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G t f 'V f t L Y N, IL LINots f 0137 July 12, 1982 NOTE 1D: lasalle and Midland Files FROM:
Charles E. fiorelius, Director, Division of Engineering and Technical Programs
SUBJECT:
If LLC 0ff UlTH GAP On June 24, 1982, I received a call from Hs. B' illy Garde of the GAP organiza-tion. With regard to LaSalle, she stated that they were aware that we had not yet contacted a name provided to us at_a meeting by so.
nu.:.be r i s'
'I Mr. Tom Devine on une acknowledged that this was an oversight on our pasL.
She stated she had just become aware on Wednesday, of a group in Chicago which has developed a long listing of allegations with regaid to the quality assurance program at Zack.
She stated that this has direct implication on the Midland, LaSalle, and Clinton sites, and ui ged us not to go fon<ard with any licensing action until we had received and investigated these concerns.
She stated that she or Tom Devine would meet with the group within the next couple of days and they wet e going to urge them to give their findings directly to our of fice.
Regarding Midlar d, she had heard that Regica Ill was developing a special investigation team to look at Midland, and she wanted to know how the team was organized and who was on it.
I told her that it was not a special investigation team, but an organization change was being made within the of fice to directly address the problem at Midland.
I stated that I did not know as yet the composition of all the members of that organization, but that it sculd be reporting directly to the Reglonal Administrator's office, probably through Mr. Warnick.
She stated her desire to have GAP work closely with t% new organization to address issues that are being identified.
She asked specifically that Mr. Keppler return her call to discuss with her the way in which the organizations could work toDether.
8305190396 830311 PDR FOIA PRENDERB2-366 PDR
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- sa GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTADILITY PROJECTi A )3h '
las::ru:e fo Pokcy Swe:es tCO1 Cae 5:ree: 4 W.. Weshington. D.C. 20009 (202)234 0 32 x
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'x July 26, 1982 The Honerable Nun =io J. Palladino Chair: nan U. 5. Nuclear Regulatory Cor: rission * * * ""
Washingsen, D. C. 20555 Dear Ch' airman Palladinot on behalf of our clients, Mr. Albert T. Ifeward and Ms. Sharon Mar 11c, the covernment Accountability Project ("GP.P") cf the lastitute for Polity Studies request's that the :luclear Regulstory Cemisslon ("NRC") conduct a full investigation of the ' enclosed evidence be forc pemitting full power operation of the Lasalle Nuclear Power statien (Una tr) in Lasalle Coonty, Illinois.
We request that the Co:rmission's Office of Investigations ("OI") replace Region III ("RI!!) in its ongoing investigat. ion of LaSalle and the tack Company, to which the enclosed evidence pertains.
We further request that the Come.issioners direct the Of fice of Inspector and Auditor ("OIA") to investigate the. perfomance of KIII's Of fice of Inspection and. In force:nen t.
More specifically, we telieve that RIII's oversight of LaSalle was inadequate in three arease-- -
(1) failu're to act for three snonths on serious evidence of a Quality Assurance ("QA"')a breakdown and possible criminal falsification at LaSalle'b Meating, Venti 11ating and Air.
Cohdit cning ("HVAC") contracter,' the Zack Compfmy, on the evo of tull power operatiens'at,t;aSalle despite urgent and then-independent ;toquests frcca Mr. Heward and CAP (2) failure to uncover the. Zack.QA breakdown during its ongoing
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rcquiatory program; ands (3) failure to honor cornienents nade last t3ovember to correct RIII~ investigative. deficiencies confimed by OIA Repo rt, Special 7_nquiry re:
Adequacy of II Investigation 50-358/.60-9 at the Wil.liam. H. Zur::er Nuclear Power Plant (August 7, 1981).
ss out. accion is based on the investigation.our organization has conducted over the pasc rive months, frcm March 1597 to date, as well as en evidence Mr.. Howard, Ms. Marello and other vitr. esses;hava presented to us regarding the: Region III :aSalle investigation.
F.nclosed; as Attach:nent 1-8 is a packet co :sining Mr. floward's af tidavit and 44 exhibitar Ms. Marello's a f fida.*it an affidavit from Mr. Charles Cras:t !!:: and six memoranda DY q no51#C69)
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The Honor,alale Nuncio J.
