ML061790726
| ML061790726 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Salem, Hope Creek  |
| Issue date: | 10/22/2003 |
| From: | NRC/OI |
| To: | |
| References | |
| 1-2003-051F, FOIA/PA-2005-0194, NRC-1165 | |
| Download: ML061790726 (28) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Interview
-ý?C--
Title:
zas Docket Number:
Location:
1-2003-051 F.
Salem, New Jersey Date:
Wednesday, October 22, 2003 Work Order No.:
NRC-1 165 Pages 1-26 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 1l1tormationi in tilis record was deleted (202) 234-4433 in accordance with the Freedom of,nformatiory Act, exemptiorn -
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS INTERVIEW
x IN THE MATTER OF:
INTERVIEW OF (CLOSED)
Docket No.
1-2003-051F x
Wednesday, October 22, 2003 NRC Resident Inspector's Office Salem Generating Station
- Salem, New Jersey The above-entitled interview was conducted at 2:32 p.m.
BEFORE:
Special Agent MARK A.
MULLEN NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 www.nealrgross.com
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10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 APPEARANCES:
On Behalf of the Witness CHARLES HESSLER Of:
IBEW Local 94 219 Franklin Street Hightstown, New Jersey (609) 426-9702 ALSO PRESENT:
SCOTT BARBER NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 vww.nealrgross.com
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2:32 p.m.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Today is Wednesday, October 22, 2003.
The time is now approximately 2:32 p.m.
For the record, this is an interview ob Is that true, sir?
That's correct.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Who is employed as PSEG at Salem Generating Station, true?
- Correct.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
The location of this interview is the NRC Resident Office in Salem.
My name is Mark A. Mullen.
I am a Special Agent with the Office of Investigations NRC Region I, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
Also present from the NRC is Scott Barber.
Your position, Scott, for the record.
MR.
BARBER:
Senior Project Engineer.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
It is your desire to have Mr.
Charles Hessler as a business agent of IBEW here present to represent you.
- .TYes, it is.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
This hearing is being recorded and it will be transcribed later.
Do you understand that, sir?
A((
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Yes, sir.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
The subject matter of this interview concerns safety conscious work environment and safety versus productivity-type issues or concerns.
If you have any, eventually we will get to that, and I wish you would volunteer those.
q Okay.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
We'll get to that.
Would you please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn in, WHEREUPON, was called sworn, was as a witness and, having been first duly examined and testified as follows:
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
I'll start calling you40 7 1All right.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Just briefly a
little bit about yourself, your date of birth and place of birth.
-7)
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
from here?
About 35 mi NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBE 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 How far is that les.
"RS www.nealrgross.com (202) 234-4433
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9 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
So you are basically home.
fCorrect.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
That's good.
Your home address.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Home telephone number.
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 number.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Wrork telephone SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
If there is any education or military that you would like to highlight for the record, I would appreciate you doing that.
If not, please go into your experience in the nuclear power industry and be more specific as to what you have been doing the last five years as far as assignments.
The only education I have is a high school education.
I was hired in As I was led to believe and have found out since, it was all really based on a TMI modification and stuff.
They needed more NEAL R. GROSS 7
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SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
So you worked your way up then.
- ~Yes.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Just briefly, can you give what your duties and responsibilities are for the record?
evaluate, assess radiological conditions for jobs to be performed inside the RCA at Salem I and II.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
For the record, could you provide who your supervisor or supervisors are?
- Yes, we just finished a reorganization so it would be SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Just in general, are you someone that will speak their mind on a safety issue, or would you defer that to someone else to do?
Would you be -willing to go through the union and let them handle it?
How do you do it?
As an NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 yes, I have absolutely no qualms about raising safety 2
issues.
3 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Have you done so?
4 AYest I have.
5 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
How have they been 6
received from your perspective, a myriad of different 7
ways or what?
8 Yes, I would say a myriad of 9
different ways.
Some are deemed important.
Some are 10 deemed as nonsense I would say.
11 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
How about the 12 response that you have received from management?
Do 13 you feel as though that maybe they have a difference 14 of opinion than you on some of the items?
Do you 15 think you are discouraged from continuing to raise 16 issues?
17 I7 No, I would not be 18 discouraged to continue to raise issues based mainly 19 on the position that I hold.
Sometimes I raise issues 20 for other people.
21 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Have people that 22 have come to you to raise an issue on their behalf 23 expressed to you the fear of retaliation or just not 24 comfortable in standing up and saying we have an 25 issue?
