ML13009A257
| ML13009A257 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Farley  |
| Issue date: | 01/09/2013 |
| From: | Croteau R Division Reactor Projects II |
| To: | Lynch T Southern Nuclear Operating Co |
| References | |
| 2-2012-011, EA-12-240, IR-12-008 | |
| Download: ML13009A257 (7) | |
See also: IR 05000348/2012008
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION II 245 PEACHTREE CENTER AVENUE NE, SUITE 1200 ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303-1257
January 9, 2013
Mr. T. A. Lynch
Vice President
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant
P.O. Drawer 470, BIN B500
Ashford, AL 36312
SUBJECT: NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS REPORT NO. 2-2012-011 AND NRC INSPECTION REPORT
05000348/2012008 AND 05000364/2012008
Dear Mr. Lynch:
This letter refers to an investigation initiated on February 2, 2012, by the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) Office of Inve
stigations (OI). The purpose of the investigation was to review the circumstances surrounding missed fire watches that occurred at Farley
Nuclear Plant (FNP) between September and December 2011. The enclosure to this letter
provides additional details concerning the investigation.
Based on the results of this investigation, two apparent violations of NRC requirements were identified and are being considered for escalated enforcement action in accordance with the
NRC Enforcement Policy. The Enforcement Policy is located on the NRC's Web site at
www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/enforcement/enforce-pol.html. The apparent violations occurred between September and December 2011 when multiple
Williams Plant Service's (WPS) employees deliberately failed to complete fire watch rounds required to ensure that Farley remained in compliance with 10 CFR 50.48, Fire Protection. In
addition, these same employees falsified fire watch logs by annotating that hourly fire watches
were completed when in fact they had not been performed.
The apparent violations are summarized as follows:
10 CFR 50.48, Fire Protection, requires that a licensee must have a fire protection plan that, in part, outlines the plans for fire protection, fire detection, suppression capability, and limitation of fire damage. Site Procedure FNP-0-SOP-0.4 requires that hourly fire watches be conducted for degraded fire barriers or increase in combustibles in an area.
Contrary to the above, from September
2011 through December 2011, roving fire watch patrols assigned to monitor specific fire protection (FP) areas with degraded barriers for
indication of the presence of a fire, in the non-radiological portions of the plant, failed to
T. Lynch 2
conduct hourly fire watch patrols as requir
ed by FNP-0-SOP-0.4. For administrative tracking purposes, this issue will be tracked as apparent violation (AV), AV 05000348, 05000364/2012008-01: Failure to Perform Required Fire Watches.
10 CFR 50.9(a), Completeness and Accuracy of Information, states, in part, that
information required by the Commission's regulations, orders, or license conditions to be maintained by the licensee shall be complete and accurate in all material respects. Farley Administrative procedure FNP-0-AP-39, "Fire Patrols and Watches," Section 5.4, "Hourly Fire Watch Patrols," states: "Document the performance of the fire watch in
accordance with forms similar to Figures 1 as applicable." Contrary to the above, from
September 2011 through December 2011, the licensee maintained records of hourly fire
watch patrols that were not complete and accurate in all material respects. Specifically, fire watch patrol documentation as required by FNP-0-AP-39 annotated that hourly fire watches were completed when in fact such fire watches had not been performed. The
hourly fire watch patrol data is material to
the NRC in that it provides sufficient evidence of compliance with regulatory requirements. For administrative tracking purposes, this issue will be tracked as apparent violation (AV), AV 05000348, 05000364/2012008-02: Falsification of Records.
Before the NRC makes its enforcement decision, we are providing you an opportunity to (1) respond to the apparent violations addressed in this inspection report within 30 days of the
date of this letter, (2) request a Pre-decisional Enforcement Conference (PEC), or (3) request
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). If a PEC is held, it will be closed to public observation in accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy because the findings are based on an NRC Office of Investigations report that has not been publicly disclosed. If you decide to participate in a
PEC or pursue ADR, please contact Frank Ehrhardt at (404) 997-4611 within 10 days of the
date of this letter. A PEC should be held within 30 days and an ADR session within 45 days of
the date of this letter.
If you choose to provide a written response, it should be clearly marked as a "Response to
Apparent Violations in Inspection Report 05000348, 364/2012008; EA-12-240," and should
include for each apparent violation: (1) the reason for the apparent violation, or, if contested,
the basis for disputing the apparent violation; (2) the corrective steps that have been taken and
the results achieved; including control of contractor activities; (3) the corrective steps that will be taken to avoid further violations; and (4) the date when full compliance will be achieved. Your response may reference or include previously docketed correspondence, if the correspondence
adequately addresses the required response. If an adequate response is not received within
the time specified or an extension of time has not been granted by the NRC, the NRC will
proceed with its enforcement decision.
If you choose to request a PEC, the conference will afford you the opportunity to provide your
perspective on the apparent violations and any
other information that you believe the NRC should take into consideration before making an enforcement decision. The topics discussed
during the conference may include the following: information to determine whether the violations
occurred, information to determine the significance of the violations, information related to the identification of the violations, and information related to any corrective actions taken or planned to be taken, including control of contractor activities. In presenting your corrective actions, you
should be aware that the promptness and comprehensiveness of your actions will be
considered in assessing any civil penalty for the apparent violations.
