ML20024E828
| ML20024E828 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Zimmer |
| Issue date: | 09/01/1983 |
| From: | James Keppler NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| To: | Neylan A TORREY PINES TECHNOLOGY |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8309070115 | |
| Download: ML20024E828 (2) | |
Text
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-35 Torrey Pines Technology ATTN:
Mr. A. J. Neylan Project Manager P.O. Box 85608 San Diego, CA 92138 Gentlemen:
We are in the process of reviewing your report, CA-C17173, entitled,
" Independent Review of Zimmer Project Management." Based on our review so far, we have some comments and requests which we wish to bring to the attention of Torrey Pines and the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company at this time.
The level of detail in your discussion of the four case studies you performed (Volume 2, Section 8) is insufficient for the NRC staff and members of the public to understand the bases for your conclusions.
Because your conclusions differ from information being developed by the NRC in its ongoing investigation, we request that you provide us with a list of all materials in your files which relates to the case studies.
Additionally, with respect to your case study on welding procedures and welder performance qualifications, your statements and conclusions regarding the information that was presented to the NRC on July 9, 1982 differ from my position as discussed in the enclosed memoranda. We request that you review the NRC memoranda and provide us with copies of all of the documents that support your conclusion and differ from my position.
Finally, by copy of this letter, the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company is requested to review each case study including the conclusions and provide any information in its possession which may contradict or confirm the information provided in the Report.
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SEP 0 1 G83 If you have any questions on the matters discussed in this letter, we will be pleased to discuss them with you. Your early response will be appreciated.
Sincerely, Oud @)d
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Regional Administrator
Enclosures:
1.
?!emo Keppler to Dircks, dtd 2/7/83, Zimmer - Welder Qualification Issue 2.
?!emo Keppler to Dircks, dtd 2/18/33, Zimmer - Welder Qualification Issue cc w/ enclosures:
J. Williams, Jr., CG&E J. R. Schott, Plant Superintendent J. D. Flynn, Flanager Licensing Environmental Affairs Department Dt1B/ Document Control Desk (RIDS)
Resident Inspector, RIII Harold W. Kohn, Ohio EPA Citizens Against a Radioactive Environment James W. Ifarris, State of Ohio Robert H. Quillin, Ohio Department of IIealth Thomas Applegate Thomas Devine, Associate Director, Institute for 1
Policy Studies Dave tiartin, Office of cg,,,.g c of Attorney General g
liark Wetterhahn, Esq.
L' Jerome A. Vennemann, Esq.
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=...a FEB ' 71983 MEMORANDUM FOR: William J. Dircks, Executive Director for Operations FROM:
James G. Keppler, Regional Administrator, Region III
SUBJECT:
ZIMMER - VELDER QUALIFICATION ISSUE s
Based upon a briefing I received from OI recently on the status of the Zimmer investigation, I see a need to supplement and clarify certain information provided in Chairman Palladino's October 20, )982 letter to Congressman Udall and the Zimmer November Monthly Status Report concerning the subject of welder qualifications at Zimmer.
By way of background, on July 9, 1982, NRC staff cembers met with repre-sentatives of CG&E and Kaiser to obtain the findings of their review of welder qualifications at the Zimmer nuclear plant. During this meeting, NRC did not agree with the conclusion reached by CG&E that nineteen of approximately 460 onsite welders were not qualified. The NRC inspection during the following week brought into question the qualifications of about 200 welders.
Of these, approximately 100 had to be requalified to continue construction.
Subsequent to that meeting, on several occasions, Dr. Henry Myers expressed the concern that NRC may not have been given all pertinent information known by CG&E and Kaiser at the time of the meeting. He specifically made reference to a document of some 170 pages that he had been told existed at a July 8 meeting between CG&E and Kaiser and was not made available to the NRC staff at the July 9 meeting. We told Dr. Myers that we believed CG&E and Kaiser had provided the NRC all pertinent information concerning welder qualifications at this meeting. However, Region III made inquiries of some of the attendees at that meeting and they failed to shed any light on such a document.
As a result of Dr. Myers persistence in this matter, Region III requested lCG&E (in an October 27, 1982, letter pursuant to 10 CFR 50.54(f))
l to provide a list of all reports or other documents that were prepared in preparation for the July 6 and 9, 1982 meetings.
Concurrently, at one of the Commission meetings on Zimmer shortly before the November 12,1982 Order, 01 reported that they had received information concerning a document that resembled the one Dr. Myers was seeking and that Region III reportedly had that documentation.
I indicated that I would look into this matter.
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3 It was subsequently learned that the documentation in question had been given to the NRC resident inspectors on July 12, 1982 during inspection activities concerning welder qualifications.
