ML19309C045
| ML19309C045 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palisades  |
| Issue date: | 03/31/1980 |
| From: | Moseley N NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE) |
| To: | CONSUMERS ENERGY CO. (FORMERLY CONSUMERS POWER CO.) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML18044A719 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-80-150 NUDOCS 8004080074 | |
| Download: ML19309C045 (27) | |
Text
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pd UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE IntheMatterpf CONSUMERS POWER COMPANY Docket No. 50-255 (Palisades Nuclear Power Facility)
(Civil Penalty)
NRC STAFF'S ANSWERS TO CONSUMERS POWER COMFANY'S "FIRST ROUND OF INTERROGATORIES AND REQUEST FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS" Answer to Interrogatory 1 The following persons participated in the preparation of the answers to Consumers Power Company's interrogatories:
Headquarters: S Victor Stello, Jr., Director, Office of Inspection and Enforcement (IE)
Nonnan C. Moseley, Director, Division of Reactor Operations Inspection (DROI) IE Dudley Thompson, Executive Officer for Operations Support, IE Samuel E. Bryan, Assistant Director for Field Coordination (DROI). IE Thomas W. Brockett Enforcement Specialist, IE Frank J. Nolan, Senior Reactor Inspection Specialist, (DROI)
IE John Reisland, Senior Reactor Inspection Specialist (DROI), IE James P. Murray, Director and Chief Counsel, Rulemaking and Enforcement Division, Office of the Executive Legal Director (OELD)
Stephen G. Burns, Staff Attorney, OELD If The business address for persons who are employed in the Headquarters offices of the NRC is U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Comission, Washington, D. C. 20555. The telephone number is 492-7000.
B 8004080 @
. Region III:
James G.',_Keppler, Director, Region III, U.S.N.R.C., IE
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Charles E. Norelius, Assistant to the Director, Region III, U.S.N.R.C., IE Robert F. Heishman, Chief, Reactor Operations and Nuclear Support Branch, Region III, U.S.N.R.C., IE Dwane C. Boyd, Section Chief, Reactor Operations and Nuclear Support Branch, Region III, U.S.H.R.C., IE 2/
The business address for persons employed by the Region III Office is Region III U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Inspection and Enforcement, 799 Roosevelt Road, Glen Ellyn, Illinois 60137. The telephone number is (312) 858-2660.
Answer to Interrogatory 2 The NRC Staff relies on the following facts to support Item 1 in the Notice of Violation:
1.
While-preparing to perform a local leak-rate test of Containment Building Penetration 4a (Containment Building exhaust valves bypass),
an suployee of Consumers Power Company (the licensee) discovered on li Septenber 11, 1979, that two manual containment isolation valves in the exhaust valves bypa:s line were locked open.
2.
On or about April 5,1978, the High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter in the exhaust valves bypass line was changed. The HEPA filter was functionally tested on or about April 6,1978, in accordance with the licensee's test procedure (H.P. 6.27). The two manual containment isolation valves in the exhaust valves bypass line were opened during the testing of the HEPA filter. The test procedure (H.P. 6.27) does not provide instructions to restore altered components to their original or required positions. No evidence exists of an administrative review of the completed test procedure.
3.
The licensee's Containment Integrity Checklist (C.L. 3.3) does not list the two manual containment isolation valves.
l 4.
InLicenseeEventReport(LER)No.79-037and79-037Rev.1, Consumers Power Company states:
"Due to inadequacies in both the procedure governing the testing and in the valve lineup checklist used to verify containment integrity, the valve misalignment was not detected prior to resumption of power."
"It was subsequently determined that, contrary to the requirements of TS 3.6.1, the valves had been open during power operation."
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e "At the time the valves were opened on April 6, 1978, the reactor was in a refueling shutdown condition, and integrity requirements were satisfied. At the conclusion
'of the test, however, the valves were apparently not closed and the subsequent plant start-up took place with contain-ment integrity requirements not met."
5.
On approximately 476 days between April 11, 1978, and September ll,1979, Consumers Power Company operated the Palisades Nuclear Power Facility in other than a cold shutdown condition.
6.
Based on the above facts, the Director of I&E detemined that the manual isolation valves in the containment exhaust bypass line were in a locked open condition during the period fmm April 1978 to September 1979.
