IR 05000528/1990036
| ML17305B085 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palo Verde  |
| Issue date: | 09/26/1990 |
| From: | Martin J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION V) |
| To: | Conway W ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE CO. (FORMERLY ARIZONA NUCLEAR |
| Shared Package | |
| ML17305B086 | List: |
| References | |
| EA-90-147, NUDOCS 9010030237 | |
| Download: ML17305B085 (7) | |
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NOTES:STANDARDIZED PLANT Standardized plant.
Standardized plant.
CCELERATED DISTRIBUTION DEMONSTRATION SYSTEM
~ I REGULATORY INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (RIDS)
ACCESSION NBR:9010030237 DOC.DATE: 90/09/26 NOTARIZED: NO DOCKET FACIL:STN-50-528 Palo Verde Nuclear Station, Unit 1, Arizona Publi 05000528 STN-50-529 Palo Verde Nuclear Station, Unit 2, Arizona Publi 05000529 STN-50-530 Palo Verde Nuclear Station, Unit 3, Arizona Publi 05000530 AUTH.NAME AUTHOR AFFILIATION MARTIN,J.B.
Region 5 (Post 820201)
R RECIP.NAME RECIPIENT AFFILIATION CONWAY,W.F.
Arizona Public Service Co.
(formerly Arizona Nuclear Power SUBJECT:
Discusses Insp Repts 50-528/90-36,50-529/90-26
&
50-530/90-36
& forwards notice of violation
& civil penalty.
DISTRIBUTION CODE:
IEOID COPIES RECEIVED:LTR 2 ENCL SIZE:
S TITLE: General (50 Dkt)-Insp Rept/Notice of Violation esponse RECIPIENT ID CODE/NAME PD5 PD TRAMMELL,C.
IN ERNAL: ACRS AEOD/DEIIB DEDRO NRR SHANKMAN,S NRR/DREP/PEPB9D NRR/DST/DIR'8E2 NUDOCS-ABSTRACT OGC/HDS1 RGN5 FILE
EXTERNAL: NRC PDR NOTES:
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D NOTE TO ALL"RIDS" RECIPIENTS:
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D PLEASE HELP US TO REDUCE.iVASTE.'ONTACTTHE DOCUMENT CONTROL DESK, ROOM PI-37 (EXT. 20079) TO ELIMINATEYOUR NAME FROM DISTRIBUTION LISTS FOR DOCUMENTS YOU DON'T NEED!
AL NUMBER OF COPIES REQUIRED:,LTTR
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UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
REGION V
1460 MARIALANE, SUITE 210 WALNUTCREEK, CALIFORNIA94696-6368 SEP 2 6 1990 Docket Nos.
50-528, 50-529 and 50-530 License Nos.
NPF-41, NPF-51, and NPF-74 EA 90-147 Arizona Public Service Company ATTN:
Mr. William F.
Conway Executive Vice President, Nuclear Post Office Box 53999, Station 9012 Phoenix, Arizona 85072-3999 Gentlemen:
SUBJECT:
NOTICE OF VIOLATION AND PROPOSED IMPOSITION OF CIVIL PENALTY - $75,000 (Inspection Report Nos. 50-529/90-36, 50-529/90-36, and 50-530/90-36)
This letter refers to the inspection conducted on July 16 - August 7, 1990 at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.
The purpose of this inspection was to follow up on your letters dated July 9 and 23, 1990 notifying the NRC of licensed operator medical records violations which you had identified in a review from June 25 to July 9, 1990.
Your review satisfied a commitment'arising from a previous NRC inspection on May 14-18, 1990 which concluded that there was no apparent methodology to ensure that licensed operators had received medical examinations as required.
As a result of your initial findings, a meeting was held in Region V on July 10, 1990.
An enforcement conference was held in Region V on August 31, 1990.
The violations, which are described in the enclosed Notice of Violation and Proposed Civil Penalty (Notice), involved (1) a failure to notify the NRC regarding licensed operators who had developed potentially incapacitating medical conditions; and (2) inaccurate certification to the NRC that candidates for operator licenses had received complete medical examinations.
These viola-tions occurred from the effective date of the revised
CFR Part 55 (May 26, 1987) until their discovery as late as August 7, 1990.
