ML032480675

G20030048/LTR-03-0059 - Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich Ltr Re Petition Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 Requesting the NRC Revoke Firstenergy Nuclear Operating Company'S License to Operate the Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station

ML032480675
Person / Time
Site:	Davis Besse
Issue date:	09/12/2003
From:	Sheron B Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	Kucinich D US HR (House of Representatives)
Collins D S, NRR/DLPM, 415-1427
Shared Package
ML032481195	List: ML032480675 ML032480751
References
2.206, G20030048, LTR-03-0059
Download: ML032480675 (6)

Text

September 12, 2003 The Honorable Dennis J. Kucinich United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman Kucinich:

This letter responds to the petition you filed with Dr. William D. Travers pursuant to Section 2.206 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 2.206) on February 3, 2003, as supplemented on March 27, 2003, and the comments you submitted on July 7, 2003, regarding the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staffs proposed Directors Decision. In your petition, you requested that the NRC immediately revoke FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Companys (the licensees) license to operate the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1 (Davis-Besse), in Ottawa County, Ohio.

The NRC staff shares your concerns about verifying the adequacy of plant operator performance and reassuring the public that all reasonable safety measures have been taken.

As part of its evaluation of the merits of your petition, the NRC staff considered the actions of both the licensee and the NRC. After careful considerations of the issues you raised and the actions taken by both the licensee and the NRC, the NRC staff finds that, although serious violations did occur at the Davis-Besse facility, the concerns you raised do not individually or collectively warrant revocation of the license. The Davis-Besse facility is currently shut down, and will remain so until the NRC is fully satisfied that there is reasonable assurance of adequate protection of the public health and safety and that any restart issues associated with management of the facility and potential wrongdoing have been satisfactorily addressed. In its oversight of the licensees corrective actions for the apparent violations, the NRC has not observed an inability or unwillingness on the part of FENOC to achieve compliance with NRC regulations, the Davis-Besse operating license, or the Davis-Besse design and licensing bases.

Therefore, your request that the NRC revoke the Davis-Besse operating license is denied.

In your petition supplement and your comments on the proposed Directors Decision, you stated that the NRC should not issue a ruling on your petition until the NRCs Office of Investigations (OI) completes its investigation to determine whether FENOC willfully violated NRC requirements and whether FENOC deliberately misled the NRC. You also commented that any NRC decision regarding the restart of the Davis-Besse facility should not be made until this same investigation is completed and the results are made available to the public. The NRC staff has carefully evaluated your request to delay consideration of this petition pending completion of the NRCs wrongdoing investigation. As discussed in this decision, FENOC has initiated, and is still implementing, extensive corrective actions to address hardware, programmatic, and human performance issues to demonstrate or achieve compliance with NRC regulations. The corrective actions taken by the licensee and the NRCs oversight of those corrective actions make it unnecessary for the NRC to delay consideration of this petitions merits pending the completion of activities associated with the NRCs wrongdoing investigation.

The NRC Davis-Besse Oversight Panel, the Director of the NRCs Office of Enforcement, the NRC Regional Administrator for NRC Region III, and the management of the NRCs Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation have been regularly briefed on the progress of the investigation and will continue to monitor OIs activities and evaluate investigation results. However,

Congressman Kucinich because there are ongoing NRC activities that may lead to civil and/or criminal proceedings, information from the OI investigation that is available to the NRC management for informing NRC decision-making is not currently available for public release.

A copy of the enclosed Directors Decision (DD-03-03) denying your petition will be filed with the Secretary of the Commission for the Commission to review in accordance with 10 CFR 2.206(c). As provided for by this regulation, the decision will constitute the final action of the Commission 25 days after the date of the decision unless the Commission, on its own motion, institutes a review of the Decision within that time. The documents cited in the enclosed Decision are available for inspection at the Commissions Public Document Room and on the NRCs Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Electronic Reading Room), via ADAMS.

I have also enclosed a copy of the notice of "Issuance of the Director's Decision Under 10 CFR 2.206" that has been filed with the Office of the Federal Register for publication.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Brian W. Sheron, Acting Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-346

Enclosures:

1. Director's Decision DD-03-03

2. Federal Register Notice cc: See next page

Congressman Kucinich because there are ongoing NRC activities that may lead to civil and/or criminal proceedings, information from the OI investigation that is available to the NRC management for informing NRC decision-making is not currently available for public release.