Falladino
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su.marinnq verification interview > conducted by our staf f.
The interviews confirm the personal integrity of F3 Howard: and.Ms. Marello, as well as the substanesiof their allegations.
1.ll'. witnesses execpt for personal
' references are former or current Zack. employees. Our eviden=e directly chal.lenges the credibility of F4qicn. !!I's July 19 reco:enendatien for a full power license.
i CAP is a non-profit, non-paetisanipublic. i.nterest organization that assists federal and cerporate a:sployees whc. repert illegal, wasteful or improper activities by t. heir agen=ies or orga*:izations. GAF also monitors govern-mental :cefer:ns, offers its expertise about personnel issues to Executive-Branch offices and agencies, responds.to Congressional requests fer analysis of issues related to acecv.:ntable gover::nent: and disse =inates significant infor: nation about problems to appropriate Flaces within the goverment.
Our review of the recently issued Iasalle.neport (Inspectica Report No.
50-373/82-35 (July 19,-1982)) revoa*.simore deference to utility tinatables than Region III has decronstrated in the past, particularly at the Zin ner station in Moscow, Ohio.
Altbough.we have had only one week to review, analyze and study Region I!T's report, it clearly suffers from serious caissions. This type of investigatioh leaves the public less realistically assured chan if no investigatien had been conducted at all.
Specifically, the. report ignored the evidenec on Zack presented by Mr. Howard nearly three months age, on May 3,1982.. Second, Region III totally igncred j
significant issues that dealt with.tha.causes of the Quality Assurc.nce deticieneiirs at I,aSalle, such as ret.aliattorr and manipulation of the QA program through short-staf fing, conflict. of interest, and advance warning-of QA inspections.
Our review of, the allegations actually covermd indicates th2t the LaSalle
. investigation relied far, toc heavily on the utility's paperwork, while.
foregoing witness interviews and Sodapendmat hardwaee tests. We discovered that Region III investigators failed to take sworn state: ents from key witnesses who had not already' provided? af fidavits to GAP cr the Illinois
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State Attorney Cent:ral's office.
GAF.had: already worked closely with so c of these witnesses.
Our de:izion not to take affidavits from these a:cployees was a. gesture of good faith' toward Region III; unfortunately, it was not returned.
We also foond a.disturbi.ng, manipulation of the allegations by omitting key facts, thus raking, it easier to reject the. charges.
Issues presented by conscientious workers were conriss ently re iected on the basis of suspect utility paperwerk or " independent" tests tha t were, in fact, controlled by the utility.
Further, and cost sericusly, the NRC's Region III office has once again fail ed to independently-explore. the. full extent cf the problems at a. nuclear power plant before dismi:ssing: the examples as insufficient i
by themselves - to pose a public hcaith' and safety threat.
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' he !:aclear Regulatory Cc:vnission has often. promised to improve the depen f ability and qaality of its invesc:qations; however, tr.a 'flass of ths s
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The Honorable Nuntio J. Palladtnos July - 26, 198 2 sN
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Lasalle probe confirre hat tiEC preces continue to rely on the utility's good faith and paperwork.. It is very clear that whenever there was a conflict betwoon eyewitnesses and utilitj paperwork, the paperwork won.
t*nfortunatoly the affidavits and. evidence provided~ by our clients reveal that the paperwork for ther LaSalle site.cannot be trusted.
The :.asalle. investigation represents a major setback in the NRC's outireach effort ec nuclear plant employees... No longer in good conscience can we recom:nend to nuclear workers that ther speak to the NRO without counsel Mr. Moward, who was speaking-f or the fired Zack employees, had present.
irreversible personal damage.. Althoughias opokesman for the group Mr. Howard went to the. Regional NRC;of fice on. the. first work day after the entire QA department was dismissed an&, talked to eight investigators, not one infomed him that he and.his colleageest had only 30 days to file an appeal for relief under 46 U.S.C. 556511to the-Department of Labor. As a result, their icgal rights to administrativie relief were sacrificed.
Regien III also public) v misrepresenteb h8 m,s is,.*"** in an attempt to Justify its own initial inactict... This: is intolerable.
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ZAOK AI.* EGATIONS Backorcund In the fall of 1981 the Zack company,.s Heating, Ventillating and Air' Conditioning ("HVAC") contractort,. hired Ms. Marello, Mr. Howard, and a number of other individuals to, establishi a goality Assurance Documentation Control office.
