IR 05000498/1977008
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U.'S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT
REGION IV
REPORT OF INVESTIGATION
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Report No. 50-498/77-08 l
Docket No. 50-498 Category A2
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Licensee: Houston Lighting and Power Company
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Post Office Box 1700 Houston, Texas 77001 Facility Name: South Texas Project, Unit No.1
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Investigation at: Bay City, Texas
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Investigation conducted: July 6-8,1977 m:.
Investigators:
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Oht6 E. Foster,fnvestigative Specialist (RIII)
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}~ ~ E R.G. Taylor,fe,actorInspector Revfewed:
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'77 Date W. C. Seidle," Chief, Reactor Construction and
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Engineering Branch Investigation Summary:
Investigation on July 6-8, 1977 (Report No. 50-498/77-08)
Areas Inspected: Special announced investigation into concrete placement quality control; interviews with quality control inspectors; review of
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quality control procedures and organization; discussions with management personnel. The investigation involved twenty-eight inspector-hours on site by two NRC inspectors.
Results : No items of noncompliance or deviations were identified.
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INTRODUCTION E
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[E Brown and Root, Inc., (B&R) is the Architect-Engineering firm and Constructor for the South Texas Project Nuclear Power Station, E
licensed to the Houston Lighting and Power Company (HL&P). As a part of the B&R quality control program, B&R provides-quality control
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inspectors to monitor the site construction activities. B&R Civil
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quality control inspectors monitor various phases of the construction E=
process, including reinforcement bar placement, concrete form manu-facture, and concrete placement.
REASON FOR INVESTIGATION ggg
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Following receipt of a telephone call on July 1,1977, during which it was alleged that quality control inspectors at tne South Texas i
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Project site were being threatened with beatings if they identified any unacceptable items during concrete placement inspections, RIV g.=
initiated an investigation into the allegation, m
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SUMMARY OF FACTS On July 1,1977, an individual who identified himself as Individual iE
"A" contacted RIV Inspector R. Taylor by telephone.
Individual
"A"
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indicated that an incident had taken place at the South Texas Project (STP) in which a B&R Construction foreman had assaulted and injured a BER Civil Quality Control (QC) inspector, and alleged that the
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incident was just one of a series of threats and harassments against
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B&R QC inspectors.
Individual "A" also alleged that a B&R Construction
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Superintendent had advised his workers that any B&R Civil QC inspector who reported unacceptable items found during concrete placement inspections would be liable for a beating.
RIV contacted B&R and substantiated that an altercation had taken place between a B&R Civil QC inspector and a B&R Construction
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"B foreman at STP. B&R was advised of the general nature of the allegations made to RIV, and that an investigation would be initiated into the matter.
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During July 6-8, 1977, a RIII Investigator and a RIV Inspector visited STP and interviewed all present B&R Civil QC inspectors, including the
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QC inspector involved in the altercation with the B&R Construction
_ foreman, interviewed B&R Construction personnel, reviewed the structure and procedures for the B&R QC function, and held discussions with HL&P
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personnel.
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Interviews with B&R Civil QC personnel indicated that an inordinate
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amount of friction had developed betaen the B&R Civil QC inspectors and the B&R Construction personnel involved in concrete placement.
It was also.. indicated that various minor harassments, such as offend-ing comends on the site radio channels, had sometimes been directeo s
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towed * B&R Civil QC inspectors.
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Statements received during the interviews with B&R Civil-QC inspectors E2 appear to indicate that the allegation made to RIV relates to two incidents which took place on June 30, 1977. On the morning of that date, Individual
"F" a B&R Civil QC inspector and Individual
"M" a
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B&R Construction foreman, had a heated verbal argument over a concrete.
QC inspection, and threatening statements were apparently made by both
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parties.
Both individuals, when interviewed, stated that any threaten-ing statements 'made during the argument were made in the heat of the argument, and were regretted.
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On the afternoon of June 30, 1977, a B&R Civil QC inspector was involved in an altercation with a B&R Construction foreman.
Individual
"B", the B&R QC inspector involved in the incident, stated that the altercation was totally unexpected, and not a part of any long-term
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friction between him and Individual "C", the Ccnstructio.n foreman 5..
involved.
Individual "B" indicated that the incident may have been lE; partially accidental in that Individual "C" may not have intended
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that Individual "B" fall and injure himself.