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I don't think anyone in my 2
shop specifically is worried about any retribution or 3
anything.
I believe most of those individuals who 4
don't come forward on their own come forward to me 5
because of, if you want to call it, a chain of 6
command.
7 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
We're going to get 8
more specific here as we go.
Have you ever 9
participated in any formal or informal surveys 10 regarding the safety culture at Salem?
11 Yes.
12 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Can you talk about 13 those times that you have, if it's just one or more?
14 I will speak specific to the 15 very last one because we just had it.
We had a dual 16 down power in September.
There were some issues that 17 disturbed me.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Go into those 19 issues first.
20
§m One issue was the SS-661s in 21 the bioshield of unit II containment.
The first time 22 evolution was, as I understood it, they were just 23 going to pull the pins and just torque down 20 more 24 pounds.
So we had briefed on the job.
25 We went out to have a cigarette before NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 with the maintenance guys.
The maintenance guys 2
raised an issue of potential catastrophic failure of 3
the valve.
So when I went in and deferred that to my 4
supervisor, the response was well that's not my issue.
5 That's maintenance's issue.
6 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Did you agree with 7
that assessment?
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No, absolutely not, so I went 9
and found the maintenance supervisor.
We had talked 10 about it.
After talking about it with the maintenance 11 supervisor, the mechanics felt it was okay to do.
It 12 was safe to do.
So we went ahead and did it with no 13 issues.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
What was the source 15 of the concern?
Was it more brainstorming of what 16 could happen during the maintenance activity?
17 Ys 18 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Or was there a 19 genuine concern that if we get in here and do the 20 wrong thing the valve could go?
21 Well, here's what happened.
22 Earlier in the evening, the operator closed the RC-Gs.
23 They don't seal totally.
When we were discussing the 24 issue, my concern was catastrophic failure with that 25 temperature of any steam that was leaking by the RC-6.
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1 At that
- time, those guys felt that it was a
2 possibility.
It ended up not being the case, but 3
there was good discussion for that.
4 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Was there any way 5
to verify whether the RC-6s were in fact leaking?
6 The only thing we could 7
surmise the leak by is there was still steam coming 8
out of where the original leak was.
9 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Okay.
10 Not much.
It almost got to 11 a point where it was very minimum.
12 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
So you had the 13 original leak.
It was a given amount.
Close the RC-6 14 is expected to stop completely.
It didn't.
It kept 15 going a little bit.
So there was a good amount of 16 isolation but not total.
17 There was probably ball park 18 90 to 95 percent success rate on closing the RC-6.
19 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Okay.
I believe 20 you had some other concerns about this too.
Did your 21 mind go blank?
22
- Yes, because I have been 23 trying to think all day.
That was actually the second 24 incident that weekend.
The first one I
cannot 25 remember for the life of me.
I do have some that I NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I I was part of discussions on.
I was not part of the incident but the discussions.
It was building scaffolding in the dark.
Everybody understands there's a push in that instance.
We learned the next time around that one of the first things SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
We'll take a short recess here.
The time now is 2:40 p.m.
(Whereupon, the foregoing matter went off the record at 2:40 p.m. and went back on the record at 2:41 p.m.)
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
We're back on the record.
The time is approximately 2:41 p.m.
Continue.
4 Yes, we learned from the first time.
What we found out was because of the extreme heat in the bioshield during power operations the light bulbs go.
So we tried to relamp the light bulb outlets.
A lot of them were dysfunctional at that point.
We actually had a crew of new workers building scaffolding with the supervisor of the new workers holding the flashlight.
To me, at that point, that sent the wrong message.
Then after the concerns were raised, it was addressed.
We got stringers in there and things like NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 10 ii 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 that.
There was a lot of lessons learned from the first time we had done it, but everybody understands the sense of urgency to get the units back up as soon as possible.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
If something like that were to happen again today, how do you think it would be handled, in the improved capacity if you will?
Yes, it would be handled that way because we are a group of 27 We're pretty much right on top of it from the start.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
How about any nuclear safety concerns versus productivity?
Can you think of anything specific that stands out with you where you felt that there was a push to be productive and disregard nuclear safety concerns or issues?
0 No, to be honest with you, we really don't get too involved in those types of discussions as far as nuclear-type safety and things.
We stay to job coverage and industrial safety.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
What about electrical safety?