Although the Staff recognizes that no significant amounts of radioactive material were released from the reactor coolant system, and therefore from contaiment, during this period, had such a reactor coolant system release occurred, the existence of the large opening in containment through the open valves could have resulted in significant offsite releases of radioactive materials. Therefore, CPC was cited for the violation and civil penalties were imposed.
This answer is based on infomation obtained through NRC inspection efforts i
and infomation contained in documents (identified in 2(a)(ii) below) submitted to the NRC by Consumers Power Company.
Answer to 2(a)(i) -
Persons in the NRC who have knowledge of any of the facts identified in response to 2(a):
Headquarters:
Chaiman John F. Ahearne Comissioner Victor Gilinsky Comissioner Richard T. Kennedy 1
. Commissioner Joseph M. Hendrie Commissio,ner Peter A. Bradford Victor Stello, Jr., Director, Office of Inspection and Enforcement (IE)
NormanC.Moseley, Director,DivisionofReactorOperationsInspection(DROI),IE Dudley Thompson, Executive Officer for Operations Support (XOOS), IE (at the time this enforcement action was initiated, Mr. Thompson was the Acting Deputy Director, IE)
Samuel E. Bryan, Assistant Director for Field Coordination (DROI), IE Frank J. Nolan, Senior Reactor Inspection Specialist (DROI), IE Phillip F. McKee, Reactor Inspector Specialist (DROI), IE Thomas W. Brockett, Enforcement Specialist (X005), IE James S. Bland, Health Physicist, Fuel Facilities and Materials Safety Inspection, IE Walter Pasedag, Environmental Evaluation Branch, Division of Operating Reactors, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Region III:
James G. Keppler, Director, Region III, U.S.N.R.C., IE Charles E. Norelius, Assistant to the Director, Region III, U.S.N.R.C., IE Robert F. Heishman, Chief Reactor Operations and Nuclear Support Branch, Region III, U.S.N.R.C.,IE Dwane C. Boyd, Section Chief, Reactor Operations and Nuclear Support Branch, Region III, U.S.N.R.C., IE Bruce L. Jorgensen, Senior Resident Inspector, Region III, U.S.N.R.C., IE 1
9 Answer to 2(a)(ii) -
Documents which relate or refer to facts identified in response to Interroga-tory 2(a):
1.
Consumers Power Company (CPC), Palisades Nuclear Plant Health Physics Procedure No. H.P. 6.27, Revision 3 (12/29/76);
2.
Consumers Power Company, Palisades Nuclear Plant, Containment Integ-rity Checklist, C.L. 3.3; 3.
Consumers Power Company, LER No.79-037 (9/28/79);
4.
Consumers Power Cortpany, LER, No.79-037 Revision 1 (10/31/79);
5.
Letter from James G. Keppler, Director, U.S.N.R.C. Region III to R.B.
DeWitt of Consumers Power Company (11/29/79), enclosing NRC Region III Inspection Report No. 50-255/79-15 (10/12/79);
6.
Memorandum for Boyce Grier, James P. O'Reilly, James Keppler, K. Seyfrit, R. Engelken, Directors of NRC Regional offices, from Norman C. Moseley, Director, Division of Reactor Operations Inspection, Office of Inspection and Enforcement (IE), enclosing IE Infonnation Notice No. 79-26, " Breach of Containment Integrity" (11/1/79), concerning incident at Palisades facility; 7.
Letter, Victor Stello, Jr., Director, Office of Inspection and Enforce-ment, to R.B. DeWitt, CPC, enclosing Notices of Violation and of Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalties (11/9/79);
8.
Transcript of " Press Conference on Consumers Power Company, Palisades Nuclear Power Facility" (11/9/79);
9.
Office of Public Affairs, NRC "NRC Staff Proposes $450,000 Fine Against Consumers Power Company of Michigan", Press Release No.79-199 (11/9/79);
4 11. Letter, R.B. DeWitt, CPC, to V. Stello, Jr., IE (11/29/79);
- 13. Letter, V. Stello, Jr., IE, to R.C. Youngdahl, enclosing " Order Imposing Civil Monetary Penalties" (12/20/79);
- 13. Federal Register notice " Abnormal Occurrence; Major Degradation of Primary Containment Boundary", 44 Fed. Reg. 75243 (12/19/79); concerns incident at Palisades facility.
e
- 15. Office of Management and Program Analysis, NRC, Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences, July-Sep'tember 1979, NUREG-0090, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Feb.1980); includes discussion of abnormal occurrences at Palisades facility, i.e., apparent violation of containment integrity.