Their assignment. was to. insure that the Zack company had a Docu-mentation Department that complied.with-10 C.F.R. 50, Appendix B, the A.erican National standards Insti.t.u'te: (" ANSI") ~ codes, and the contract j
specifi=ations,.cf their various. clients ig nuclear business. Their specific l
assignment was. to control the documentation.-- purchase orders ("P.O. 's"),
material certifications. (."certs"):, material traceability records ("M.T.R.")
7 and certificates of conformance.-("C.C'.."). This involved the monitoring of over 3000 purchase order " pack &qess" Each package represented the proof of qualit.y for up to thousands of item.s.used to construct the Clinton, LaSalle or Midland nuclear powcr stations.
Mr. howard has, hired as the Docunmntatierr Control Room Supervisor.
Ms..Marello
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war a clerk. They, and, the thren or :four other Documentation Control Room employees were allowed -- in fact assigned ;~ to investigate documents con-ta2nec in zace s riles. Tnete t. A % L.a ve rify
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er id.etry the inaccuracies to the purchase order: packages. This task gave them free access to t.he 7.ack files, and also placed then in a good pcsition to observe the " paperwork trail" of Zack's4 nuclear: documents.
In six and a. half to seven months, Ms. Marello and Mr. Howard discovered and f.
ch llengnd a quality assurance breakdown: that leaves reliabili,ty of IWAC systems, and the overall.QA progra-s.at three nuclear plant sit'es in sarious
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he Honorable Nuna,io,J. Pallacino. v -- -." July 26, 1982 g ;-f.,.
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question. Reir experiences refleetra contractor operatirh for years without g*
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regard fer the Atomic Energy A:t; and consequently the public health and c:f.
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" white out," missing certifications',. purchase orders with no ASTM specifi-Bey discovered documentation that hed altered specifications, some with cations, purchase orders changedt to reflect correct quality assurance approval, and adhesive stickers withi questionable authenticity, used to, modify documentation and reflect the: correct standards. W ey also uncoverei top-level tack managecaent, attempts to convince vendors -- with some success -.
to provide innecurate quality and : traceability certifications af ter-the-fact.
So th Mr. Howard a n5T..........t.....'Marello' worked i.. M m.ynDocument Contrcl Room at the h"t 2ack headquarters. Although they' received no formalized Quality Assurance
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I' Unfortunately they suffered 'a pattern of harassment and attempted intlicidation.
The pressure, Ancreased as Zack strove unsuccessfully to meet unrealistic tima demands imposed by Consnonwealth %di' tion- ("Com Ed"), which wanted the paperwork resolved to avoid licensing delafs at l'ts LaSalle site. The tension became.
i so severs that Ms. Marello was cvontual.ly hospitalized.
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Last August Zach had notifi'ed the utiliticss of a potential nonconforming condicion under.10 C.F.R. 550.55fe)',. duet to inadequate and inaccurate qua' lity' and identif:icat.lon records on vendor' purchases. They also attached a Cor-
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" rective Action Report (" CAR") plan which! outlined zack's intention to identify, l
analyze and correct all the paperwork problems at the company headquarters.
This CAR also outlined the steps;'Iack would-take to insure that the proper ' ~
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. As pressure anunted to have the La.-mile. nuclear plant. load fueli the QA j",
department at Zack fell under greatmr pressure to close cut nonconformance g.C W reports ("Ncas") that detailed tho Zack QA : documentation deficiencies at l
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P.r. Howard refused to provide a final report to com Ed.
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Zack succitted. 99 remainihg NCRs.to Cem.Ed.'.Eack warned it.was unlikely
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.-[y;....,/.Jpc. This frank. admission did not deter the. utility and NRC rush to begin ~,,
T.,T. a*T."; operations.at LaSalle. Com Ed received parmission to lead fuel.
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~ Eack Quality Assurance department:,-hadicontacted an individual in the - - - -
Consumcrs Power Company's Midlandr. Prcrjoct! Quality Assurance department.
