ML20049H592

Testimony of Wj Fahrner Re Contention 4(d).Actions Taken to Establish Better Const Mgt Were in Util Best Interests & Were Not Results of Util Efforts to Compromise Qa.Prof Qualifications Encl

ML20049H592
Person / Time
Site:	Fermi
Issue date:	03/31/1982
From:	Fahrner W DETROIT EDISON CO.
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ML20049H587	List: ML20049H586 ML20049H590 ML20049H591 ML20049H592 ML20049H594
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NUDOCS 8203030336
Download: ML20049H592 (12)

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,e UNITED STATES OF AMFRICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of:

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Docket No. 50-341 THE DETROIT EDISON COMPANY Enrico Fermi Atomic Plant Unit 2 )

TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM J. FAHRNER on INTERVENORS' CONTENTION 4 (d) l March 1982 l

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p' TESTIMONY OF WILLIMi J. FAHRNER MANAGER - ENRICO FERMI 2 PROJECT THE DETROIT EDISON COMPANY ON INTERVENORS' CONTENTION 4 (d) 1 My name is William J. Fahrner and I am the 2

Manager for the Enrico Fermi 2 Project for The Detroit 3

Edison Company (" Edison").

In that capacity I am 4

responsible for the construction of the entire Fermi 2 5

plant.

6 I have been asked to respond to Intervenors' 7

Contention 4 (d) which alleges:

8 Detroit Edison twice replaced the 9

team of supervisors from the first 10 general contractor, Ralph M. Parsons 11 Company, then terminated its contract 12 with Parsons and hired a second firm, 13 because Parsons' employees refused to 14 sacrifice quality control in order to l

15 expedite the construction schedule.

16 Edison had two contracts with the Ralph M.

Parsons 17 Company

(" Parsons"), for Fermi 2 work - one as a General 18 Contractor with responsibility for performing work and 19 managing the work of other contractors; the second was for

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20 providing quality control and quality assurance assistance l

21 to Faison.

This second contract was under the control of l

22 Tullio A.Alessi, the Edison Quality Assurance Director,

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1 who was (and still is) independent of the Construction 2

Management, as required by the NRC.

3 The curtailment in construction activities in 1974 4

afforded Edison an opportunity to review its methods of 5

contracting work.

It was decided by Senior Management 6

that the construction management concept would produce more 7

acceptable results in regard to cost, schedule, and quality 8

than the existing system.

A construction manager that was 9

not involved in performing any direct work could more 10 equitably represent the project owner's interest.

To that 11 end, Edison reviewed the qualifications and interest of a 12 number of contractors who had the ability to perform in 13 that capacity and ultimately selected Daniel International 14 to be its construction manager.

Therefore, the contract 15 with Parsons was terminated, as Edison had a right to do 16 under the terms of that contract.

17 It is not unusual in the construction of large 18 projects that extend over several years to replace con-19 tractors and/or supervisors.

The reasons are varied, 20 usually associated with the contractor's inability to meet 21 the terms of the contract in regard to schedule, cost, and 22 quality of construction.

After Edison had awarded a con-23 tract to Daniel International as a construction manager, 24 and had begun competitive bidding, Parsons was invited to 25 bid competitively as a piping contractor, but it declined 26 to do so.

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1 During the period of time that Parsons was the 2

General Contractor, Edison did request that two Project 3

Managers for Parsons be replaced.

Mr. O. M. Hockensmith 4

was replaced in April, 1972, at Edison's request because 5

of his poor attendance at the Fermi 2 site.

In October, 6

1973, Edison requested that then Project Manager, Mr. C.

7 B. Antill, be replaced because of his inability to main-8 tain labor harmony at the Fermi 2 site.

Both requests 9

were accepted by Parsons and both project managers were 10 replaced.

I am not aware of the existence of any detailed 11 documents regarding these replacement actions.

In neither 12 case were the replacements requested because Edison felt 13 that these individuals were over-zealous in the area of 14 quality assurance.

