ML20133C524

Testimony of SW Ledford Re Welding Inspector Concerns

ML20133C524
Person / Time
Site:	Catawba, 05000000
Issue date:	09/20/1983
From:	Ledford S DUKE POWER CO.
To:
Shared Package
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References
FOIA-84-722 NUDOCS 8507200520
Download: ML20133C524 (5)

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Applicants' Exhibit

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of )

)

DUKE POWER COMPANY, et al. ) Docket Nos. 50-413

) 50-414 (Catawba Nuclear Station, )

Units 1 and 2) )

TESTIMONY OF STANLEY LEDFORD 1 Q. STATE YOUR NAME AND YOUR WORK ADDRESS.

2 A. Stanley Ledford, SVTW, Duke Power QA, Catawba Nuclear Station, 3 P.O. Box 233, Clover, S.C. 29710 4 Q. WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT JOB WITH DUKE POWER COMPANY?

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5 A. Supervisor Technical Welding Inspector, (SVTW).

6 I perform Welding Inspection and NDE or Magnetic particle, Liquid r 7 Penetrant examination of welds in specific areas in Units I and 8 II.

9 Q. SUMMARIZE YOUR EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS, INCLUDING 10 OTHER NON-DUKE JOBS, EDUCATION, CERTIFICATIONS, AND l 11 COMPANY SPONSORED COURSES AND TRAINING.

12 A. Non-Duke 13 1966 - 1970 I worked with construction companies building highways 14 and dams. Most of the work was in North and South Carolina, and 15 none of the jobs lasted very long. Below is a list of contractors I i

16 have worked for:

17 Clement Construction Company, Blythe Construction, Wilks 18 Construction, Asheville ' Construction Company. I was versatile and 19 did welding, mechanical work and operated the equipment.

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p g% 1 Duke 2 (1) I started with Duke Power Company in 1971 at Oconee as top 3 welder. By 1974 I had all the pipe certifications in welder 4 qualifications _(L-200 and L-300 stainless and carbon steel).

5 (2) In 1975 & 76 I , worked with Oconee operations with the SSD 6 group in maintenance and shutdown on the three reactors.

7 (3) In 1977 I was transferred to Cherokee to be a welding 8 supervisor. Shortly after that, I got into QC welding 9 inspection where I became certified as a MT, PT, and welding 10 inspector.

11 (4) In 1979 I was promoted to supervisor over welding and MT, PT 12 and then certified in Halogen leak testing.

13 (5) In 1980 I was put in change of welding, mechanical, RT, UT, 14 MT, and PT inspections on the first and second shifts.

15 (6) I taught welding for one summer at Cherokee after work hours 16 in the weld test shack.

17 (7) I have completed the AWS weld symbol course.

18 (8) I was transferred to Catawba in 1981 and recertified on level 2 19 in welding and MT & PT inspections. At this time I hold these 20 certifications.

21 Education 22 (1) Completed lith grade at Fines Creek High School in North 23 Carolina.

24 (2) I am now enrolled at York Tech. in Rock Hill for the GED 25 Course.

26 Q. ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH WHAT IS COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS s 27 THE WELDING INSPECTOR CONCERNS WHICH WERE EXPRESSED IN 28 LATE 1981/EARLY 1982?

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1 A. Yes. I 2 Q. WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THESE CONCERNS 3 WERE?

4 A. It is my understanding that the concerns related to compliance with 5 procedures and poor communications.

6 Q. DID YOU EXPRESS ANY CONCERNS AS A WELDING INSPECTOR TO 7 ANY OF THE TASK FORCES OR TO DUKE POWER MANAGEMENT?

8 A. No. My concerns were answered by upper management before the 9 inspectors got involved in their group of concerns. My concerns 10 were due to changing job locations and learning Catawba's reason 11 and way of doing things. i

.12 Q. DID YOU FEEL FREE TO EXPRESS ALL OF YOUR CONCERNS?

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. DID YOU EXPRESS ALL OF YOUR CONCERNS?

L 15 A. Yes.

16 Q. DID YOU ATTEND ANY MEETINGS WITH TASK FORCE AND/OR QA 17 MANAGEMENT MEMBERS WHERE THE TASK FORCE FINDINGS ,

18 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS WERE DISCUSSED?

19 A. Yes. However I don't remember the details of the meeting.

20 Q. WERE THERE ANY CHANGES MADE IN THE QA PROGRAM AFTER 21 THE WELDING INSPECTOR CONCERNS AND THE TASK FORCE 22 INVESTIGATION OF THESE CONCERNS?

23 A. Yes.

24 Q. DESCRIBE THE CHANGES OF WHICH YOU ARE AWARE IN THE QA 25 PROGRAM.

26 A. There is now an exit interview procedure and an employee forum 27 procedure. In addition, some QA procedures have been clarified i .

I I and revised. These new and changed procedures have benefited 2 everyone.

3 Q. TO WHAT EXTENT HAVE THESE CHANGES ADDRESSED ISSUES 4 RAISED BY THE WELDING INSPECTOR CONCERNS?

5 A. They have been very helpful.

6 Q. THE WELDING INSPECTOR CONCERNS HAVE BEEN 7 CHARACTERIZED AS CONCERNS ABOUT THE QUALITY AND 8 SAFETY OF CONSTRUCTION AT CATAWBA. DO YOU AGREE OR 9 DISAGREE WITH THAT CHARACTERIZATION?

10 A. I disagree. In the area I have been working in, there is no faulty 11 ' work to my knowledge. If the work is not right, it is cut out or 12 repaired or rejected I feel safe with saying the quality of the work 13 is number one due to our highly certified, qualified and J' experienced people.

15 Q. DID THE EXPRESSION OF YOUR CONCERNS INDICATE YOUR 16 BELIEF THAT THERE WAS A BREAKDOWN IN THE QA PROGRAM 17 OR INDICATE THAT THE QA PROGRAM WAS NO LONGER 18 WORKING?

19 A. Definitely not. The only problem I saw was communications - but 20 this did not affect the quality of any work.

21 Q. DO YOU BELIEVE THE CATAWBA PROJECT IS BEING 22 CONSTRUCTED SAFELY?

23 A. Yes.

24 Q. IN YOUR VIEW, HAS THE QA PROGRAM BEEN EFFECTIVE WHILE 25 YOU HAVE WORKED AS AN INSPECTOR AT CATAWBA?

26 A. Yes.

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4 1 Q. ARE YOU AWARE OF ANY DEFICIENCIES IN CONSTRUCTION OR IN 2 THE QA PROGRAM WHICH WOULD CAUSE YOU TO QUESTION 3 WHETHER CATAWBA IS SAFELY BUILT?

4 A. No.

5 Q. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD TO YOUR 6 TESTIMONY?

7 A. I feel Catawba QA Inspectors are the best in the country. They 8 continuously go through trauung programs to assure that their 9 decisions on the more difficult inspections are as correct as 10 possible. The majority of inspectors have five and six years 11 experience. Some have up to ten years experience.

12 Q. DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT THE -QA 13 BROGRAM THAT HAVE NOT BEEN RESOLVED?

14 A. No.

15 16 17 18 I hereby certify that I have read and understand this document, and 19 believe it to be my true, accurate and complete testimony.

20 21 22 4/ '

23 Stanley W Ledford 24 25 Sworn to and subscribed before me 26 this Jn M day of September,1983.

27 28 29 _ A1 ; a s 4 f ,A b A -

30 "T Notary Pub 11b 31 s

32 Commission Expires //auL 7, /99 3

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