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This individual had represented to Mr..Howard and other members of the J
department that they should feel free to bring any allegations or problems at Zack to Midland's internal. grievance system..He also. guaranteed them 7
confidentiality and protection.fromilosing.their jobs." t On April la,19 and 20, an audit. tea:n f rom' Consumers and the Bechtel Corpor-ation arrived in the Chicago uffice.. Thei QA department anticip.1sted a completa I
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,1 investigation and prefsssional suppert for its effort. However, their t;A anticipation was belled as r.aive. On April.30 the entire department was
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dismissed, allegedly duc to an offt.ce reorganization
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. On May 3,1952, the first wor' king day fol. lowing the purgc. Mr. Howard be;an a series of contacts with Region.:.tt.:
He provided specific allegations about
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LaSalle and to a lesser extent Midland. and:Clinton, evidence and his offer ef 7.;.
. full cooperation with an NRC investigatien.. However, nothing happened.
Atter 25 months, when Mr. Howard and Ihe others realized.the NRC was not going to respond to their allegations,.which had cost them their jobs, they took their information to the pr.esseand then to CAP.
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The threc affidavits, ' exhibits andi supterting Yarification memerbnd&
evidence specific allegations about zack.'s QA <16c=nentation and utility oversight.
Certain.i'ssues pertain to the fundanien.tal+ cf zack's QA program-
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Absence ef any formaJ OW11.ty r.%csurance Occumentation P;ogram--
1 ntil Ms. Marelle, Mr. lioward mi othm were hired in the fall of 1931 to honor correctiva action co:r:mihnents enere was no QA ferr.a1 program for doctaments.
As a. result, they were in an uncgtrelled' state, i. e,., a mess. Documents were.
pilgd on the floor.- (Attachment 3, at 1,23 Att. 3, at 1: Att. 8, at 4-5).
2)
Ina.ie=uate cualifications of perr,cnnel performing significant roles- !r}d:,viduals withcut: any previous nuclear expor ence were assigned to make decisions requiring engineering jud.ieent, as well as detailed know-ledge of professional codes and Ingal ree;uirments for QA documentation. They received those assignments despite: protesting that they were not qualified i
to make such significan't decisions; The qualifications deficiencies extended
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to the Zack auditors.
(Att. 1, at 1-2, Acte 2, at 3-4 / Att. 3, ' t 2-3; Att. 8,0 D.'
at 5', 11-19).
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31 Missing docuoentation and discrepancie's :in welder cNiifications p
-es records-To, illustrate, an October 23 Interim Repcrt found 25 discrepancies
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.in a. parti.n revi,ew of welding qualifications records for-the LaSalle site.
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Inadeg,at,e training for QA personnel-- "DespitErepeated. requests t A..
for comprehensive training,.zack only offared infernal, guidance and self-
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~ f,. study m4ter141ss. lD:i illustrate th'e qualiity of the. training,,2ack President. '.
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Christine D*Zutel'*and her husband were trained "in accordance with the Zack Company Qoality Assurance Trainingt Program" on.the basis of one hour's
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instruction. froe, a Zack executive i,n NRO regulai. ions and professional QA.
standards. The 'e?,mpany finally -Froposed.aaformal training program shortly
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All references to Attachment 8. incorporate the relevant accompanying exhibi.ns.
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The Ho.nprab* e flohtio J. Palladiner 6-July 26,1982
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before at dizaissed the entire QA docuener:tation staf f.
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-Act. 2, at 2-3: Att. 3, at 2-3*: Act.-4, aA la and Att. 8, at 5,15-19, 241.
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A serend category of allegations concern incomplete 2ack QA doc *mentatien--
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Missine records due es inader:uate doeunent control-- Both unauthorizei saanagement personnel, and even the. owner's dog, had access to Zack QA records and Purenase orders. As a result,. records were lost or
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Absence of required ' quality verification en doctrr.ents that _could be retrieve-- This ranged from missing signatures to missing requtred. test
- h data, specifications, and certificatAons.to professional codes.
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7) fack of proper identifgation throuch conpliance with material c
traceability recuirements-This ledl to poolems such as lack of required traceabilit.y for some 114,000 h&xheads, bolts, nuts and sbilar items.
Similarly,. certain stect beams could not be traced with certainty, although -
indications are that they come frco Argentina.
(Att. 6, at 17-18, 21-22).