On the contrary, it has been Edison's 15 practice in the construction of both fossil plants and 16 nuclear plants to assign inspectors with years of con-17 struction experience to assure that the work conformed 18 to Edison's standards and specifications.

We believe it 19 to be an essential ingredient in the construction of a 20 reliable operating plant.

21 There is no record, nor am I aware of any complaint j

22 by any Parsons employee made to Parsons or to Edison related I

23 to quality assurance.

All quality assurance concerns that 24 arise during normal construction activities at the site are 25 investigated and if the situation warrants, are followed 26 up by audits, inspection or surveillance to insure that 27 corrective action is taken.

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Since the time that Parsons was on site,.we have 2

had numerous inspections by the Office of Inspection and 3

Enforcement of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and they 4

have found Edison's Quality Assurance progran to be 5

acceptable.

It is a well-known fact that the NRC has 6

called for a chutdown of construction activities at several 7

plants if the Quality Assurance Program is not functioning 8

properly.

The Fermi 2 plant has not had a shutdown 9

directive by the NRC.

We believe that the actions taken 10 by Edison to establish better construction management were 11 in the best interest of the Company, its stockholders and 12 its rate payers, and were not the result of any Edison 13 effort to' compromise quality assurance at the Fermi 2 Plant.

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• e PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS WILLIAM J. FAHRNER MANAGER - ENRICO FERMI 2 PROJECT THE DETROIT EDISON COMPANY 1

My name is William J. Fahrner and I am the Manager 2

of the Enrico Fermi 2 Project for The Detroit Edison 3

Company.

My business address is 2000 Second Avenue, Detroit, 4

Michigan 48226.

5 As Manager of the Enrico Fermi 2 Project it is my 6

responsibility to supervise the design, licensing, procure-7 ment and construction of the Fermi 2 atomic power plant.

8 I am responsible for the accomplishment of the Project 9

scope and objectives, which include meeting specified quali-10 ty standards, schedules and budget.

I report to the Vice 11 President - Engineering _tnd Construction, and I have overall 12 responsiblity and authority for the technical and economic 13 management of the Enrico Fermi 2 Project.

14 I attended the University of Detroit and the 15 University of Notre Dame.

I was graduated from the Univer-16 sity of Notre Dame in 1946 with a Bachelor of Science Degree 17 in Mechanical Engineering.

18 Prior to joining Edison in January, 1948, I was 19 employed with Detroit Ball Bearing as a sales engineer, 20 and with Continental Aviation as a test engineer.

21 From January, 1948 until 1954, I worked as a 22 design engineer for the Edison Construction Engineering

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1 Department.

In 1960 I became Supervisor for Enginering 2

Economic Studies, and in 1965 I worked as Project Engineer -

3 Gas Turbine Installations.

4 In 1966, I became Special Project Engineer with 5

supervisory authority over the construction of the Wyandotte 6

North Power Plant Boilers 11 and 12, and Port Huron Power 7

Plant Boiler 3 8

From 1968 until 1974 I worked as Project Manager 9

for the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant, Greenwood Power 10 Plant Unit 1 and the Enrico Fermi 3 Project.

In 1974, I 11 became General Superintendent - General Construction 12 Department.

From July, 1974 to December, 1974 I was the 13 Site Manager for the Fermi 2 Project and I supervised the 14 shut down of construction of the Project.

15 In 1976 I became the Project Manager for the Enrico 16 Fermi 2 Project.

In May, 1980, I was promoted to the 17 position of Manager, Enrico Fermi 2 Project, which gave me 18 greater corporate management responsiblities.

20 During my career I have had the following articles 21 or papers published:

22 1961 - American Society of Mechanical Engineers,

" System Expansion - Fuel Cost vs. Capital" 23 1967 - Institute of Electrical and Electronic 24 Engineers, "475 MW Peaking for Detroit Edison" 25 1974 - American Power Conference, "Ludington Pumped Storage Project" 26 My professional affiliations include:

the American e./

• 1 Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Nuclear 2

Society, and the Economic Club of Detroit.

