: That's right. I 17 M1. DIRCIS: And once we get into that realm, then 18 we have to figure otat wha t sort of ariteria we want to 19 establish to provide them a basis for the program.

20 gut as I said, I have asked the Staff to put 21 something down. I haven't oven reviewed it yet, so I'll be 22 setting something down to the Commission on this subject.

22 COMMISSIONER 2ECH: I'd like to just add, too, that 24 during my visit to Vermi a souple months ago. I had a chance 25 to discuss this SAFETEAM soneopt in some depth with manarement

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' 31 1 and look at it firsthand. I think it is an excellent a soncept. There's just no question about it. It's an 3 excellent eoneopt. It does appear to me, though, that it's 4 important for the Staff to work closely with the utility on S the execution, because as we develop the program, as the S utility develops the program, I think it's important that we 7 do indeed provide them some kind of N2C guidance.

S So I hope it can be something that you can work 9 closely with the utility and the utility will be responsive to 10 the execution, because although I think the concept is sound, 11 I do think there are some things that probably need to be 12 worked out, as far as responsibilities are soneerned, NBC 13 responsibilities, utility responsibilities'and so forth.

14 So I think that its management certainly impressed 15 me as being responsive to that kind of an approach, and the 16 initiative is one that I agree should be commended and 17 extended to other utt11 ties.

18 CHA!RMAN PALLADINO: Let me add that I concur in 19 what Commissioner Zech has said.

20 1 do have a question. I understand that there are 21 unresolved issues before the SAFETEAM, and do we have any idea 22 on their plan for resolving them, or when they expect to be l 23 r e s olve d t 34 NR. DAVIS: We -- as a result of some of the 25 weaknesses that were identified, there were 459 safety-related

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l 33 1 soneerns that were identified that were given to the SAFETEAM 3 over the years. We have sampled a large number of these, and 3 we asked the Licensee to look at them. The NRC has looked at l

4 them, and we have looked also at some of the ones we asked the S Licensee to look at.

6 Out of the 459 I think there are only less than 10 7 that have not been completely closed out at this point, and we 4 have determined that none of them involve any hardware 9 problems.

10 CHAIRMAN PALLADINO: So you're satisfied with the 11 rate of progress on them, and the resolution?

12 MR. DAVIS: That's right. I expect them all to be 13 done in the next day or two.

14 CHA!EMAN PALLADINO: In the next what?

15 MR. DAVIS: In the next day or two.

16 CHA!EMAN PALLADINO: Oh, I see. Okay, good. That's l l

17 what I was interested in. 1 te COMMISSIONER ASSELSTINE: Before we move on, it just 19 struck Commissioner Bernthat and myself that perhaps a lot of 20 people might not understand what the SAFETEAM concept is, or 21 what this was all about.

22 OHA!EMAN PALLADINO: Yes.

23 COMMISSIONER ASSELSTINE: You might want to-just say 24 a few words about what the sensept is and what you see as some 25 of the benefits, both to us and to the Licensee.

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33 1 MR. EISENHUT: I apprestate that. In fact. that's 2 why I wrote the comments at the time I did.

3 Bert, do you want to try?

4 MR. DAVIS: Want me to do that?

S COMMISSIONER BERNTHAL: One of the virtues of a 6 public meeting is the hope that the public understands what is i

7 going on, so maybe we ought to try and explain what we're 4 talking about.

9 M1. DIRCES: We can sover it, too, but it might a.

10 be good to get the company itself to give'you the er,re 11 positive image of this.

12 COMMI S S I ONER S ERNTH AL : Right. But a quick 13 definition may be helpful.

14 MR. DAVIS: Okay. Well, in 1983, the company 15 recognised that there were a lot of allegations that concerned 16 workers and others were - particularly workers -- were 17 bringing to the NRC or bringing to outside groups. And they it thought it would be a good idea to create a climate with the 13 workers and individuals to bring their concerns to the 20 company, so that the company could act upon them and correct 21 any problems that existed, and then to avoid a last-minute 22 rush of a lot of allegations.

