ML20133C573
| ML20133C573 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Catawba, 05000000 |
| Issue date: | 09/22/1983 |
| From: | Burr W DUKE POWER CO. |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20132B649 | List:
|
| References | |
| FOIA-84-722 NUDOCS 8507200530 | |
| Download: ML20133C573 (7) | |
Text
N UNITED STATES O'F AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORF THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD w
In the Matter of
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}
DUKE POWER COlWPANY, et al. )
Docket Nos.
50-413
-)
50-414 (Catawba Nuclear Station,
)'
Units 1 and 2)
)
TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM H. BURR 1
Q.
STATE YOUR NAME AND YOUR WORK ADDRESS.
2 A.
William Heyward ' Burr, Catawba Nuclear Station,
P.O.
Box 223, 3
Clover, SC 29710.
4 Q.
WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT JOB WITH DUKE POWER COMPANY?
5 A.
I am a welding inspector with Duke Power Company assigned to the 6
Catawba Nuclear Station.
I have chosen to work on the second 7
shift and I have periodically inspected practically all types of work 8
in most of the plant areas.
9 Q.
SUMMARIZE YOUR EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS, INCLUDING 10 OTHER NON-DUKE JOBS, EDUCATION, CERTIFICATIONS, AND 11 COMPANY SPONSORED COURSES AND TRAINING.
12 A.
My primary education was in the North Augusta School systcms, 13 North Augusta, South Carolina.
I attended Clemson University 14 from 1965-1968, and Augusta College from 1969-1970.
I have had 15 the following welding courses through Duke Power, gas-tungsten 16 arc welding and shielded metal arc welding.
I was certified in 17
and carbon
.ikh%e %. CCMW
_....cd :t Level I and II for liquid penetrate 18 (SMAW).
19 testing and magnetic particle testing, and visual welding inspection.
20 I have worked with Daniel Construction Company, at the Fairfield 8507200530 850524
,7 PDR FOIA BELL 84-722 PDR p,r3 y,p g
1 Pumped Storage Project in 1976, and at the Fiber Industries Project 2
in 1977.
3 Q.
WHAT OTHER JOB POSITIONS HAVE YOU HELD WITH DUKE FOWER 4
COMPANY?
5 A.
I started working for Duke Power as a welder at Catawba in 1978.
6 I became a welding inspector in 1979.
7 Q.
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH WHAT IS COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS 8
THE WELDING INSPECTOR CONCERNS WHICH WERE EXPRESSED IN 9
LATE 1981/EARLY 1982?
10 A.
Yes, I was directly involved.
I expressed concerns of my own.
11 Q.
WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THESE CONCERNS 12 WERE?
13 A.
We, as Welding Inspectors, were not getting support from QA 14 Management in trying to assure that the requirements of Duke's QA 15 Procedures, which we were employed to enforce, were being 16 adhered to by construction.
17 Q.
DID YOU
'SS ANY CONCERNS AS A WELDING INSPECTOR TO 18 ANY OF THr. JASK FORCES OR TO DUKE POWER MANAGEMENT?
19 A.
Yes, I have in the past, voiced my concerns mtny times to Duke's 20 QA Management and finally, to the special task forces.
21 Q.
TO WHOM DID YOU EXPRESS YOUR CONCERNS?
22 A.
I talked to one of the task forces, but I do. not remember which 23 one.
I did talk to Gail Addis.
24 Q.
WERE YOUR CONCERNS WRITTEN?
25 A.
Yes, at Duke's request, our concerns which pertained to specific 26 safety-related problems were written.,
- 6 4
1 Q.
DESCRIBE EACH DOCUMENT WHICH CONTAINS YOUR EXPRESSION b
s-2 OF CONCERNS, AND INDICATE WHO IT WAS SUBMITTED TO.
3 A.
The only document in which my concerns were expressed is 4
attached to my testimony as Attachment A.
5 Q.
DOES THIS DOCUMENT ATTACHED TO YOUR TESTIMONY INCLDUE 6
ALL OF YOUR TECHNICAL CONCERNS?
7 A.
Yes, it includes all of my concerns that involved specific work 8
which was traceable by documentation or was safety related.
9 Q.
DID YOU FEEL FREE TO EXPRESS ALL OF YOUR CONCERNS?
IF 10 NOT, PLEASE INDICATE WHY?
11 A.
No.
One of my concerns was caused by a statement made to me by 12 my supervisor concerning my future with Duke.
I was caused by 13 this statement to believe that future advancement for me with the 14 Duke system would be limited, if not nonexistent, if I did not C,
15
" ease-off" on the craft.
As we were requested by 16 management only to list specific problems of a safety related nature, 17 I did not feel free to express a concern which would not be 18 traceable by documentation.
Several years ago when some 19 inspectors allegedly went to the NRC, the inspectors as a group 20 were reprimanded in pairs by Mr. Larry Davison for not having 21 brought the problem to the attention of Duke management first.
22 This situation caused me to believe that a disclosure of my concern 23 over the statement made to me by my supervisor could possibly 24 jeopardize my job with Duke Power Company.
The statement to 25
" ease off the craft" was made to me about a year after this meeting 26 with Larry Davison.,
o.
1 Q.
DID YOU EASE OFF ON THE CRAFT OR ACCEPT ANY WORK THAT 2
DID NOT CONFORM TO THE DUKE QA STANDARDS AND 3
PROCEDURES AS A RESULT OF THIS INCIDENT?