Are there any instances where you felt like there were production pressures that would cause you to not do something from a radiological standpoint?
H 7&
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sometimes tend to 2
want to be part of the work party, help the guys out.
3 Yes, there was one thing.
It was the same down power 4
for both units.
We ended up having an RP technician 5
act as RP escort in the bioshield on the catwalks for 6
the pumps.
He was asked and charged by the company to 7
check oil levels.
8 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
That's very 9
unusual.
10 That was the first time that Ii ever happened.
12 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Was thatw 13 14 No, it was not.
is an 15 would be the guy to do that.
16 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Who was asked to do 17 that?
18 (PH)
- 19.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
When was this?
20 September 20.
21 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
2003?
22
§ That's correct.
23 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
What was your view 24 of that?
25 2 That whole weekend was a
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1 complete mess.
We had zero operations support.
When 2
I say "operations,"
I mean the ops department.
3 Normally when we have a down power like that, we have 4
an operations control room supervisor come down, hold 5
a big brief for the walk downs, see what kind of leaks 6
or anything we have out of normal.
7 For that entire weekend, the rad pro 8
supervision did all of the briefs.
Everybody 9
collectively collected the paperwork for notifications 10 to go in.
We didn't see a control room supervisor the 11 whole weekend that I was there.
I was there Saturday 12 night for 12 hours1.388889e-4 days <br />0.00333 hours <br />1.984127e-5 weeks <br />4.566e-6 months <br /> and Sunday night for 12 hours1.388889e-4 days <br />0.00333 hours <br />1.984127e-5 weeks <br />4.566e-6 months <br />.
We 13 didn't see a control room supervisor once.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Did anyone raise an 15 issue or concern over that incident?
If so, what was 16 the response?
17 Not that I'm aware of did 18 anyone really raise an issue.
It was something that 19 I couldn't believe was happening, but we just made out 20 okay.
We get involved in the briefs from the 21 beginning anyhow, so it was old hat for us.
It was 22 just different that we didn't have anyone from 23 operations down there.
24 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Did the architect 25 actually do the lower check?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 Yes, he did.
2 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Is that either 3
prohibited or discouraged by procedure?
Is there 4
anything in a procedure that would dictate the type of 5
person that should be doing that?
6 That would come from an 7
operations procedure.
I'm not versed on their 8
procedures.
Normally we're the escort and for as long 9
as I can remember, being here.
operations has 10 checked that.
11 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Was there a concern 12 with the wara (PH)?
Was that why it was done that way 13 so that you give those to one person as opposed to 14 two?
15 MNo, to be fair to the whole 16 circumstance, the operators themselves were fighting 17 grass in the water boxes.
They were cleaning all of 18 the water boxes.
They had their hands full.
That was 19 the reasons given to us that operations could not 20 support the walk downs.
21 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
So you are saying 22 the HP technicians, RP technicians did it in the 23 spirit of teamwork.
24 Yes, that's correct.
25 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
It's not that ops NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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They just physically didn't have the staffing to do it because there were other problems they were addressing.
That's correct.
Operations was not involved in any of the walk downs in either unit.
That was all rad pro and mechanical and some electrical and IOC guys.
Anybody that they could get in here was part of the walk down team.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Do you remember what this was about?
What were the shut downs for?
It was after the hurricane.
It was the salting of the --
-SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Switch yards.
- Yes, it actually took Hope-Creek down on Friday night and early Saturday morning, unit II.
Then I believe unit I was the sequence.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Both of those were not planned.
They were just rapid shut downs, right?
Correct.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
I want to go back to the question about the safety surveys.
You had mentioned one that was more recent.
Let's stay on that one for now.
First of all, did you participate?
If so, can you also comment about others in the rad protection techs and whether you knew if they also NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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participated?
2n 3He is a line om_
He is the 4
- does a great job with everything he 5
gets involv d in.
He's a very intelligent guy.
I 6
tried to solicit support for. him along with the safety 7
program to have our department try to do 100 percent.
8 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
So
- yes, you 9
participated, correct?
10 1/
Yes, that's correct.
11 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Then you mentioned 12 27 of you if you will.
Didn't you mention earlier 27?
13 e's*27 Like 14 I said, I try to get them to participate.
Whether or 15 not they do, I don't know that.
16 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Can you give me a 17 ball park figure of your estimation?
Do you think you 18 probably had 80 percent?
Do you think you were that 19 high in participation?