A third category of allegatinn. connerns. widespread falsification and improper modifications of Zack QA docup.ents during. the corrective action program for deficiert records--
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Improper altera_ tion of CA records ' through stickers containing j
sicnatures of quest.ionab1e authent.icity
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, Att. 2, at 3; Att. 3, at 2; Att. 8, 1
at 14-15)..
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In; roper alteration of QA records threu7h whitin,e,,,out previous
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-roquirements, (Att.1, a.t 2; Act. 8, at 15)..,
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Ipproper requests by tack,r.an'agement for vendors -to supply uravail-fd,4 ;<-
able in[ornat2cn or to inaccuratelv uocrade. quality documentatien-- Some Steal, refused to participate in the Dnproprieties.
verAcrs,.such as U.S.
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otnp vendcra cooperated.to the letters of the request, even retyping the spelling errors in model' certi:ficationilette':s supplied by Zack. Another vendor returned' a blank., forn for Zack to fill in as needed.. (Att. 2, at 7;,
d'U- ". ' ~ r Att. 3, at 2:.Att. 8, a t., 3 6, 25.-6).
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A fourth category of allegations-involves deficiencle's 1n zack's program for purchases from its Approved Vendors *. List-i-7
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Failure to disti,. gut sh between.cor:raercial and 'nucicar purchases on u.....
Por,cha m Orders-- Since items purchased for nuclear use have much stricter guality verification requirc:nents.than those purchased for co sercial use, 3
eM.his emisr. ion led to the improper upgr,adin; program described above.
(Att. 7, f
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The Honorable Nun ic J. Fallad:.no
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- 12) : nsualified verders on the. Av1.-
This occurred due to the absence F.1 of neenssar/ surveillan:e of venoor QA programs.
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7c, 7 12) raiture to reeuve ur.uualified vendors fre-he AV1.-
Even if zack
.A descrmined a ve'idor were unqual:.faed, that d:e not guarantee the vendor's re: oval from the AVI..
rer example, Zack received approximately 'It Purchase 7..! '.
Orders f r'am the Delta. screw Company during the period it was " removed" f:cw.
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>. o A fif *.h area of alleg.stion,s' concerns. the attitudy cf Zatk management. It was incompatible with the Quality Assurance criteria of 10 C.F.R. Part 50, Appendix B-
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.f 14 ); aanagemone awareness or u nreaxcowna:- r.acx m'anagement was pain ui
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aware. of the prcolem.. ~Ar. thE companyi con =eded, "There has been a breakdown c quality assurance program as felated: to criteriens Laicf VI - Documents Control, and VII. - Control of purchased material, equipment and services...."
(Att. 8, at 6).
The cognanyr precised,refoinn and training to the QA staff.
But the commitmenen worn not honored.
Instead, Zack management scapegoated th stasi for proren s crcated_by it's. own neglect.
(Att. 2, at 6-7 Att. 3,
.at 3 Act. 8, at 10,. 21-5). /
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Haramsent, attemoted intimidation and retalf ation acainst CA staff.
All current and former Zack r.mpicyees'whG were contac cd confirmed this
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.( y accusations of pe__ tty misconauet,. and _e.ventually dismissal of the entire QA d5"Eilmentation staff through a.pretextual. reorganization.
(Se,e, A:t. 1-6, D
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Bad faith orogress recorts: t6 the utilities--
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zack disguised :Es.mtsconduct through fair.e ri: assurances to its utility customers. To illustrate).the company reported to Midland on a l
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partial review of some A 907 purchase. orders. Although the. review was less
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, _ than half complete,.the Zack President characterized,it as a " total docu:nent i
aud it.
(Att. 1, at 2; Att.<2, at 39 Att. 3, at 2, Att.
8,. at 6,10, and L
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Failure to ' adequately discipline those responsible for records y
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fgl a tficatio n -- The ccmpany promised > its utility clients to identify and g
take apppropriate action against thei guilty parties. Although the responsib.*
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executive. was identified, the "approprAate disciplinary action" consisted of 2.u. 5 a' papetwork,domotion and additional :craining.
( Att. 8, at 4, 6-7).
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- 18) ' surrender to unrealist3Futill.ty deadlines-- Zack was under intens.
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precoure f tom it's utility clients, in pakticular com Ed, to rush the quality y
verification of its'. purchases.. Rather than defend the integrity of its QA
~
reform program, Eack sucetr*edgand. attempted to produce a " rush job."