- 16. Letter from Robert F. Heishman, Chief, Reactor Operations and Nuclear Support Branch, U.S.N.R.C. Region III, to R.B. DeWitt (12/28/79),
enclosing Inspection Report No. 50-255/79-22(12/26/79), concerning routine resident inspection program for November 1979 and followup on CPC's LERs on violation of containment integrity.
- 17. Letter from James G. Keppler, Director, U.S.N.R.C. Region III, to R.B.
DeWitt, CPC, (1/4/80), transmitting Inspection Report No. 50-255/79-24 (12/28/79), concerning meeting in Washington between staff of Office of Inspection and Enforcement and NRC Region III and CPC's management.
- 18. Mailgram from J.G. Lewis and G.H.R. Petitjean of CPC to Dwane C. Boyd, U.S.N.R.C. Region III (9/14/79), confirming verbal report of reportable occurrence concerning containment integrity requirements.
- 19. "Prelininary Notification of Event or Unusual Occurrence", No. PNO-79-424.
"Subj ect: Incorrect Positioning of Containment Bypass Valves" (9/17/79),
presents basic infomation concerning violation of containment integrity discovered by licensee at Palisades; document distributed to Com-missioners and heads of major NRC program offices.
- 20. Memorandum for George C. Gower, Acting Executive Officer for Operations Support, IE, from Samuel E. Bryan, Assistant Director for Field Coordina-tion, Division of Reactor Operations Inspection, IE, "
Subject:
Potential Abnomal Occurrence" (9/21/79); requests transmittal of draft proposed abnormal occurrence report concerning Palisades facility to Office of Management and Program Analysis, NRC.
- 21. Memorandum for the Comissioners from Lee V. Gossick, Executive Director for Operations (ED0), NRC, "
Subject:
Abnomal Occurrence Recommendation -
Major Degradation of the Reactor Containment (Palisades Nuclear Plant)"
SECY-79-613,11/13/79); requests approval of abnomal occurrence deter-mination regarding Palisades facility.
- 22. Memorandum for Lee V. Gossick, EDO, from John C. H oyle, Acting Secretary, NRC, "
Subject:
SECY-79-613. Abnomal Occurrence Reconimendation...(Com-missioner Action Item)"(12/3/79); advises ED0 that Commissioners approved recomendations of staff concerning abnomal occurrence report regard-ing Palisades.
Samuel E. Bryan, Dwane C. Boyd, and Frank E. Nolan assisted in the identifi-cation of documents related to this request.
Answer to 2(f) -
The Staff has provided CPC with copies of documents 9,15,19, 20, 21 and
- 22. The remaining documents, save document 14, were either originated by CPC or sent to them.
Document 14 is a Federal Register notice readily available to CPC from another source.
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Answer to Interrogatorv 5(a)
The NRC staff has identified the following communications among NRC personnel or among NRC personnel and " third parties" wherein the CPC violation or imposition.of the CPC civil penalties was discussed:
1.
Office of Inspection and Enforcement's IE Information Notice No. 79-26, issued 11/5/79, to all power reactor facilities holding operating licenses and construction permits; discusses incident at Palisades facility (see item 6 in response to interrogatory 2(a)(ii));
2.
Press Conference on Consumers Power Company, Palisades Nuclear Power Facility, held at 1717 H Street, N.W., Washington, D. C. (11/9/79);
which announced proposed imposition of civil penalties against CPC; 3.
Letter, V. Stello, Jr., I&E, to Daniel J. Demlow, Chairman of Michigan Public Service Commission (11/13/79), enclosing Order and Notices sent to CPC on November 9, 1979; 4
Letter, V. Stello, Jr., I&E, to Hon. Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General oftheStateofMichigan(11/13/79), enclosing Order and Notices sent to CPC on November 9,1979; i
5.
Letters, V. Stello, Jr., I&E, to chief executives of all utilities with a power reactor operating license or a construction permit (11/16/79),
enclosing enforcement action letter to CPC dated November 9,1979; 6.
Letter, R. C. Sellers of Abbeville, Louisiana, to Chairman, NRC (1/31/80);
letter urges reevaluation of " excessive fine" imposed against CPC; 7.
Letter, Norman C. Moseley, I&E, to R. C. Sellers (2/21/80);
i 8.