20 I would say we had 80.
If we 21 had less than 80, I
would be surprised and 22 disappointed.
23 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Today you haven't 24 received any feedback.
25 That's correct.
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SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
How about any other 2
safety culture surveys in the past?
You have been 3
here for a while now.
4 I have normally participated 5
in all of the safety surveys.
6 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Can you recall any 7
within the last five years where you received 8
feedback?
If so, what type of commentary was 9
redirected if you will?
10
- Well, you get roll out 11 feedback where it's table top.
Pretty much everybody 12 gets it.
It's shop feedback.
We have had that.
It's 13 name optional, so they may or may not do a one-on-one 14 with you if you have concerns.
On this last one, I
15 did put my name on it and haven't received anything on 16 that one.
17 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
But is there 18 anything that stands out to you in the past where 19 people just thought it was a farce, or do people think 20 it was legitimate first of all that there would be a 21
- survey, that someone would actually look at the 22 results and then act on them?
Sometimes surveys are 23 given out but nothing is done.
24
]
In the past, I would say that 25 was probably the case.
Since 1997 and 1998, IBEW NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1.9 actually took ownership of the safety program.
I think you have more input.
You have more feedback.
You have more participation in it.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Do you understand why we are here today?
Do you have any thoughts on why we are here today?
I have my thoughts, yes.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Share please.
I think it's a disgruntled separated employee.
That's just my opinion.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
That's driving the NRC being here.
Correct.
That's my sole guess.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Is that hearsay information that you have received?
No, it's not.
That is my particular view.
We just got done with reorganization.
I feel that someone is creating a stir.
I wouldn't say that it's false or anything.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
It might be their perception.
- ~Correct.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
From the questions that I have asked you, do you feel you understand what NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 we're looking for at least as far as in your 2
interview?
We have asked you about safety conscious 3
work environment.
4 m
I'll give you my impression.
5 My impression is that the belief is out there which 6
has gotten to your organization that it is work above 7
the safety, and I don't necessarily agree with that.
8 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
That's why we're 9
here doing interviews.
We're trying to find out what 10 plant people think.
We're trying to get a nice cross 11 section of. the folks so we can get a good feel for 12 what people actually believe because you are the ones 13 that are in the environment.
14 0
(7jWe believe --
15 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Speak for yourself.
16 I
jYou're right.
I believe that 17 they tend to talk the talk. Sometimes they don't walk 18 the walk.
Let me put it this way.
They need to be 19 reminded to walk the walk.
As long as you have guys 20 that are going to stand up for what they think and 21 what they feel they are going to be reminded.
22 Like I said, we on the island own the 23 program.
The IBEW is trying to run it from within.
24 So I think the participation, the knowledge.
- Before, 25 they always said safety, safety, safety, but nobody NEAL R. GROSS N 2 A(.W COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 wrote in all of the notifications and things like that.
You try to get somebody that can correct the
- problem, so now we're driven to the notification process and all of that.
There have been a
lot of things identified, tons and tons of things identified, a lot of things fixed, and some other things that are going to take a lot of intensive labor, procedure changes, and things like that to get changed.
So you are not going to change everything overnight.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
As a
general overview, and let's just look at the last three years, do you think things are going in the right direction as far as from a
safety perspective versus productivity, or do you think they are saying about the same?
What is your opinion?
j They are going in the right direction because we're speaking up.
That's my opinion.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
So things are improving you would say.
7 Correct.
SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN: Sorry about cutting you off.
Earlier you had mentioned the we.
Do you think there are other people that feel similar to what NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 you just expressed to us?
2 I believe, yes, the majority 3
of the work force believes that.
4 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Is there anything 5
at all that you think we haven't discussed?
I would 6
like for you to take a minute or two and ponder that.
7 Is there anything that you could be forgetting?
We 8
have asked you about safety versus productivity.
Is 9
there anything that you can point to?
Take a 'Minute 10 here.
Is there something else you would like to 11 discuss that we haven't probed yet?
12 No.
13 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
We don't want to 14 miss anything here.
15
-Not to my knowledge.
Like I 16 said, normally every department has somebody that's 17 going to step up.
With the issue like I gave you with 18 the 661s, fortunately I was here and I have no issues 19 about stepping up and trying to make things right.
20 But I will say this.
There is no one from the 21 management side, even the union labor force, that 22 wants to say I'm the reason the job got held up.
They 23 are going to do what it takes.