A copy of the enclosed Directors Decision (DD-03-03) denying your petition will be filed with the Secretary of the Commission for the Commission to review in accordance with 10 CFR 2.206(c). As provided for by this regulation, the decision will constitute the final action of the Commission 25 days after the date of the decision unless the Commission, on its own motion, institutes a review of the Decision within that time. The documents cited in the enclosed Decision are available for inspection at the Commissions Public Document Room and on the NRCs Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Electronic Reading Room), via ADAMS.

I have also enclosed a copy of the notice of "Issuance of the Director's Decision Under 10 CFR 2.206" that has been filed with the Office of the Federal Register for publication.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Brian W. Sheron, Acting Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-346

Enclosures:

1. Director's Decision DD-03-03

2. Federal Register Notice cc: See next page Docket No. 50-346 ACCESSION NOS.: ML032480675 Incoming: ML030370067 Directors Decision: ML032480751 Package: ML032481195

• See previous concurrence **Concurred by e-mail OFFICE PM:PD1-1 LA:PD3-2 PM:PD3-2 SC:PD3-2 RIII PD:PD3 NAME DCollins* THarris* JHopkins* AMendiola* JGrobe** WRuland*

DATE 9/5/03 8/25/03 8/26/03 9/10/03 9/11/03 9/9/03 OFFICE D:OI D: OE OCA OGC D: DLPM NAME SLangan** FCongel* LPortner** JGoldberg* TMarsh*

(ELeeds for)

DATE 9/10/03 9/8/03 9/9/03 9/10/03 9/9/03 OFFICE TECH ED ADPT (A)D:NRR NAME PKleene* BSheron BSheron for RBorchardt DATE 8/20/03 9/12/03 9/12/03 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

DISTRIBUTION FOR GREEN TICKET NO. G20030048 - 2.206 Davis-Besse Dated: February 3, 2003 PUBLIC PD3-2 r/f ACRS EDO #G20030048 JDyer WBorchardt BSheron THarris JCaldwell, RIII JHopkins DSkay KJohnson WBeckner OGC EJulian, SECY GGrant, RIII EDO Reading WRuland AMendiola KCyr, OGC WMacon OPA GCaputo LCox JGoldberg LMarsh WTravers CPaperiello SCollins PNorry JCraig SBurns OCA NRRMailroom NRCWEB

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1 cc:

Mary E. OReilly Carol OClaire, Chief, Radiological Branch FirstEnergy Corporation Ohio Emergency Management Agency 76 South Main St. 2855 West Dublin Granville Road Akron, OH 44308 Columbus, OH 43235-2206 Manager - Regulatory Affairs Zack A. Clayton FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company DERR Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station Ohio Environmental Protection Agency 5501 North State - Route 2 P.O. Box 1049 Oak Harbor, OH 43449-9760 Columbus, OH 43266-0149 Director, Ohio Department of Commerce State of Ohio Division of Industrial Compliance Public Utilities Commission Bureau of Operations & Maintenance 180 East Broad Street 6606 Tussing Road Columbus, OH 43266-0573 P.O. Box 4009 Reynoldsburg, OH 43068-9009 Attorney General Department of Attorney General Regional Administrator 30 East Broad Street U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Columbus, OH 43216 801 Warrenville Road Lisle, IL 60523-4351 President, Board of County Commissioners of Ottawa County Michael A. Schoppman Port Clinton, OH 43252 Framatome ANP 1911 N. Ft. Myer Drive President, Board of County Rosslyn, VA 22209 Commissioners of Lucas County One Government Center, Suite 800 Resident Inspector Toledo, OH 43604-6506 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 5503 North State Route 2 David Lochbaum, Nuclear Safety Engineer Oak Harbor, OH 43449-9760 Union of Concerned Scientists 1707 H Street NW, Suite 600 Randel J. Fast, Plant Manager Washington, DC 20006 FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station The Honorable Dennis J. Kucinich 5501 North State - Route 2 United States House of Representatives Oak Harbor, OH 43449-9760 Washington, D.C. 20515 Dennis Clum The Honorable Dennis J. Kucinich, Member Radiological Assistance Section Supervisor United States House of Representatives Bureau of Radiation Protection 14400 Detroit Avenue Ohio Department of Health Lakewood, OH 44107 P.O. Box 118 Columbus, OH 43266-0118 Lew W. Myers Chief Operating Officer FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co.

Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station 5501 North State Route 2 Oak Harbor, OH 43449-9760