T. Lynch 3
In lieu of a PEC, you may also request ADR with the NRC in an attempt to resolve this issue. ADR is a general term encompassing various techniques for resolving conflicts outside of court using a neutral third party. The technique that the NRC has decided to employ is mediation.
Mediation is a voluntary, informal process in which a trained neutral (the "mediator") works with parties to help them reach resolution. If the parties agree to use ADR, they select a mutually
agreeable neutral mediator who has no stake in the outcome and no power to make decisions.
Mediation gives parties an opportunity to discuss issues, clear up misunderstandings, be creative, find areas of agreement, and reach a final resolution of the issues. Additional information concerning the NRC's ADR program can be obtained at http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/enforcement/adr.html. The Institute on Conflict Resolution (ICR) at Cornell University has agreed to facilitate the NRC's program as a neutral third party. Please contact ICR at 877-733-9415 within 10 days of the date of this letter if you are interested in pursuing resolution of this issue through ADR.
Please be advised that the number and characterization of the apparent violations described
herein may change as a result of further NRC review. You will be advised by separate
correspondence of the results of our deliberations on this matter.
Please contact Mr. Frank Ehrhardt, Chief, Projects Branch 2, Division of Reactor Projects, at (404) 997-4611, within 10 days of the date of this letter to notify the NRC of your intended
response. For administrative purposes, this
letter is issued as NRC Inspection Report 05000348, 364/2012008.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," after completion of enforcement related activities in this matter, a copy of this letter and enclosures will be made
available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of
NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room). To the extent possible, if you choose to respond, your response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be
made available to the Public without redaction.
If you have any questions, please call Frank Ehrhardt at (404) 997-4611.
Sincerely, /RA/ Richard P. Croteau, Director
Division of Reactor Projects
Enclosure: Factual Summary Office of Investigation Report No. 2-2012-011
cc w/encl: (See page 4)
___________ X SUNSI REVIEW COMPLETE X FORM 665 ATTACHED OFFICE RII:DRP RII:DRP RII:DRP RII:EICS RII:EICS RII:NRR RII:OGC SIGNATURE RPC /RA/ FJE /RA/ CFE /RA/ Via email Via email NAME RCroteau FEhrhardt C. Evans SPrice SSparks OGC OE DATE 01/09/2013 01/08/2013 01/08/2013 01/08/2013 01/08/2013 E-MAIL COPY? YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO
T. Lynch 4 cc w/encl:
Keith Wooten
Project Manager
Nuclear Fleet Security
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
40 Iverness Center Parkway
Birmingham, AL 35242
David Burford
Manager
Nuclear Fleet Security
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
40 Iverness Center Parkway
Birmingham, AL 35242
S. P. McGavin
Security Manager
Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant
7388 North State Highway 95
Columbia, AL 36319
S. Kuczynski
Chairman, President and CEO
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
40 Iverness Center Parkway
Birmingham, AL 35242
Leigh Perry SVP & General Counsel-Ops & SNC
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
Electronic Mail Distribution
D. G. Bost
Chief Nuclear Officer
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
40 Iverness Center Parkway
Birmingham, AL 35242
M. J. Ajluni Nuclear Licensing Director
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
40 Iverness Center Parkway
Birmingham, AL 35242
Bradley J. Adams Vice President Fleet Operations Support
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
40 Iverness Center Parkway
Birmingham, AL 35242
Todd L. Youngblood Vice President
Fleet Oversight
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.
40 Iverness Center Parkway
Birmingham, AL 35242
T. Lynch 5 Letter to T. A. Lynch from Richard P. Croteau dated January 9, 2013
SUBJECT: NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS REPORT NO. 2-2012-011 AND NRC INSPECTION REPORT
05000348/2012008 AND 05000364/2012008
Distribution w/encl
- C. Evans, RII L. Douglas, RII
OE Mail
RIDSNRRDIRS
B. Westreich, NSIR E. McNiel, NSIR RidsNrrPMFarley Resource
Enclosure FACTUAL SUMMARY
OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS REPORT NO. 2-2012-011
On February 2, 2012, an investigation was initiated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Office of Investigations (OI), Region II (RII), to determine whether contract fire watch
personnel employed at the Farley Nuclear Plant deliberately falsified fire watch records. The NRC investigation was prompted after receiving informa
tion from officials at the Farley Nuclear Plant relative to several Williams Plant Services (WPS) employees who falsified fire watch records from September through December 2011.
The NRC's OI investigation, and subsequent NRC staff review, concluded that on multiple
occasions from September through December 2011, at least four employees of WPS willfully failed to perform fire watches and subsequently falsified fire watch records to indicate that fire
watches had been completed. This conclusion was based on a comparison between WPS employee badge access transaction records and computerized entries that WPS employees made signifying that they had completed fire watches in certain areas of the plant. The WPS
employees failed to complete the watches and falsified the records despite being
knowledgeable of procedural requirements and responsibilities for performing fire watches as
specified in Farley Administrative Procedure FNP-0-AP-39, "Fire Patrols and Watches."