7
' mat is why-the company ' pressured eenployees to work overtiine and perfor.s tasks
( for which' they weren't quali.f' led., There wasn't time to do the job properly.
\\ (h*nen ther QA staf f refused. to sign.off on unaccept'able records, management personnel did it themselves.:)- ~(Att..1,.at 3; Att. 2, a.t 4 g, Att. 3, at is l
Att. 4, at 2 Att, 8, at 7-8, 22)i.
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~ 'n.e lionorable..Wez. is J. Palladino-
. July, 2f., 195:
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A final categorf of alleyations involves the utilities the=selves.
Zack could
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not have persisted for years ir, its miscor. duct without utility co=plicity--
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20)
Utility kn.wledce of the QA. breakdown-L There can be no question b*
that the utilities have been aware of the Zack breakdown. The company was the s.23ect of previous requests to stop shippirvy nonconforming r.aterial, j,
as well as previous severe e.for:eme:.t action at Midland, whose ownt: Censur.c:
Power even 2 caned a contract er.plor'*e: to help straighten out Zack's CA recor6 deficien:les.
(see Att. 2 and. E, g enerally). At Lasallo, Zack informed Corconwealth Edison that it could not supply, adequate inforr.ation to pe3perly correct GO of 99 QA nonconfo.cances.. (Att. 8, Ixhibit 433).
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Utility complicitys wit _h. the onooing breakdown-- When fer: pally notifiod of Zack's miseries,. thet QA manage:nent for"the utilities and their
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contractors failed to f ace up to their ruponsibilities.
Instead, Com Ed,
pressured for a rash job in the. corrective action progran. At Midland. ths contractor Bechtal was.satisficdi if it were " highly probable" that Zack ordered the corrf.,ct material.. The Midland QA program responded to Zack's QA effort with an effort to rewrite the QA rulos. Even before the af fort vas completed, the Midland QA :tanagement decided that "in virtually all cases, material is acceptabic o_r will Ire deemed acceptable."
(Att. 8, Exhibit 29, at 3).
':' hat philosophy cannot coexist.with the Mosio Energy Act.
(Att. 1, at 4: Att. 2, a t 4-5; Att.
3.,
at 2-3 ; Att. 8, at 9-12, 14, 20).
22)
Utility co=plicity vith retaliation-In desperation, Mr. 'Bovard and another Zack QA employcc,. Mr.. Ronald Perry, disclosed the CA deficiencies to officials at LaSalle and Midland.- 'In each case the discussions were su,.-
posed to bee confidential.
In each cace, the Zack eoployees were soon subjecte to recrimination and harassment,. suggesting that the confidences were not
'ho no red.. In Mr.'Howard's casch the entiro QA staff was dismissed Within CH3 weeks of his disclosure to. the Midland.QA Manager.
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- 23). Inaccurate. publ ici denialscby utilitinn of the Zack deficiences--
- 3..
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'1b illui.rato, a Commonwealth Edison, spokesman stated in a Chicago television f
~~ interview that the Zach records war.e reviewed t.horoughly by its, Architect /
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Engineer Sargent, and Lundy. In fact,.an internal January 1982 Survaillance
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Report at I.aFalle revealed sargent and Lundy had-...y. **.
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... del eted the requirements.for"submittingi on. site contractor W
V documentatjon (such as Zack f r;)' to S C L for review. 'Ihis
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review is now ths. responsibirity 'of the Zack C=rpany....
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l nased on this change, S S Lbi lot'ter accepting 2ack's docu-R
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r mentatipo is no longer required; y- -
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.- A contrary to the concluslons of the impl:icated organitations, the deficiencies su.snarizr'd above arn too serjous) to ignore or even to glance at superficially.
j M a Zack report concluded, only 94 of 374 material packages sent to LaSalle l
Vcrc correct and acceptable. Nine were judged "No Go,o;1, for LaSalle." ( W.-
l phasic in original.)
(Att. 8, a t. 7J.
In some cases, it is too late for the t
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The Honorable Nu..r.io J. Palladine...... July 26, 1982
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l vendors to supply verificatior. information en purchases made in 1978 or r
earlier. ':te records simply aren't retained that long.