Documents 6, 9, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, and 22 listed in response to interrogatory 2(a)(fi).
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Office of Inspection and Enforcement, " Notification of Significant Enforcement Action" (EN-79-16); subject matter concerned imposition of $450,000 on CPC by Order of December 20, 1979 (prepared circa 12/20/79); document circulated to Commissioners and persons in various staff offices.
- 10. Briefing of Commissioners Gilinsky and Ahearne on November 20, 1979, at 1:30 p.m. at 1717 H Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. to discuss the details of the proposed abnormal occurrence pertaining to the discovery of open containment isolation valves at the Palisades Nuclear Facility.
Samuel E. Bryan, Assistant Director for Field Coordination, Division of Reactor Operations Inspection, I&E, Walter Pasedag, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Paul E. Bobe, Office of Management and Program Analysis, participated. Manuel S. Medeiros, Jr., Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data, was also in attendance. Several other persons who may have been on the Commissioners' staffs or in the Office of Policy Eyaluation were also in attendance.
Samuel E. Bryan, Frank E. Nolan Thomas Brockett and Stephen G. Burns assisted in the identification of documents or communications in response to this interrogatory.
5(b): The Staff has provided CPC with copies of documents 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9, identified in interrogatory 5(a). Document 5 is a copy of a letter sent to the President of Georgia Power Company; the same letter was sent to the chief executive offices of other utilities identified in the listing attached to the sample letter.
Item 1 was provided as part of document 6 in response to interrogatory 2(a)(ii). All documents referenced in i
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-item 8, except document 14 (a Federal Register Notice), have been l
l provided in response to 2(a)(ii). above. CPC already has the transcript i
identified in item 2 in response to 5(a) above, i
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Answer to Interrogatory 6 -
The current general policy on classification of items of noncompliance as deficiencies, infractions, or violations differs from the original policy adopted following enact 2nent of section 234.
Answer to 6(b) -
P) The original general policy is described in a letter dated June 5,1973, to all Atomic Energy Comission (AEC) licensees from F. E. Kruesi, Director of Regulatory Operations, entitled " Categories of Violations of AEC Regulatory Requirements". This letter identifies and describes three severity categories (I, II, III) of violations. The categories are also described in the AEC Directorate of Regulatory Operations Manual (Chapter 0800) dated June 6, 1973. This manual was intended to be used as guidance by the Regional Offices and Regulatory Operations headquarters staff.
(ii) Modifications to the categories were issued by Donald F. Knuth, the Director of Regulatory Operations,on December 31, 1974, with a letter addressed to all licensees entitled " Criteria for Detennining Enforcement Action and Categories of Noncompliance with AEC Regulatory Requirements -
Modifications". The reasons for making the modifications are described in this letter. The modified policy replaced the severity categories with the ranking " violation", " infraction", and " deficiency". The letter was also placed in the Public Document Room and a notice was published in the Federal Register, 40 Fed. Reg. 820 (Jan. 3, 1975), which announced the revision of categories of noncompliance and which described the modifi-cations to the categories. New NRC licensees have been provided copies of the 1974 letter. The categories are also referenced in the NRC Office of Inspection and Enforcement's (IE) Manual (Chapter 0800, section 802),
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used by the NRC Regional Offices and IE headquarters staff as guidance for implementation of the enforcement program. Manual Chapter 0800 is available for public inspection in the Commission's Public Document Room.
On December 3,1979, Victor Stello, Jr., the Director of the Office of Inspection and Enforcement supplemented the 1974 categories in a letter to all NRC licensees entitled " Criteria for Enforcement Action for Failure to Comply with 10 CFR 71".
This letter enclosed " General Guidelines for Determining Severity Levels for Transportation Enforcement Action". The " guidelines" describe four levels of severity and correspond, as described in the guidelines, to the violation, infraction and deficiency categories issued in 1974. These " general guidelines" were issued in light of amendments to 10 CFR Part 71. The letter and general guidelines were published in the Federal Register, 44 Fed. Reg. 77135 (Dec. 31,1979).
l (iii)(a) Letter to all AEC licensees from F. E. Kruesi. Director of Regulatory Operations (AEC), entitled " Categories of Violations of AEC Regulatory Requirements", dated June 5, 1973.
(b)
U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, Directorate of Regulatory Operations, Regulatory Operations Manual, Chapter 0800, transmitted June 13, 1973.