The root cause of the violations appears to have been your lack of effective controls to ensure compliance with these requirements.
The violations are significant in that several licensed operators had medical conditions that could have prevented them from properly performing their jobs.
It is also significant that the licensed operators had identified these condi-tions to your medical department, but you failed to appropriately inform the NRC.
The violations of the requirements for complete medical examinations are also significant because they demonstrate a breakdown in the control of this licensed activity and indicate a significant lack of attention toward this responsibility.
Therefore, in accordance with the "General Statement of Policy and Procedure for NRC Enforcement Actions," 10 CFR Part 2, Appendix C (1990)
(Enforcement Policy), the viol'ations have been classified in the aggregate as a Severity Level III problem.
CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT IREQlttSTED 90100 ~02--7 900926 PDI ADOCI, 0 ~0005~8 PDC
Arizona Public Service Company To emphasize the importance of ensuring that all licensed operators are medically qualified, that such determinations are timely and properly documented, and that any discrepancies are aggressively and thoroughly pursued, I have been autho-rized, after consultation with the Director, Office of Enforcement, and the Deputy Executive Director for Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Regional Operations, and Research, to issue the enclosed Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in the amount of $75,000 for the Severity Level III problem.,
The base value of a'ivil penalty for a Severity Level III problem is $50',000.
The escalation and mitigation factors in the Enforcement Policy were considered as discussed below.
While you identified the apparent breakdown in your medical records program, the review that identified the breakdown was a response to our May 1990 inspection which identified to you apparent weaknesses in your licensed operator medical records management system.
Further, the subsequent medical department check of the records was incomplete, and the followup review of the medical department's effort was quite limited, failing to find the additional violations identified in the subsequent NRC inspection.
Therefore, escalation of the civil penalty by 50K of the base amount is war ranted for identification and reporting.
The NRC staff recognizes that you have defined and implemented a medical records control program which should provide a comprehensive system to effectively manage medical records for licensed operators.
However, as of the date of the enforcement conference a comprehensive independent review of this program had not been made nor had a date for such a review been determined.
Given your staff s-initial inability to determine, the extent of the problem, the accomplish-ment of such a review would be necessary for the NRC staff to conclude that your corrective actions were truly extensive enough to warrant mitigation of the civil penalty.
Therefore, neither escalation nor mitigation of the civil penalty is warranted for corrective action.
The other adjustment factors in the Policy were considered and no further.
adjustment to the base civil penalty is considered appropriate.
Therefore, based on the above, the base civil penalty has been increased by 50 percent.
Mith regard to the third potential violation (untimely medical examinations)
discussed in the inspection report, the NRC staff considered taking action against each of the individual licensed operators pursuant to 10 CFR Part 55.
However, the NRC staff has decided not to pursue such individual enforcement actions because given the circumstances of'his case the violations are more attributable to your failure to assure that the examinations were conducted in a timely manner.
However, the NRC staff reiterates its position from the enforcement conference that you need to ensure that your employees who are NRC licensed operators understand that they are responsible for compliance with their license requirements.
Therefore, they need to be aware of and adhere to general
CFR Part 55 requirements and limitations such as the necessity for a physical examination every two years.
Further, you should advise your licensed operators that if they are in doubt about a licensing requirement, whether it concerns medical information or requalification examinations, they should get the issue resolved quickly by progressively raising their question or concern to higher levels of plant supervision and management or contact the NRC staff directl t
~
f
Arizona Public Service Company
- 3 -
G 1990 You are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions specified in the enclosed Notice when preparing your response.
In your response, you should document the specific actions taken and any additional actions you plan to prevent recurrence for both the violations and the concern with timely medical examinations.
After reviewing your response to this Notice, including your proposed corrective actions and the results of future inspec-tions, the NRC will determine whether further NRC enforcement action is necessary to ensure compliance with NRC regulatory requirements.
In accordance with $0 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice" a copy of this letter and its'nclosure will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room.
The responses directed by this letter and the enclosed Notice are not subject to the clearance procedure of the Office of Management and Budget as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, Pub.
L.
No.96-511.
S'e Enclosure:
Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty John B. Martin Regional Administrator cc w/enclosure:
State of Arizona