(.Att. 1, at 2).
p.
taor can the NRC Accept 2ack's work.*as is" and permit any plant to operate, with quality in an'indctorminato state. As RI!: Administrater James Keppler g(*
stated with respect to the 2inener' station,.the utility would have to " rip out"
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and repla=e critical components that lack adequate quality records.
("on-Time
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star.-Up for OL a.or Plant Still Doubted by NRC Official," The Cincinnati Eneutrcr, p. D-5 (June 30, 193M*..
W ' illustrate the impet at Lasalle, it
'ould magnify the danger an$ expenses to rip. out already installed itar.s.after w
the plant begins opora:icns.-
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II.
INA:TJ,U ATE.NRC INVESTIGATIVE! OVEP.51GMT_
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3a ckgnsund t
Cn Deccater 8,1080, on behalf of Mr. Thor.as Applegate, CAP charged that a RIII investigation violated basic investigative standards through failure to speak wi.h relevant witnesses: failure to take af fidavits from key witnesses; exres-sive reliance on utility papezwerk. Eo resolve. allegations instead of conducting necessary independent laboratory tests.on the hardwarc failure to investigate sufficiently to deter:ninu the causes of confirmcd inadcquacies; inaccurately sa::narizing employee allegations. with. the effect of shrinki.ng the allegations into insignificancor and on-balanr: exonerations despite confirmation of
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specific prebic:.s, before learniu; the full scope of the deficiencies.
~
Last Nove.hnr 18, CIA released its August.7 report, which backed CAP's charges.
4.i In an Octohor 8,19cil mcmorsndum to Chai.rman Palladino, Cffice of Inspector f" '
and Auditor -(OIA) Director: James Cummings observed that the probe Applegate l7
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ard GAP challenged "did not satisfye... generally accepted investigative j
e-standards of other Government agencies.....
Fundamentals basic to all in-l J
vestigations were sir. ply not observod. in this. inst.ince."
Cu.etings cited l E.:. *y,
inadequ' ate Gaua.ient.Livu highl*.shhcd by the total absence of interview reports, 1
J.* 4 J 2-
- as well as the failure to pursue obvious leads.
Mc surnilsed that serious quality assurance welding problebs: the NRO:uricovered last su:n:aer might have been expcsed years ago if IE prober had been "sufficiently comprehensive to identify this, issue in a timely-aran'nera".
u T,.:;......-- * 'In a f.svem;.w.ber If4 1981 letter to' Congressman Morris K. 'Udall (D.-Ariz.),
.;;,. n..
Chairman of the.Housc Energy and Env1.ronment Subcommittee, you backed the CIA criticisms. You ' concluded that.the tshortho:nings in the Zinanor investi-gation. " reveal a generic probism"< with; II oversight. You pledged to consider the "nececuary internal reforns".for NRC probes to reach a level " consistent with funds:nental standards. that govern-investigations by any agency."
- n Noverter Congrossional tentimony, NRC Esecutive Directar for OperatiM.s William circks rnaffir:ned the ec.:nitment and pledged to das,phasize reliance j
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July 26, 1982
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on utility paper ork while in:ressin; rel.ian:e on wite. esses and even a new t.'..:
NRO mobile labora tory testing unit.
With respect to the LaSalle and Zack allegations, RIII f ailed to honor this
~
p1 e:!q s.
To illustrate, the NR:" response to thc. Zatk. allegations at LaSalle was.
~
relu: tant,.at best.
cr. June 2,1922.*. gap' passed along the allegation of a vtndi:sted Osck whistichlower f ror..t:idland ti.a a Zach supervisor haq e
eenfirmed tnc same abuses at u salle.
7ne.whistleblower,-
d comj-lained that R1II had reicsed to investigace his allegations due to lach of s,;'ecificity. Had 2:II followed.its normal ;.ractice of che: king deficient pur:hase orders at or.e
- site that %d also beerr'sent' to other utilities (see, a. o,., IE Reg. No. 50 358/81-13), the CAC wouhi have loarned that illegalities in Zack-sup,0*.ied Midlard purchases were;: repeated at Lasalle.
-(Att. 5).
Shilarly, CAP :We' threc attempts to cenvinea RIII to purs.2e evidence of r.is-cor. duct by Zack at !.aSalle.
t'r. Eoward r ado ancther half deren attempts to corwince AIII te investigate his !".syd, 1982 d'isclosure, and evidence, all without success.