(c) Letter to all AEC licensees from Donald F. Knuth, Director of Regulatory Operations (AEC), entitled " Criteria for Determining Enforcement Action and Categories of Noncompliance with AEC Regulatory Requirements - Modifi-cations", dated December 31,1974.
' (d) Notice of Issuance, published in 40 Fed. Reg. 820 (Jan. 3,1975) and issued on December 26, 1974, for the AEC by Donald F. Knuth, Director of Regulatory Operations.
(e)
U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Inspection and Enforce-ment Manual, Chapter 0800 (individual pages indicate dates of issuance and differences from prior issuance; dates are Jan.17, March 12 Oct.12,1975. May 5,1976. Nov. 21,1977).
(f) Letter to all NRC licensees from Victor Stello, Jr., Director of the Office of Inspection and Enforcement, entitled " Criteria for Enforcement Action for Failure to Comply with 10 CFR 71", dated December 3, 1979.
(g) Federal Register notice, " Guidelines for Enforcement of Transportation Regulations", published in 44 Fed. Reg. 77135 (Dec. 31,1979), issued on December 14, 1979, for the NRC by Victor Stello, Jr., Director of the Office of Inspection and Enforcement.
Thomas Brockett and Stephen G. Burns assisted in the identification of documents'in response to this interrogatory.
(iv): The NRC Staff has provided copies to Consumers Power Company of documents (a), (b), (c)
(e), (f), and (h) identified in 6(b)(iii) above. The other documents are available in any copy of the cited volumes of the Federal Register.
- Answer to Interrogatory 7 -
The general policy for imposing civil penalties for " continuing violations" is the same as that adopted following enactment of section 234.
(a) Section 234 of the Atomic Energy Act provides that "[i]f any violation is a continuing one, each day of such violation shall constitute a separate violation for the purposes of computing the applicable civil penalty".
The Statement of Consideration (" Civil Penalties") accompanying issuance of 10 CFR 2.205 states "In a case where, despite the exercise of reasonable diligence, a licensee was not aware of the violation until brought to its attention by the Commission, the computation of the period of violation would nomally begin at the time or after the time allowed the licensee for corrective action. On the other hand, if the evidence showed that a licensee had knowingly pemitted violations to continue, the computation of the period of violation might begin at the time the licensee pemitted the violations to continue."
The imposition of civil penalties for continuing violations is essentially a matter of judgment exercised within the guidelines of the general enforcement policy described in the currently applied
" Criteria for Detemining Enforcement Action" (issued December 31, 1974, to all licensees). No specific regime for imposing penalties for continuing violations is prescribed in the Statement of Consideration accompanying 10 CFR 2.205, in the 1974 Criteria (or in the 1972 version of the Criteria), or in the Office of Inspection and Enforcement's Manual, Chapter 0800 (or in the Manual's predecessor, the Regulatory Operations Manual, Chapter 0800).
(a)(1): 1.
Documents (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) identified in the answer to 6(b)(iii) above.
2.
Statement of Consideration, " Civil Penalties", published in 36 Fed.
l Reg.16894(Aug.26,1971); effective Sept. 25, 1971; 3.
Letter to all AEC licensees from F. E. Kruest. Director of Regulatory 1
. Operations (AEC), entitled " Criteria for Determining Enforcement Action", dated November 1, 1972.
4.
Notice of Issuance of Enforcement Criteria, 37 Fed. Reg. 21962 (Oct.17,1972), issued on October 4, 1972, for the AEC by F. E. Kruesi, Director of Regulatory Operations.
5 U. S. General Accounting Office, Report to the Congress, (No.
EMD-79-9), " Higher Penalties Could Deter Violations of Nuclear Regulations" (Feb. 16,1979), discusses and critiques generally NRC enforcement program; NRC response is attached as Appendix to the Report.
Thomas Brockett and Stephen G. Burns assisted in the identification of documents in response to this interrogatory.
(a)(ii): The Staff has provided a copy of documents 3 and 5 identified in 7(a)(i) above. Copies of all other documents identified above, except for notices published in the Federal Register, have been provided. The notices are available in any copy of corresponding volumes of the Federal Register.
Answer to Interrogatory 8 -
The current NRC policy concerning the general standards governing the imposi-tion of civil penalties and the amount of penalties differs from the policy adopted following enactment of section 234.