23 They set up a group to do that, which was somewhat 24 independent of the normal sonstruction and operating people in 25 that company. They wanted to have people interviewed by an

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34 1 interviewer who was not intimidating to them and who could 8 draw them out and get their eencerns.

3 Then the company's plan was to take these soneerns 4 and provide them to company staff, depending upon what kind of 5 a concern there was. If it was a concern of wrongdoing, it 6 would go to a nuolear security department; if it was a 7 technical kind of a sonoern, it would go to another group.

8 Then these soneerns would be looked at, sorrected, 9 and there would then be a response provided to the eencernee 10 about what was done with respect to this soneern.

31 CHAIEMAN PALLADINO: That's an - ,ortant feature.

12 NR. DAVIS: That's right.

13 CHAIRMAN PALLADINO: That some other programs, 1 14 don't think had at the beginning.

SS N1. DAVIS: Then there was also a follow-up, and I 18 believe it was four or six months later, where they would [

17 reestablish contast with the person to find out if his f it eoneerns were satisfied. And they would provide an 800 number 19 to eatl in, in ease they didn't believe the concern was 20 satisfied.

21 And based on the number of allegations that we have 22 received from Fermi, compared to some of the other plants, 23 why, you een either say that the system apparently worked, or 24 else the work environment was such that the workers did not 25 have as many soneerns as some other plants did.

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l 1 won't disappoint you in our performance in doing that.  ;

3 I was personally disappointed when we got our SALP 3 rating 3 on fire protection, and I think the Region III people 4 know how disappointed I was. We're going to do better than 5 that from now on.

6 We would like to oneourage more NBC inspections, as l

I 7 you pointed out, Commissioner Bernthal.

4 COMMISSIONER BERHTHAL: Would you care to say that )

i 9 again? I 10 ELaughter.3 J

11 M1. JENS: Let me tell you, that's unusual for 12 somebody to say that, but we benefited a great deal, once we 13 got the inspection we did get toward the end of the 14 construction program. I wish we'd had it sooner, because 1 15 think we sould have avoided some of our problems.

16 COMMI S$!ONER ASSELSTINE : We need to make him an 17 appointment.

18 [ Laughter.3 19 M1. JENS: Well, I'm not saying that just -- 1 20 believe in what I'm saying.

21 As far as SAFETEAM is sonoorned, I would like to 32 point out that we have finished up all of the investigations 23 on the SAFETEAM allegations emeept ene item, and that'is 24 assoaisted with industrial safety, it's not part of the plant

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1 progras en inte opere'ien. and we will make the improvements 2 that we find necessary. ,,

1 3 We are aise going to pass on what we have learned 4 during this recent inspection by Region III to the other 5 plants that are using the SAFETEAM program.

s We talked about an acronym LDDI, this drawing issue, 7 and we are a l s o s osuni t t e d to eventually eliminate that index 4 that we have on drawings and some up with u consistent design 9 data base for the plant over its lifetime.

10 CHAIRMAN PALLADINO: Wayne, the five sainutes are up.

11 but you can take another half minute or so.

12 MR. JENS: Well, I do have some questions that I've 13 got to answer. Would you --

i 14 CHAIRMAN PALLADINO: Our questions don't sount.

15 We'll take care of that on our own time.

16 COMMISSIONER SERNTHAL: We oan eancel the next 17 meeting.

18 (Laughter.3 19 MR. JENS: There was one quostion about the 20 maintenance training program. First of all, let sne tell you 21 --

22 CHAIRMAN PALLADINO: Yes, I was about to ask about 23 that.

24 MR. JENS: --

that we are committed to have our 25 programs

. . - . - - - - - - - - - - - -accredited by INFO. Three of the p r o g r a m s __ h a v e been_ _ _,.

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