However, Region III personnel did not recognize thes,e papers as the document Dr. Myers was pursuing. The NRC Zimmer staff did not find anything in these papers that they did not know at the time of the July 9, 1982 meeting through a review of documentation then available to them.
At a January 20, 1983, debriefing witn OI, I personally learned thac OI had received statements that attendees at the July 9, 1982 meeting had been instructed not to voluntarily disclose the existence of the document in question or provide it to the NRC unless it was specifically rehuested.
While the document in question did not contain anything unknown to the NRC at the meeting, the specific reason for its not being given to NRC at the meeting is being investigated by OI.
In order to provide appropriate clarification of this matter, I suggest a copy of this memorandum be provided to the Commission and Dr. Nyers.
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l James G. Keppler Regional Administrator cc:
J. Fitzgerald, OI R. C. DeYoung, IE r
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cLEN EL LYN,lLUNot$ 60m February 18, 1983 MEMORANDUM FOR: William J. Dircks, Executive Director for Operations FROM:
James G. Keppler, Regional Administrator
SUBJECT:
ZIMMER - WELDER QUALIFICATION ISSUE s
This memorandum supplements my memorandam of February *7,1983 on the above subject.
On Tebruary 11, 1983, there was a three-way telephone call among Henry Myers, Tom Rehm, and myself concerning the July 9, 1982 meeting between CG&E, Kaiser, and NRC representatives regarding the welder qualification issue at Zimmer.
Dr. Myers was pressing the question of whether we believe the findings pre-sented at that meeting by CG5E and Kaiser were an accurate reflection of the information they possessed at the time of the meeting.
While he accepted the information presented in my memorandum of February 7, 1963, he felt that we were not facing up to his question and that our position that the withheld document did not contain anything not previously known to the NRC inspectors obfuscated the issue. Even though an 01 investigation has not been completed as to why the welder qualification document in question was not volunteered to NRC, Dr. Myers argued that Region III should confront this issue and urged us to focus on both how and why this document was subsequently given to the resident inspector on July 12, 1962.
On February 14, 1983, I met with certain involved members of my staff and discussed the status of the ongoing investigation with OI.
The following points relating to the matters of interest are considered to be pertinent:
1.
01 has a report of interview of an ex-Kaiser employee that Kaiser management instructed him not to voluntarily refer to or turn over the document they had prepared on welder qualifications at the July 9, 1982 meeting with NRC.
2.
According to this individual, who was present at the meeting, this document had been prepared to summarize the information known re-garding the qualifications of welders at the site. When the document y
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was completed one could infer that Kaiser management believed the information would undermine their planned presentation to the NRC stating their position that only nineteen welders were not qualified.
3.
The document in question was given to the NRC resident inspector on July 12 by the same individual who prov2ded the signed statement to 01.
The NRC resident inspector did not recognize that the document was being " leaked" to him.
4.
A recounting of the July 9,1982 meeting was discussed cn Febluary 15, 1983 with the NRC resident inspector who attended the meeting in light of the information obtained from OI.
He was awar.e that there had been an ongoing internal conflict between Kaiser Construction and Kaiser Records Management people over the importance of records relative to the qualification of welders --- Construction taking the position that 10 CFR 50 Appendix B did not require that specific records be main-tained for showing welder qualification, while Records Management believed that complete records were required. The Kaiser QA m'anager supported the position taken by Kaiser Construction. While the con-tents of the undisclosed document were known to the NRC through reviews of NR's and CAR's, the document highlighted the fact that many welder qualification records were missing at the time.
In digesting this information, I see the " bottom line" as follows:
1.
In the Chairman's October 20, 1982, response to Congressman Udall we stated
" ---Region III believes, at this time, the information was an accurate reflection of the information then possessed by the licensee."
At the time of the July 9, 1982 meeting, our inspectors were well aware of the problems with documentation to support welders qualifications and they did not agree with the position taken by Kaiser and CG&E. We re-sponded the way we did because we knew the pertient information relative to the velder qualification issue and we believed there was simply a dif f erence of opinion between CG&E/ Kaiser and NRC relative to the action required.
2.
In view of the information obtained to date by 01 and a recounting of the meeting, it is apparent that Kaiser failed to present information m>=
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that was not supportive of their position at the July 9 meeting. The 1
fact that they did not provide us with the 167 page document and did not discuss the differing views concerning the importance of adequate records
^3 to certify welder qualifications lead me to believe today that the con-
'l cerns raised by Dr. Myers.have substance. The information provided at the July 9, 1982 meeting was not an accurate reflection of information i
then possessed by Kaiser and CG&E quality assurance managers.
This memorandum, as well as my memorandum of February 7,1983, should be provided to the Commission and Dr.
Myers. NRC future action regarding this matter will be based on OI's investigation findings.
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James G. Keppler Regional Administrator cc:
J. Fitzgerald, OI
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