Answer to 8(b) -
(1)
In the Statement of Consideration (" Civil Penalties") accompanying issuance of 10 CFR 2.205, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) set forth general guidelines concerning the use of civil penalties as a method of enforcement. The Statement of Consideration describes these general guidelines.
(ii) The Director of Regulatory Operations of the AEC (at that time F.E.
Kruesi) elaborated upon the broad policy in the Statement of Considera-tion and identified general criteria for imposing civil penalties in
" Criteria for Determining Enforcement Action", which was sent to all AEC licensees with a letter dated November 1,1972. This letter des-cribed the enforcement actions available to the Commission and the general criteria to be used for determining appropriate enforcement sanctions for violations of regulatory requirements. A notice was published in the Federal Register on October 17, 1972 stating that the AEC had " issued criteria for determining enforcement actions to be taken with respect to future violations of the Commission's rules and license conditions" and that the criteria were available for inspection in the Comission's Public Document Room.
' In 1974, Donald F. Knuth, the Director of Regulatory Operations, issued revised " Criteria for Determining Enforcement Action" with a letter dated December 31, 1974, which was addressed to all AEC licensees.
A " Notice of Issuance" of the revised " Criteria" was published in the Federal Register, 40 Fed. Reg. 820 (January 3,1975). The 1974 letter to all licensees is available in the Comission's Public Document Room and has been provided to new NRC licensees. The modifications to the
" Criteria for Determining Enforcement Action" are described in the 1974 letter and in the " Notice of Issuance" published in the Federal Register.
The reasons for the modifications are also generally stated in these two documents.
The criteria for imposing civil penalties set forth in the 1974
" Criteria for Determining Enforcement Action" are also set forth in the NRC Office of Inspection and Enforcement's " Inspection and Enforce-ment Manual" Chapter 0800 (date of issuance is indicated on individual pages of the manual chapter). Chapter 0800 sets forth general enforce-ment policy and procedures for use by the NRC's Regional offices and the headquarters staff of the Office of Inspection and Enforcement, guidelines for selection of enforcement sanctions, and guidelines for use of civil penalties.
Chapter 0800(atpage 0800-42) also contains a " Schedule of Civil Penalties for NRC Licensees", which describes a range of amounts generally used in the assessment of civil penalties for different categories of licensees and different categories of non-compliance.
Chapter 0800 was originally issued in 1973 as part of the
' Regulatory Operations Manual issued by the AFC's Directorate of Regu-latory Operations. The 1973 Manual Chapter reflected the " Criteria for' Determining Enforcement Action" issued in 1972 and served the same purposes as the current NRC Inspection and Enforcement Manual does.
The Regulatory Operations Manual also contained a " Schedule of Civil Penalties for AEC Licensees".
Chapter 0800 to both the Regulatory Operations Manual and the Inspection and Enforcement Manual have been available in the Commission's Public Document Room.
Victor Stello, Jr., the Director of the Office of Inspection and En-forcement,sent a letter to all NRC licensees entitled " Criteria for Enforcement Action for Failure to Comply with 10 CFR 71."
The letter enclosed " General Guidelines for Determining Severity Levels for Trans-portation Enforcement Action". The letter was also published in a notice in the Federal Register, 44 Fed. Reg. 77136 (Dec. 31, 1979). The letter was intended to notify licensees that failures to comply with 10 CFR Part 71 would be categorized in one of the four severity levels de-scribed in the " Guidelines" and that severity level I or II noncompliance (equivalent to the " violation" category under the 1974 categorization) would normally result in imposition of civil penalties or more severe enforcement action.
l The Office of Inspection and Enforcement also issued Information Notice No. 79-20, "NRC Enforcement Policy--NRC Licensed Individuals", on August 14, 1979 to sunnarize enforcement sanctions available for use against licensed individuals. The notice describes the reasons and purposes l
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for its issuance. The Notice states that "[t]he issuance of civil monetary penalties, as provided for in 10 CFR 2.205 and 10 CFR 55.50...
[has] not been previously used against NRC licensed individuals but may be used if the circumstances warrant such action". The IE Infor-mation Notice was issued to all research reactor, test reactor and power reactor facilities with an operating license or construction permit and to production facility licensees that employ NRC-licensed operators. A revision to the Information Notice was issued on Septem-ber 7,1979 to correct a word omission and punctuation error that changed the intent of a statement of the notice. The changed state-ment is underlined in the revised notice. The revised notice was also distributed to the above-mentioned licensees.
