ML081770625
| ML081770625 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | San Onofre  |
| Issue date: | 06/27/2008 |
| From: | Giitter J Plant Licensing Branch III-2 |
| To: | Tom Gurdziel - No Known Affiliation |
| Kalyanam N, NRR/DORL/LPL4, 415-1480 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML081770611 | List: |
| References | |
| TAC MD8765, TAC MD8766 | |
| Download: ML081770625 (5) | |
Text
June 27, 2008 Mr. Thomas Gurdziel 9 Twin Orchard Drive Oswego, NY 13126
Dear Mr. Gurdziel,
Your letter dated May 13, 2008, addressed to Mr. William Borchardt, Executive Director for Operations at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been referred to me pursuant to Section 2.206 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 2.206).
You requested that the NRC consider [your] letter a 2.206 request to actually take some disciplinary action including a serious fine, and based your request on the following:
A Confirmatory Order (CO), issued on January 11, 2008, to the Southern California Edison Company (the licensee), San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 2 and 3 (SONGS 2 and 3), that listed no fine or serious enforcement against the licensee for the identified violations.
Other violations described in an NRC News Release dated January 14, 2008, such as, not following a radiation work permit, use of an unqualified person on safety-related equipment, and a couple of safety related matters, that were ignored in the Reactor Actions description.
Your May 13, 2008, letter was subsequently referred to the NRC Petition Review Board (PRB). In a telephone conversation with the NRC Petition Manager, Kaly Kalyanam, on June 9, 2008, you stated that you were not interested in addressing the PRB.
The PRB met on June 11, 2008, and reviewed your petition request in accordance with NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.11, Review Process for 10 CFR 2.206 Petitions (Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML041770328).
MD 8.11 specifies the criteria that are used to determine whether to accept or reject petition requests for review. A specific criterion for rejecting petitions is provided below:
The petitioner raises issues that have already been the subject of NRC staff review and evaluation, either on that facility, other similar facilities, or on a generic basis, for which a resolution has been achieved, the issues have been resolved, and the resolution is applicable to the facility in question. This would include requests to reconsider or reopen a previous enforcement action (including a decision not to initiate an enforcement action) or a directors decision. These requests will not be treated as a 2.206 petition unless they present significant new information.
After reviewing the concerns raised in your letter, the PRBs intial recommendation was that your petition request not be accepted for review in the 10 CFR 2.206 process because the matters you reference have been subject of NRC staff review and evaluation for which a resolution was achieved and because your petition request did not present significant new information. Specifically, the Confirmatory Order dated January 11, 2008, and other enforcement actions addressed and resolved the issues that were raised in your letter and your letter-presented no new information. The Confirmatory Order required the licensee to take a variety of actions to correct the identified violations and to prevent future violations. The other enforcement actions taken were as follows:
- 1)
Regarding a radiographer who deliberately failed to follow a Radiation Work Permit, one Severity Level (SL) IV Non-Cited Violation (NCV), EA-06-084 was issued on November 1, 2006, (ADAMS Accession No. ML063080009).
Regarding an I&C technician who willfully failed to control the work activities of an unqualified I&C technician when performing work on safety-related equipment, resulting in inoperability, one SL IV cited violation, EA-07-141, was issued on November 7, 2007 (ADAMS Accession No. ML073111455).
- 3)
Regarding security-related violations, enforcement action was taken in EA-06-303, dated March 15, 2007 and EA-07-147, dated June 29, 2007, (cover letter to the licensee, ADAMS Accession No. ML070740754, and ADAMS Accession No. ML071800532, respectively). The security-related enclosures for EA-06-303 and EA-07-147 are not publicly available because of the nature of the subject matter.
On June 13, 2008, the Petition Manager contacted you to inform you of the PRBs initial recommendation. During that conversation, you indicated that you did not desire to address the PRB or provide any additional information.
On June 19, 2008, in a telephone conversation between you and Mr. Michael Vasquez of NRCs Region IV staff, you discussed, among other concerns, your concerns about how NRC handled the role of the licensee supervision in contributing to these violations. During the June 19, 2008 telephone call, aspects of the Confirmatory Order addressing supervision of nuclear plant workers (e.g., Sections III.2.c, III.2.f, III.2.g, and III.2.k) were discussed with you.
In a subsequent voicemail to the Petition manager, you indicated that you were satisfied with the NRC action concerning supervision of nuclear plant workers.
After considering all information provided, the PRB has finally determined that your submittal does not meet the criteria for consideration under 10 CFR 2.206 as explained above.
3 -
During the telephone call on June 13, 2008, you indicated dissatisfaction with the PRBs initial conclusion to not consider your letter as 2.206 petition and further expressed general dissatisfaction with the manner in which the concerns and issues raised at SONGS were handled by the NRC staff. Your concerns have been referred to the NRC Office of the Inspector General (OIG). OIG reviewed your May 13, 2008, letter and the actions taken by the NRC staff to address your concerns and the issues identified at SONGS. The OIG review found no indication of NRC staff misconduct to warrant the initiation of an OIG investigation.
If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Kaly Kalyanam at (301) 415-1480.
Sincerely,
/RA by Timothy J. McGinty for/
Joseph G. Giitter, Director Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-361 and 50-362 cc w/copy of 2.206 Request: See next page
ML081430010 - Incoming, ML081770625 - 2.206 Acknowledgment Letter OFFICE DORL/LPL4/PM DORL/LPL4/LA DPR/PSPB/BC DORL/LPL4/BC DORL/D NAME NKalyanam GLappert MMaxin THiltz JGiitter DATE 6/27/08 6/27/08 6/27/08 6/27/08 6/27/08
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (December 2007)
Units 2 and 3 cc:
Douglas K. Porter, Esquire Southern California Edison Company 2244 Walnut Grove Avenue Rosemead, CA 91770 Dr. David Spath, Chief Division of Drinking Water and Environmental Management California Dept. of Health Services 850 Marina Parkway, Bldg P, 2nd Floor Richmond, CA 94804 Chairman, Board of Supervisors County of San Diego 1600 Pacific Highway, Room 335 San Diego, CA 92101 Mark L. Parsons Deputy City Attorney City of Riverside 3900 Main Street Riverside, CA 92522 Mr. Gary L. Nolff Assistant General Manager - Resources Riverside Public Utilities City of Riverside, California 3901 Orange Street Riverside, CA 92501 Regional Administrator, Region IV U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 612 E. Lamar Blvd., Suite 400 Arlington, TX 76011-4125 Mr. Michael L. De Marco San Diego Gas & Electric Company 8315 Century Park Ct. CP21G San Diego, CA 92123-1548 Resident Inspector San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station c/o U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Post Office Box 4329 San Clemente, CA 92674 Mayor City of San Clemente 100 Avenida Presidio San Clemente, CA 92672 Mr. James T. Reilly Southern California Edison Company San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station P.O. Box 128 San Clemente, CA 92674-0128 Mr. James D. Boyd California State Liaison Officer Vice Chair and Commissioner California Energy Commission 1516 Ninth Street, MS 31 Sacramento, CA 95814 Mr. Gary Butner Acting Branch Chief Department of Public Health Services Radiologic Health Branch MS 7610, P.O. Box 997414 Sacramento, CA 95899-7414 Vice President and Site Manager Southern California Edison Company San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station P.O. Box 128 San Clemente, CA 92674-0128 Mr. A. Edward Scherer Director, Nuclear Regulatory Affairs Southern California Edison Company San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station P.O. Box 128 San Clemente, CA 92674-0128 Mr. Ross T. Ridenoure Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Southern California Edison Company San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station P.O. Box 128 San Clemente, CA 92674-01