1 PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS WAYNE H. JENS VICE PRESIDENT - NUCLEAR OPERATIONS THE DETROIT EDISON COMPANY 1

My name is Wayne H. Jens and I am Vice President -

2 Nuclear Operations for The Detroit Edison Company.

My 3

business address is 2000 Second Avenue, Detroit, 4

Michigan 48226.

5 I received a Bachelor of Science degree in 6

Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin 7

in 1943 and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in 8

Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 1948 9

and 1949, respectively.

10 From 1949 to 1953, I was head of the Engineering 11 Analysis Group at Argonne National Laboratory where I 12 assisted in the development of a number of nuclear 13 reactors including the atomic submarine Nautilus.

My 14 special interest was boiling heat transfer.

15 From 1953 to 1957, I was employed at Nuclear 16 Development Corporation of America where I served as 17 nuclear consultant to the Dow Chemical-Detroit Edison i

18 Project.

From 1955 to 1957, I held the position of l

19 Project Manager for the engineering and design of the 20 Belgian Test Reactor.

During this period, I originated 21 the general concept of the Sodium Cooled Deuterium 22 Moderated Reactor which was later developed, but never 23 built.

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1 From 1957 to 1971, I was employed at Atomic 2

Power Development Associates, Inc., and held various 3

managerial and technical positions.

I was responsible 4

for much of the planning and technical direction of the 5

Enrico Fermi Unit No. 1 fast breeder reactor program.

6 In July, 1971, I was appointed Project Manager of 7

the Enrico Fermi Unit No. 2 Project at Edison and served 8

in that capacity until December, 1974.

As Project 9

Manager, I was responsible for the engineering, schedul-10 ing, cost control, procurement, licensing, quality 11 control relevant to all phases of the project, fuel 12 management prior to commercial operation, operator 13 training programs, pre-operational testing and operating 14 procedures, and the turnover of a complete and operable 15 power plant to the Edison Production Department.

16 In December, 1974, I was appointed Assistant 17 Manager-Engineering and Construction at Edison. As 18 Assistant Manager, I assisted the Manager with the 19 full range of activities for which the Manager was 20 responsible, and I assumed the day-to-day administrative 21 responsiblity for those areas of the Company reporting 22 directly to the Manager.

In addition, I was placed 23 in charge of the Company's corporate nuclear affairs 24 during which time I formulated Edison's corporate nuclear 25 position.

I served as a nuclear policy advisor, partici-26 pated in public debates and answered press inquiries 27 concerning nuclear power.

To carry out this responsi-e b

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1 bility I kept abreast of nuclear matters both in this 2

country and throughout the world.

3 In July, 1976, I was appointed Manager - Engineering 4

and Construction.

In April, 1978, I was appointed 5

Assistant Vice President-Engineering and Construction.

6 In January, 1980, I was appointed to the position of 7

Vice President-Nuclear Operations.

8 As Vice President-Nuclear Operations, I am 9

responsible for preparing to operate Fermi 2, conducting 10 the startup testing, and organizing for the receipt of 11 nuclear fuel at the plant.

This responsibility includes 12 management of any construction and engineering work 13 still being conducted at that time as well as all 14 aspects of required emergency planning.

15 I am presently a member of the Company's Manage-16 ment Council and a member of its Senior Management 17 Committee.

18 During the past 25 years, I have served as a 19 member of many committees in the nuclear industry, 20 both at the local level and at the national level.

21 In addition, I served as a member of two Atomic Energy 22 Commission fuel design review groups.

I was also a 23 member of the Editorial Advisory Committee for Power 24 Rector Technology and I served as a member of the Argonne 25 Universities Association Review Committee for the l

26 Engineering and Technology Division and the Review 27 Committee for the Components Technology Division at

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1 Argonne National Laboratory.

I have also served as i

2 a member of the Nuclear Power Divisional Committee of i

3 the Electric Power Research Institute and a member of 4

the Board of Trustees of Argonne Universities Association.

5 I am a member of the American Society of Mechanical 6

Engineers and I am a Fellow of the American Nuclear 7

Society.

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