24 Like I said from the lessons learned, the 25 first thing we did when we went into the bioshield for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 the 661 set up job was to hang string lights because 2
we knew it was going to be dark.
So yes.
There's 3
bumps along the road, and you just try to overcome 4
them.
You try to learn your lessons and move forward.
5 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Can we revisit what 6
you were just talking about?
I'm not sure I
7 understood your point.
Did you say that when 8
management is involved that they don't want to be 9
tagged with holding up the work?
Is that what you 10 said?
11 I don't think either side 12 wants to do that.
13 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Well, that could be 14 viewed as putting production over safety potentially.
15 One of the things you have to do here at the facility 16 is the work, whatever the work is, whether it is 17 operations, RP, maintenance, what have you.
So you 18 have these work activities.
Then you have this 19 underlying safety ethic where you are supposed to do 20 things safely from an industrial and nuclear safety 21 standpoint.
22 There's always going to be a balancing 23 act.
Like you said, we can do the work, but we don't 24 want to work in the dark so we'll put the lights in.
25 What about other situations where maybe you are doing NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 something and you don't see it as an issue?
Maybe 2
there's something from an RP standp6int yes we can do 3
it this way, but somebody else comes in and says no 4
that's not really the safest way.
We could do this.
5 i-jL Well, the thing that sticks 6
in my mind is like I said.
There is a vast majority 7
in the right direction, and there are some you have to 8
drag along.
When I come in in the morning and I find 9
out that the supervisor of the scaffold builders is 10 standing there with a flashlight and did not shut 11 those guys down, that's a guy who hasn't got it yet.
12 It's things like that.
13 It's both sides.
Our guys should say 14 we're not doing the scaffolding.
It's too dark.
15 We're not doing it.
What you do is walk in there with 16 a light stringer and you hang the stringer up.
Now 17 you have the light to do the job.
That got corrected.
18 I just see a supervisor holding a flashlight for guys 19 to build scaffolding and I'm thinking he's not getting 20 it.
He didn't get the picture.
21 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Did you talk to him 22 at all about that?
23 j
I did not talk to him, no.
24 It was addressed while I was not on site.
25 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
The way you are NEAL R. GROSS C
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1 describing it is he felt production pressure and 2
therefore he felt like he couldn't stop the job to 3
take the time to string the lights.
4
- Maybe.
5 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
That's the picture 6
you are painting.
Whether that was the case, we don't 7
really know.
8 I can't speak for what he was 9
thinking.
What I can speak for is the fact that they 10 are standing on the concrete floor and there's really 11 not too much that can happen to these guys.
I just 12 think in his mind he didn't think it was unsafe.
He 13 didn't think about maybe we ought to go out and get 14 light stringers, but I don't think he ever put these 15 guys or felt that these guys were put in jeopardy 16 because they are standing on the floor and all they 17 are doing is putting the floor jack in and the poles.
18 It's all lock in scaffold.
19 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
So you are saying 20 he may have made the judgement that what he did was 21 acceptable.
22 Jj Correct, while outsiders 23 didn't feel that was the correct judgement to make.
24 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
I understand.
Have 25 you ever heard a supervisor complain that they are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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26 1
going to have to step up the heat, if you will, as far 2
as because they are not getting their merit or bonus 3
paid? They are not meeting their productivity, goals, 4
and objectives.
5,.
No, they all do talk the talk 6
without question.
7 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Okay.
That's all 8
I have.
Do you have anything else, 9
No, I'm done.
Thank you.
10 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Have I or any other 11 NRC representative threatened you in any manner or 12 offered you any rewards in return for this 13 information?
14 No.
15 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Have you provided 16 this information freely and voluntarily?
17 Yes.
18 SPECIAL AGE T MULLEN:
One last time.
19 Anything else?
20 No.
21 SPECIAL AGENT MULLEN:
Okay.
Thank you 22 very much.
The time now is 3:00 p.m.
This interview 23 is concluded.
24 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter 25 concluded at 3:00 p.m.)
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w
S CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of:
Name of Proceeding: Interview of Docket Number:
1-2003-051F Location:
Salem, NJ were held as herein appears, and that this is the original transcript thereof for the file of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission taken by me and, thereafter reduced to typewriting by me or under the direction of the court reporting company, and that the transcript is a true and accurate record of the foregoing proceedings as recorded on tape(s) provided by the NRC.
Ann Marie'Smith Official Transcriber Neal R. Gross & Co.,
Inc.
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