ML20099L358

Applicant Exhibit A-202,consisting of Re Licensee Suppl Reply to NOV & Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalties

ML20099L358
Person / Time
Site:	Vogtle
Issue date:	09/27/1995
From:	Mccoy C GEORGIA POWER CO.
To:
References
OLA-3-A-202, NUDOCS 9512210285
Download: ML20099L358 (4)

Text

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Docket No. 50-424 i

License No. NSF-68 3

Mr. James Lieberman Director, Office of Enforcement l

1 U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission j

i Attn:

Docket Control Clerk i

-j washington, D.C.-

20555 l

I-GEORGIA POWER COMPANY i

Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Supplemental Reply to Notice of Violation and l

Pronosed Imoosition of Civil Penalties EA93-304 l

i

Dear Mr. Lieberman:

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1 Georgia Power Company

("GPC")

submits this letter as a l

supplement to GPC's July 31, 1994 Reply to the NRC's Notice of l

Violation

("NOV")

issued May 9,

1994 in the above-referenced j

j_

1 matter.

We appreciate the opportunity to provida you with this l

supplement.

i i

At the outset, Georgia Power recognizes your view that this is a

significant enforcement action.

We also recognize that sufficient care was not exercised in 1990 by the Company to ensure the accuracy of certain statements.

As a result of recent i

settlement discussions between counsel, the company has a better i

understanding of your concerns and a fuller appreciation of them.

All individuals associated with this enforcement action have learned a gaat deal about the attention to detail required when i

making formal communications to the NRC Staff.

We respect your i

views and stand ready to address them.

We understand that the facts associated with these events are viewed essentially the same by the NRC Staff and Georgia Power. We g

also understand that our July 31, 1994 response to the NOV has not persuaded the Staff of the appropriateness of actions of George Bockhold,.who was at tha time the General Manager of Vogtle. The

-l

Staff, we further understand, remains concerned with the unwillingness of Mr. Bockhold to accept responsibility for his role in the 1990 events and needs assurance that such events would not t

be repeated by him if he were allowed to continue in responsible i

management roles in the nuclear industry.

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i Mr. James Lieberman February 1, 1995 Page 2 With respect to Violation A of the NOV, we have already admitted that the April 9,1990 letter was inaccurate, and withdraw our request for the NRC to reexamine the " materiality" of the inaccuracy.

Even though some NRC representatives have indicated i

that the " start count" of diesel starts did not influence their i

views of the diesels' operability and could not reconcile the j

" count" number with the NRC's, the NRC reasonably could conclude that the April 9 letter had the capacity to be misconstrued by other representatives in the performance of their responsibilities.

With respect to violation C, we previously acknowledged that the April' 19, 1990 LER was inaccurate.

As with Violation A,

we

)

l withdraw the request for reconsideration of the materiality of the l

inaccuracy.

The LER statement was reasonably subject to different l

interpretations which would result in significantly different

{

j messages (i.e., the number of starts after completion of all diesel i

testing following the Site Area Emergency as compared to the number after sensor recalibration and logic testing).

With respect to i

Violation D, we have admitted that the June 29, 1990 cover letter for the revised LER failed to correct the April 9

letter lj explicitly, and was materially incomplete in not identifying j'

additional personnel error as a cause of the April communication errors.

With respect to Violation E, we are prepared to admit that the August 30 letter could have been reasonably misinterpreted by the NRC as stating that underlying error in prior statements was j

caused by confusion by.the counter about start terminology.

l Therefore, it was inaccurate.

i i

Regarding Mr. Bockhold's personal actions, Georgia Power has j

previously acknowledged that he did not perform up to its standards or expectations with respect to these issues in light of his i

position as General Manager. After submission of our NOV reply, we j

concluded that, with respect to violation C, Mr. Bockhold failed to use reasonable care to ensure the accuracy of communications to the j

NRC. As our prior NOV response indicates, Mr. Bockhold has already been disciplined and counseled, including emphasis on his personal i

responsibility for delegated tasks.

4 To summarize: In preparing for the April 9 presentation to the

NRC, although Mr.

Bockhold took reasonable steps to task a i

subordinate and to receive information, Mr. Bockhold was ultimately responsible for ensuring that he fully understood the information he received, that it was what he intended and that it was totally 4

accurate and complete.