In a July 19,19!2 letter t.o Cor-Ed,. Adi.inistrator James Keppler rationalized the omission by stating the Ho'. card al' legations applied pri.v.arily to LaSalle and had. been deemed. tco ge neral. hy the ' taf f. As Mr. Howard rebutted:
/
s The ::RC description in its La.ialle. report of our meeting is absolutely false.
I spoke in great detail and said my findings a;pplied to all three sites.
I emphasized problems at LaSalle" rare than Midland.
I inft my records:with.the statt that day, and more the next day. c similarly, the Ju2 y 19,1982 RIII investigntive, report on L35 lle, (IE Repert' No. 50-M)/n2-!5) bears striking nimihritibs.to the Zimmer offert rejected last; year at CIA.
The only r.ajor differenco is that this year RIII is talking te mr'e wir.nnscen before it relier. on utility wperwrk to reject their chcrgen cut of hand. That is particularly inapprcpriate when the same investigative report found falsification. of peperwork on-site, a finding i
further confimed by rnansive atriounts.of falsif.ied 7ack records relied cn at asSAlle.
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Spec.ifically, CAP' charged that RIlI} -
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- f ailed to take 'svorn. ntatements frem sitnesses who had not already.....
provided affidavits to GhP;,
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. ** totally ignored issues that; deal.t.with the causes of CA deficiencies at tasalle, such as retalistierv, fear.uf which prevented almost half of witnesses contacted fro:n speaking: to the NFCs std manipulaticn of the3A program through short-staffing, conflicts of interest, a.d advance w.unings of QA ' inspections; r
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. July 26,1982 P
The abr.sta'31c. Hunzio J. Falladiro g-p "redefir.cd the issues:it did co rcr by omitting key fac s, such as f
J t.'e location of allevc4. defictene:.es, making it easier to reject
>l tr.e t%sroess h
"re,ected witnesses' alle4ations. on tbv tesis of " independent" b **~
tests.in fact controlled by the: utilit'y, as well as suspect-paperwork:
f "maniiniated the eviden::e by f ailini. c include key facts in the h
rcpor. - such as its finding.that approxi:nately half of reinferee.
ment bars were damaged - whil'c concluding the plant is safe:
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"lecked at woefully inadequate test samples on alta, such as reinforccmont be.rs on.9 dravings: cut of over 7000 relevant documents, or three mortar ecres when. literally tens of n
- housandn.of mortar blocks werei suspe ett and
- *f ailed to independantly learn t.he. full extent of proble::s that were confirmed, befores it. dis, missed-thosa examples as insufficient by themselves to pose 9 ;$nblic. saf ety thtuat.
We dif fcco.wes between old and new"KR:"1 investigations are cosmetic, at best.
Tn short, tho R;*if investigative repart on LaSalla was a finn.1 opportunity to cicar up nuricus. safety questions befors the. plant began operation. The repart f ailed to answer the questions adequately at a crf tical moment. We arc nct contending that -he 1,aSalle: plant is unsafe. On the basis of this re;r.rre, howcver, the Commission cannot reasonably assure the pt blic that it is.
As a:rcsult, Region III?s Office of Inspection. and Inforcement shculd be replaced in the. ongoinj investigative ctfortion LaSalle and Zack. CIA should
.a..
invn.stigate RITI's actions in permitting the situation tc develop this f ar.
Most. significantly, the rush to begin operationsiat LaSalle should be halted until all the.s.afety issues can bn investigatied ' thor 6ughly and resolved with realistic cenfiden' e.
p e
.e Car request fori this drastic. action is n=t> int.cnded as an attack on individual
, n MII:11nvestigators, or Regional Tdministrse.or James Keppler.
Mr. Keppler has l
- 4. _r attempted to upgrade investigative techniques.. He also has' tsken the lead in
!y tough public ntatements to ir: prove util'ity QA 'ef forts. Unfortunately, the l
Perform.nce has not ma tched 4.he promises er the rhetoric. The Ceresission must. take stro.g action to uphold its regulatory mandate and to honor its public commitments..
m..
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Sinew:ely; pm l
W.C 1FiS DEVIHt:
DILLE GARDE
. ' - ~ ~ ~ ' ' -I Legal Dirnet=r Direca.oo, Citi? ens Clinic for Accountable Government
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F:n:lesures
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