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Individual "B" stated that he was threatened by an unknown laborer as he left the plant site after the incident. There was no evidence
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that this threat was a part of a program of harassment of intimid.
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ation of B&R QC inspectors. The laborer may have made the threat to show sympathy with Individual "C" (as the threat was made imedi-ately after the incident).
The individual who made the telephonic allegation to RIV and identi-
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fied himself as Individual "A" could not be located. None of the W
personnel employed at the STP site were so named, and Individual "A"
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did not identify himself to NRC representatives during this investi-
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gation.
Individual "C" was not interviewed, as he had terminated his employment at the site, and was unavailable for interview.
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The two incidents did not provide sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation that there was a directed program of harassment and
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intimidation of B&R QC inspectors. No evidence was developed that
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the B&R Construction Superintendent had advised his workers that any B&R QC inspector who found and reported unacceptable items during concrete placement inspections would be liable for a beating.
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. All of the B&R QC inspectors interviewed indicated that they had not
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E'i overlooked any unacceptable conditions during their inspections, but h.
that they had followed their inspection specifications to the letter.
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Several inspectors comented that they had actually become more q!i.~
strict in their inspections as a result of the friction between them
?g and the B&R Construction personnel.
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No items of noncompliance with NRC regulations were identified is a result of this investigation.
On July 8,1977, the findings of the investigation were r' scussed 2.=,
with B&R and HL&P management personnel.
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CONCLUSIONS
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There were two incidents involving threats to B&R QC inspecto,rs
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on June 30, 1977.
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The facts regarding the two incidents are insufficient evidence 55 @
to substantiate the allegations investigated.
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An inordinate amount of friction had developed between B&R QC
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inspectors and B&R Construction personnel. This friction may have contributed to the two incidents noted above.
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DETAILS Personnel Contacted
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Houston Lighting and Power Companv 5~-
- R. A. Frazar, Quality Assurance Manager
- W. N. Phillips, Project Quali ty Assurance Manager
- F. D. Asbeck, Construction Supervisor i
- L. D. Wilson, Lead Specialist
- T. K. Logan, Lead Engineer
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Brown and Root, Inc., (B&R)
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C. Crane, Construction Project Manager i
- J. Monroe, Assistant Construction Manager
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J. Salvitti, General Superintendent Civil Construction Q. Lindsay, Quality Assurance Manager
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- M. T. Meyer, Houston Coordinator
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- T. P. Gardiner, Project Quality Assurance Manager T. Schreeder, Quality Control Supervisor
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Individuals
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Individuals "A" through "M" m.=e_
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- Attended close-out meeting.
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This investigation focused on the Civil Construction quality control program conducted by Brown and Root, Inc., at the South Texas Project
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Reactor construction site. The allegations received related to civil construction quality control inspectors only, and other phases of B&R
.mz quality control were not inspected. Emphasis was placed on the question of whether B&R QC inspectors were being threatened and intimidated to f
overlook unacceptable conditions during their inspections.
On July 7,1977, employee lists were reviewed, interviews were held with all present B&R Civil QC inspectors, the B&R QC organizational structure was reviewed, B&R Construction management personnel were i
interviewed and discussions were held with HL&P personnel.
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On July 8,1977, oiscussions were held with HL&P personnel and inter-views were held with B&R QC inspectors. An investigation close-out
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meeting was held on this date.
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Ihterviews with B&R Civil Quality Control Inspectors On July 7,19/7, all present B&R Civil QC inspectors involved in concrete inspections, a total of ten inspectors, were interviewed by the NRC representatives.
Four of the inspectors interviewed indicated that they had not experienced any problems or harassment from construction workers.
E" The four inspectors who indicated no problems were noted to be either trainees or to be assigned to inspections of non-safety areas of the plant where inspection criteria are less strict than those for safety-related areas.
The other Civil QC inspectors indicated that they normally have very g;=
few problems with their' inspections, but that they had experienced
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some harassment before and during periods when concrete pours were in progress.
In general, the inspectors comments reflected minor.
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harassments, such as comments from the workers, radio transmissionk
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critical of the QC inspectors, and verbal arguments with the B&R Construction foremen involved with concrete placement. Several au::
inspectors stated that whenever a problem occurred in connection
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with a concrete pour, the Construction foreman in charge of concrete
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placement would step in,-even if the inspection problem involved another craf t such as ironworkers.