'It is obvious that he did not do so.

His j

strong assurances voiced to others thereafter on April 19 concerning the accuracy of the April 9 data and the validity of l

" comprehensive test program" phraseology contributed to a lax verification of the LER statement by his staff.

The assurances were greater than justified in that he did not have a detailed L

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i Mr. James Lieberman February 1, 1995 Page 3 knowledge of the start count's data base.

He should have urged his staff to reverify the number.

On June 29, he should have assured that the drafters of the cover letter for the revised LER knew about, and the letter reflected, his historic understanding of the

" comprehensive test program" phrase. For the August 30 letter, Mr.

Bockhold changed tne wording and actively reviewed the information in the letter.

He was responsible for the language chosen, 1 g.,

" confusion."

We have reviewed Mr. Bockhold's letter of February 1, 1995 to the Director of the Office of Enforcement, and consider its conclusions and perspective as an important factor in our continued confidence that Mr. Bockhold may continue in his present position 1

outside of line management of operations.

Mr.

Bockhold has requested, and his current employer, Southern Nuclear Operating company, has agreed, to implement a personal training opportunity which focuses upon, and develops, his abilities to perform any future line management role in licensed activities commensurate with the standard of care reflected in the Notice of Violation.

To impress on all concerned the seriousness of his performance failures, Southern Nuclear and Georgia Power are prepared to commit to maintain Mr. Bockhold in his present position in The Southern company system (subject, of course, to an employer's rights to terminate, transfer, and the like), and to prohibit him from holding a line management position in Georgia Power plants until the satisfactory completion of that training. We would provida you with sixty (60) days notice prior to his assumption of such a position.

This also would apply to Southern Nuclear relative to these plants upon assumption of operating authority.

We note that the NOV and associated Demands for i

Information (EA94-036, EA94-037, and EA94-052) did not assert that there was willful (e.g., deliberate or intentional, or careless or reckless disregard) misrepresentation or omission by the company or any officer or employee in 1990 concerning statements about the diesel generators.

We request that the NRC acknowledge that the NOV reply was detailed, helpful in providing additional information for consideration of this matter, and, to the extent of the staff's knowledge, accurate.

Also, we request that Violation B be withdrawn.

We believe that Violation B simply reflect a

misunderstanding of the context and import of the statement in.h e April 9 letter concerning dew point measurements.

In addition, with respect to Violation D, we ask that the NkC recognize our strongly held belief that, beginning with the April 9 presentation and the April 19 LER development and continuing through August, 1990, recordkeeping practices were a contributing factor of increasing significance to Georgia Power's inability to l

1 j

.j Mr. James Lieberman 1

~ February 1, 1995 8

Page 4 1

l provide accurate and complete data to the NRC.

This belief is not offered to excuse any involved individual, but the document's absence clearly hindered Georgia Power from quickly providing the data to the NRC in March and from timely reverification of the numbers.

For this reason, we do not believe that we should be i

faulted in Violation D for our identification of recordkeeping as I

one of the factors that contributed to the inaccuracy of the LER.

I Finally, we ask that the NRC acknowledge, with the commitments i

of Mr. Bockhold and the Company, (1) the involved individuals' actions do not warrant any enforcement sanctions, including a letter of reprimand, and (2) they will receive closure letters. We understand that the NRC agrees, subject to_the commitments of the i

licensee and Mr. Bockhold, that this matter does not call into any i

question the character or integrity of any employee or officer of Southern Nuclear or Georgia Power Company.

Our resolution of this matter, we believe, sends a strong message to our mutual employees that fair and just settlement of these matters is possible to the i

j satisfaction of all affected parties.

We hope this supplemental reply is constructive.

Please call 4

i me if you have any questions.

Yours very truly, C. Kenneth McCoy l

i xc:

Georaia Power Connany Mr. J.

Beasley, Jr.

I Mr. M. Sheibani MORMS xc:

U.S. Nuclear Rec _ulatory Commission Mr.

S. D. Ebneter, Regional Administrator

~

Mr.

D.

S. Hood, Licensing Project, WRR Mr. B. R. Bonser, Senior Resident Inspector 1

4 t

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