4 A.
No.
I have continued to do my job as an inspector to the best of 5
my ability.
6 Q.
HAS YOUR JOB OR YOUR EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES BEEN 7
AFFECTED BY THIS INCIDENT?
8 A.
No, to the best of my knowledge.
9 Q.
HAVE YOU DISCUSSED YOUR CONCERNS WITH ANYONE ELSE?
10 A.
I have also discussed these problems with my supervision, other 11 inspectors, and from time to time with Kim Van Doorn of the NRC.
12 Q.
PLEASE SUMMARIZE AND EXPLAIN WHAT YOU WERE TRYING TO 13 COMMUNICATE BY YOUR CONCERNS.
14 A.
I was trying to communicate the lack of support that the welding 15 inspectors were continually experiencing.
It was difficult to get 16 management to listen to my views when interpretation of procedures 17 was involved.
18 Q.
WERE YOUR CONCERNS INVESTIGATED BY THE TASK FORCES?
19 A.
Yes, to the best of my knowledge.
20 Q.
DID YOU ATTEND ANY MEETINGS WITH TASK FORCE AND/OR QA 21 MANAGEMENT MEMBERS WHERE THE TASK FORCE FINDINGS,
22 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS WERE DISCUSSED?
23 A.
I did attend a meeting with a task force.
They explained what 24 they did about my concerns, and as I recall, I basically agreed 25 with the task force.
I do not remember the specific details of the 26 meeting..
a.
'l Q.
WERE THERE ANY CHANGES MADE IN THE QA PROGRAM AFTER 2
THE WELDING INSPECTOR CONCERNS AND THE TASK FORCE 3
INVESTIGATION OF THESE CONCERNS?
4 A.
Yes, but we did not have a problem with the program, just the 5
implementation of it.
6 Q.
DESCRIBE THE CHANGES OF WHICH YOU ARE AWARE IN THE QA 7
PROGRAM.
8 A.
The major change of which I am aware is that the Welding Inspector 9
can utilize the recourse procedure if he should not agree with a 10 resolution to a specific problem.
11 Q.
TO WHAT EXTENT HAVE THESE CHANGES ADDRESSED ISSUES 12 RAISED BY THE WELDING INSPECTOR CONCERNS AND TO WHAT 13 EXTENT HAVE THESE CHANGES ADDRESSED YOUR PARTICULAR 14 CONCERNS?
C 15 A.
I am not aware of any changes in the program that could have 16 prevented any of these problems which I expressed in my concerns.
17 I-am however, aware of changes in the approach of QA management 18 that has eliminated the problem of getting management to realize 19 when violations of the QA Procedures have occurred, and getting 20 management to act on these violations.
21 Q.
THE WELDING INSPECTOR CONCERNS HAVE BEEN 4
22 CHARACTERIZED AS CONCERNS ABOUT THE QUALITY AND 23 SAFETY OF CONSTRUCTION AT CATAWBA.
DO YOU AGREE OR 24 DISAGREE WITH THAT CHARACTERIZATION?
't 25 A.
As a welding inspector, my job is to be concerned about the quality 26 of the work at the plant.
All of the problems which I documented 27 were on work involving safety related systems within the plant.
By
(.
o 1
expressing my concerns, I was indicating that the QA procedures 2
were not being followed.
If these concerns had not been expressed 3
and resolved, ther.e may have, in my opinion, been some adverse 4
effect on the quality and safety of the plant.
5 Q.
DID THE EXPRESSION OF YOUR CONCERNS INDICATE YOUR 6
BELIEF THAT THERE WAS A BREAKDOWN IN THE QA PROGRAM 7
OR INDICATE THAT THE QA PROGRAM WAS NO LONGER 8
WORKING?
9 A.
There was a definite breakdown in the QA Program, but I feel it 10 was at the management level and not with the inspectors.
I believe 11 the inspectors continued to identify problems that needed to be 12 corrected.
Management was not following the QA procedures.
The 13 very fact that the Welding Inspectors at Catawba went to such 14 extremes to point out problems within the system is testimony to the 15 fact that we were determined to see the program function properly 16 and to its full potential to insure the safety of the plant.
17 Q.
DID YOUR CONCERNS REFLECT A BELIEF ON YOUR PART THAT 18 THE CATAWBA PROJECT IS NOT BEING CONSTRUCTED SAFELY?
19 A.
If these problems had not been brought to the attention of the 20 Duke off site management and had been allowed to continue, 21 there would have been a
compromise in the safe l
22 construction of Catawba.
23 Q.
IN YOUR VIEW, HAS THE QA PROGRAM BEEN EFFECTIVE WHILE 24 YOU HAVE WORKED AS AN INSPECTOR AT CATAWBA?
25 A.
Yes.
However, in the past, having discrepancies recognized and 26 resolved has been far too difficult for the inspector.
s.
i h,
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.
None.
5 Q.
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD TO YOUR 6
TESTIMONY?
7 A.
No.
8 9
10 11 12 I hereby c..trtify that I have read and understand this document, and 13 believe it to be my true, accurate and complete testimony.
14
'Ob/ bind Yg u, n u 17 William Heywird Bgr 18 19 20 Sworn to,pnd subscribed before me 21 this 'l'/O day of September,1983.
22 I
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25
'T (
Notary Public~
26 Commission Expires M/N VII /k8 27 c
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