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Several inspectors indicated that they thought that B&R QC was not getting enough ~ managerial support, and stated that when a dispute
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arose between them and a Construction foreman, the B&R General Ei~
Superintendent for Construction would often enter the dispute and
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argue with them.
Several QC inspectors commented that the QC inspector turnover had been high, due to low morale among the QC inspectors and other factors. The inspectors stated that none of the QC inspecters whc ss:
had left the job site had claimed that they did so because they had been threatened, harassed, or intimidated on the job.
Each Civil QC inspector was questioned as to whether any inspector had overlooked any unacceptable inspection items as a result of harassment on the job. All of the inspectors indicated that taey
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had not overlooked unacceptable inspection items, and several inspec-tors commented that they had become more strict in their inspections because of the friction between them and the Construction Branch.
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Interview with Individual "F" Individual "F" was interviewed on July 7,1977. He indicated that he had been the object of some of the minor harassments previously t=:.
mentioned.
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Individual "F" stated that on the morning of June 30, 1977, he had performed an inspection just prior to a planned concrete placement
- pour, and had found what he considered to be an unacceptable item whose correction had delayed the concrete pour. He stated that he and the Construction foreman, Individual "M", became er. gaged in a heated verbal argument as a r'sult of his action, and that during the argument Individual
"M" had threatened him with a beating.
Individual "F" indicated that Individual
"M" had taken no action to sg.
follow up on the threat.
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Interview with Individual "B"
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Individual "B" was interviewed on July 7,1977.
Individual "B" stated that he.had been' involved in an altercation with a Construc-
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tion foreman on the afternoon of June 30, 1977.
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Individual "B" said. that he was involved in an inspection at approki-i mately 4:00 p.m., on that date and that he had requested Individual
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"C", the Construction foreman for that particular work crew, to have l
l a slick line removed from the area of his inspection.
Individual
"C" apparently took offense at this, Individual "B" stated, for he
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turned to Individual
"B", they exchanged words, and Individual "C" took hold of Individual "B"'s collar and shook him.
Individual "B" ms?
indicated that they had both been standing on concrete reinforcement J~
bars, and that as a result of being shaken by Individual "C",
he lost his balance and fell with Individual "C" on top of him.
Individual "B" stated that he had not had any previous problems with Individual "C", or with any other Construction foremen, and that the
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incident had taken him totally by surprise. He indicated that Individual "C" may not have intended that he icse his footing and
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fall.
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l Individual "B" stated that an unknown workee had threatened to kill
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him (no other comment), and that this thraat took place as he was l
leaving the plant site immediately after the incident described if
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above.
Individual "B" indicated that this was the first time that he had been threatened, and that no subsequent threats had been made.
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Interview with Individual "M"
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Individual "M" was interviewed on July 7,1977.
Individual
"M"
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stated that he was the B&R Construction foreman who had been in-ZZ volved in a heated argument with Individual "F" on June 70, 1977,
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and that he had threatened Individual "F" with a beating during the argument.
Individual
"M" indicated that Individual "F" had also
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made threatening statements during the argument.
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'I'ndividual
"M" stated that the threats that he had made were made E
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during the heat of the argument, and that upon gaining his com-i.;,~
posure, he regretted making the statements.
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Discussions with B&R Construction Management personnel i:
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Discussions with B&R Construction management personnel indicated
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that the period just prior to, and during, a concrete placement pour E3 is a crucial period when there is considerable pressure to complete
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the pour as scheduled. This is because advance plans for personnel and material have to be made before the pour is performed, and/any
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delay in the pour, once scheduled, is costly. Therefore, QC inspec-5="
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tions made during this period receive increased attention from the personnel involved in concrete placerent.
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The B&R General Superintendent for Civil Construction indicated that
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the B&R Concrete General Superintendent is responsible for seeing.
tha. any QC inspection problems are rectified and that concrete ggdi
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placement is accomplished on schedule, and that, therefore, he would
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The become involved in any inspection problem which could delay a concrete
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This would account for the QC inspectors'
perception that pour.
concrete placement f.ersonnel step into any inspection problem even if the problem relates to another craft.
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It was indicated that B&R Construction management persor.nel had been
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aware that friction had been building between the Civil QC inspectors and the Construction foremen and personnel involved in concrete placement, and that a meeting had been scheduled to discuss the
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==.=r problem prior to the altercation between the QC inspector and Construction foreman. This meeting was postponed due to the events
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