ML16341A669
| ML16341A669 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Diablo Canyon  |
| Issue date: | 12/07/1984 |
| From: | Hayes B, Meeks R, Shackleton O NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION V), NRC OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS (OI) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML16341A668 | List: |
| References | |
| 5-84-023, 5-84-23, NUDOCS 8506170523 | |
| Download: ML16341A669 (10) | |
Text
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission CASE No. 6-84-023
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Diablo Canyon Power Plant Allegations on Containment Pressure and Temperatures Upon Steam Condensation in the Containments of Susquehanna and Diablo Canyon and Discriminatory Layoff for Raising Safety Concerns Office of investigations Reported by Ol: Region V 8>>6>70M3 BSO6fS
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UNITEDSTATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON,D. C. 20555
Title:
DIABLO CANYON POWER PLANT:
ALLEGATIONS ON CONTAINMENT PRESSURE AND
.TEMPERATURES UPON STEAM CONDENSATION IN THE CONTAINMENTS OF SUSQUEHANNA AND DIABLO CANYON AND DiSCRIMINATORY LAYOFF FOR RAISING SAFETY CONCERNS Licensee:
Pacific Gas 5 Electric Company 77 Beale Street, Room 1435 San Francisco, CA 94106 Docket No:
50-275 Case Number:
5-84-023 Report Date: December 7, 1984 Control Office:
OI:RV Status:
CLOSED Reported I
0 fl oaa ee s
Investigator, OI:RY Reviewed
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Director, OI:RV pro d by en a
>r tor Office of Inv sti ations
SYNOPSIS On September 2, 1983, an engineer for the San Francisco Power Division of the Bechtel Power Corporation was laid off due to a reduction in force.
Mhile employed at Bechtel, the engineer did experimental and analytical work related to chugging and pool swell and condensation oscillation.
In March 1984, the engineer alleged to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the San Francisco Power Division nuclear staff management had terminated his employ-ment rather than investigate the deficiencies he raised on the chugging methodology developed to compute the chugging loads on the containment walls and submerged structures in the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant and on engineering calculations based on the Bechtel computer code FLUD at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
Chugging loads or the pressure oscillations inside containment are based on computer codes that predict such oscillations.
The Bechtel developed computer code FLUD predicts the pressure and temperature rise in the various compart-ments of the auxiliary building if one or more of the high energy pipes were to rupture.
During November and December 1982, the engineer performed engineering calcula-tions on the chugging sources at the Susquehanna Plant.
The engineer's work was to supplement the existing work that Bechtel had already completed on chugging sources at Susquehanna.
In a January 1983 memo to the Chief of the Nuclear Staff, the engineer pointed out deficiencies in the existing chugging sources and recommended that his calculations on the chugging sources replace the existing calculations based on his recomputation of the chugging loads.
During the first half of 1983, the engineer also performed calculations on the FLUD computer code and believed them to be deficient.
In the engineer's annual performance evaluation in July 1983, he was initially marked as not meeting job requirements in the three critical categories of meeting schedules, communication, and cooperation.
The engineer's two prior
.annual. performance evaluations received. the ov'erall rating of exceeds job
-. requirements.=
The engineer allege'd that the 1983 perfomance evaluation was p
g e his performance and consequently serve as a basis for an attempt to down rad h'erminating him because he had raised safety concerns.
The evidence developed by the investigation indicates that the engineer e engineer, during his first two years of employment with Bechtel, was performing engin-eering calculations with which he was very familiar and under the direct guidance of his immediate supervisor.
The engineer was a member of the Nuclear Staff's Mechanical Analysis Special Studies subgroup during this time.
In January 1983, the engineer was transferred to the Hechanical Analysis Containment Thermal-Hydraulics subgroup because of the declining workload in Special Studies and the Containment Thermal-Hydraulics backlog of work dealin with g
calculation of room pressures and temperatures following postulated pipe break events.
The backlog dealt primarily with the Diablo Canyon and Limerick Power Projects.
The engineer was marked down on his 1983 performance evaluation in the above cited areas
- because, as a member of Containment Thermal-Hydraulics, he wrote one memo dealing with the chugging source and two memos on referencing procedures to department heads without putting his immediate supervisor on distribution for the memos.
In addition, the engineer was marked down because one half of approximately 50 engineering references completed by the engineer on the FLUD computer code were improper and consequently could not be used.
The engineer also objected to the procedures whereby engineers, junior to him in status, checked his engineering references and was consequently marked down for this.
Bechtel uses a force orce ranking process to determine an employee's worth to the organization.
The ranking list is used to select employees for termination dunng reductions in force.
The engineer was ranked at the bottom of the force ranking list used for the termination on September 2, 1983.
The eng>neer was ranked at the bottom of the list because of his poor performance during 1983 and the fact that his background was in a specialized field for which Bechtel would not require such services in the imnediate future..
F
Although the engineer was the onl the only employee terminated on September 2, 1983, he was the first of 20 em lo ees p
y of the Hechanical Analysis Group, or approxi-mately 60K of that rou 's o
g p
population, involved in a personnel reduction from September 1983 to Jun
1984.
A reduction-in-force of four additional employees from the Mechanical
'cal Analysis Group is planned for the second half of 1984.
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