(iii) 1.
Documents (a)-(f), identified in response to Interrogatory 6.
2.
Documents 2, 3, 4, and 5 identified in response to Interrogatory 7.
3.
Office of Inspection and Enforcement, IE Information Notice No. 79-20, "NRC Enforcement Policy - NRC Licensed Individuals",
(dated 8/14/79) attached to Memorandum of Regional Director from Norman C. Moseley, Director, Division of Reactor Operations Inspec-tion, Office of Inspection and Enforcement (8/10/79).
- 4. Office of Inspection and Enforcement. IE Information Notice No. 79-20 (Revision 1) "NRC Enforcement Policy - NRC Licensed Individ-uals" (dated 9/7/79), attached to Memorandum for Regional Directors from Norman C. Moseley, Director, Division of Reactor Operations Inspection. Office of Inspection and Enforcement (9/4/79).
. 5.
Memorandum for Donald J. Skovholt, Assistant Director for Quality Assurance and Operations, Division of Project Managernent, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, from Samuel E. Bryan, Assistant Director for Field Coordination, Division of Reactor Operations Inspection, Office of Inspection and Enforcement, concerning "Infonning NRC Licensed Individuals of NRC Enforcement Policy" (8/29/79).
6.
Documents filed on behalf of the NRC Staff and licensees and decisions of the Connission's adjudicatory panels in three adjudicated civil penalty proceedings held prior to this proceeding:
Atlantic Research Corporation (By-product Material License (BML)
No.45-02808-04); Pittsburgh Des Moines Steel Company (BML No. 37-02607-02); RadiationTechnology,Inc.(BMLNo. 29-13613-02). Documents related to other enforcement cases in which civil penalties were proposed or imposed may also reference the civil penalty criteria If CPC desires a listing of previous civil penalty cases, the Staff l
can provide a listing at CPC's request.
Thomas Brockett and Stephen G. Burns assisted in the identification of documents in response to this interrogatory.
(iv): Copies of documents 3, 4, and 5 have been provided to CPC. Copies of all documents identified in items 1 and 2 under 8(b)(iii) above, except for notices published in the Federal Register, have been provided. The notices are available in any copy of the corresponding volumes of the Federal Register.
Docurnents identified in 6 above are available to CPC in the Commission's public document room in Washington, D. C.
The Staff will provide a listing of all civil penalty cases if CPC requests a listing.
m
Answer to Interrogatory 11 11(a):
The Commission's request is described in substantially identical letters dated March 20, 1979, addressed to members of the U. S.
' Congress, i.e., Thomas P. O'Neill, Walter F. Mondale, Morris Udall, Gary Hart, John Dingell. The Commission has requested that the maximum penalty for a single violation should be increased to
$100,000. The letters state that the majority of the Commissioners believed that the total penalty should be limited only by the number of violations and that Commissioners Kennedy and Hendrie believed that the maximum total penalty should be set by statute rather than left to the Commission's discretion. Their views are set forth in a statement included with the Commission's legislative proposal. The memorandum accompanying the letters entitled " Proposed Changes in NRC Civil Penalty Authority" sets forth the reasons why the Cmunission has proposed increased penalty limits.
11(b):
1.
Letters from Joseph M.
Hendrie, Chairman of the NRC, to Thones P.
O'Neill, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to Walter F.
Mondale, President of the U.S. Senate, to Morris Udall of the U.S.
House of Representatives, to Gary Hart of the U.S. Senate, to John Dingell of the U.S. House of Representatives; letters are dated March 20,1979, and enclosed " Proposed Changes in NRC Civil Penalty i
Authority" and " Separate Views of Chairman Hendrie and Commissioner Kennedy on Civil Penalty Legislation".
1
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Commission meeting at 1717 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. on February
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8,1979 at 11:15 a.m.; the meeting was open to the public and concerned a briefing on NRC legislative proposals; NRC participants and attendees at the meeting are indicated in the unofficial transcript (copy provided).
3.
Continuation of February 8,1979 Comission meeting at 1717 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., on February 9,1979, at 1:30 p.m.; the meeting was open to the public and concerned a briefing on NRC legislative pro-posals; NRC participants and attendees at the meeting are indicated in the unofficial transcript (copy provided).
4.
Memorandum dated March 13, 1978 for the Comissioners from Ernst Volgenau, Director of the Office of Inspection and Enforcement con-cerning a proposal to recommend to Congress an increase in NRC civil penalty authority. The memorandum is designated a Policy Session Item, SECY-78-147.
5.
Correction Notice dated April 17, 1978 from the NRC Secretariat to Holders of SECY-78-147, transmitting replacement pages to the memorandum identified in item 4 above.
6.
Memorandum dated April 12, 1978 for Chainnan Hendrie and Comissioners Gilinsky, Kennedy, and Bradford from Carlton R. Stoiber, Assistant General Counsel to the NRC, concerning "NRC Legislative Proposal to Amend the Civil Penalty Authority".
7.
Document 5 identified in response to interrogatory 7.
. 7.
Commission meeting on April 19,1978 at 1:55 p.m. at 1717 H Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C.; the meeting was open to the public and concerned a proposal by the NRC staff to seek legislation to increase authority to set higher civil penalties.
NRC participants or attendees are indicated in the unofficial transcript (copy provided).
8.
Memorandum dated April 20, 1978 for Lee V. Gossick, Executive Director for Operations from Samuel J. Chilk, Secretary concerning "SECY-78-147:
"NRC Civil Penalty Authority"; memorandum indicates Comission's approval to seek an increase in NRC authority to impose higher civil penalties.
9.
Letters dated May 11, 1978 from Joseph M. Hendrie, Chairman of NRC, to Thomas P. O'Neill, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to Walter F. Mondale, President of the U.S. Senate, enclosing "(Draft Legislative Proposal to Congress) Proposed Changes in NRC Civil Penalty Authority".
Thomas Brockett and Stephen G. Burns assisted in the identification of documents in response to this interrogatory.
ll(c): The answer to ll(b) above identifies the documents related to the com-munications identified in response to ll(b).
11(d): Copies of the documents identified in 11(b) have been provided to CPC.
l
O
' 25 -
Answer to Interrogatory 15 -
Answer to 15(a) -
On November 16, 1979, Victor Stello, Jr., the Director of the NRC's Office of Inspection and Enforcement sent the enforcement package of November 9, 1979, to the chief executive officers of all utilities with a power reactor operating license or a construction pennit. The enforcement package consisted of a letter from Mr. Stello to R. B. DeWitt of Consumers Power Company, a Notice of Violation, a Notice of Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalties and an Order Modifying License Effective Imediately.
Answer to 15(b) -
A copy of the transmittal letter and a list of addresses has been provided in response to interrogatory 5 (document 5). The attachment to the transmittal letter was a copy of the original letter and attachments (dated 11/9/79) which were sent to Consumers Power Company.
O Answer to Interrogatory 16 Answer to 16fal -
A press briefing was held on October 26, 1979, to discuss the proposed imposition of civil penalties against Metropolitan Edison Company for violations stemming from the investigation of the March 28, 1979, accident at Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Station, Unit 2.
The transcript of the briefing indicates that Victor Stello, Jr. (Director of the Office of Inspection and Enforcement),
Leonard Bickwit (the General Counsel of the Comission), James P. Murray (Director and Chief Counsel, Division of Rulemaking and Enforcement, Office of the Executive Legal Director), Noman C. Moseley (Director, Division of Reactor Operations Inspection, Office of Inspection and Enforcement), and Joseph J. Fouchard (Director, Office of Public Affairs) were present at the briefing.
Answer to 16(b) -
A copy of the transcript of the October 26, 1979, press briefing has been provided to CPC.
I i
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,s' 2
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE In tha Matter of CONSUMERS POWER COMPANY
)
Docket No. 50-255 (PalisadesNuclearPowerFacility)
)
(Civil Penalty)
AFFIDAVIT OF NORMAN C. MOSELEY STATE OF MARYLAND
)
COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY ) 33 I, Norman C. hoseley, being duly sworn depose and state:
1.
I am the Director of the Division of Reactor Operations Inspection, Office of Inspection and Enforcement, U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Comission, Washington, D. C. 20555, 2.
I have been duly authorized to execute and verify the foregoing document, "NRC Staff's Answers to Consumer Power Company's First Round of Interrogatories and Request for the Production of Documents".
3.
I have read the contents of the foregoing document, and the answers found therein are true and correct to the best of rqy knowledge, infonnation and belief.
J mr z-Norman C. Moseley r
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 31st day of March,1980 JnJ$ b dN=J Notary Public
/
My Comission Expires:
July 1, 1982