ML20133H920

Discusses Ee Kent Allegations Re Quality of Engineering & Const at Plant.Region III Could Quickly Dispose of Matters Held Open in NRC .Meeting to Facilitate Closure Suggested

ML20133H920
Person / Time
Site:	Midland
Issue date:	05/09/1985
From:	Wahl H BECHTEL GROUP, INC.
To:	Dircks W NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
Shared Package
ML20133F398	List: ML20133F395 ML20133H884 ML20133H920
References
NUDOCS 8510180175
Download: ML20133H920 (3)

Text

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Bechtel Power Corporation Engineers - Constructors a

15740 Shady Grove Road Gaithersburg Marylanc 20877 1454 301 - 258-3000 May 9, 1965 Mr. Willian J. Dircks Executive Director for Operations U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission -

Washington, D.C. 20035

Dear Mr. Dircks:

For over two years Elmo Earl Kent (Kent) anc his spokespersons at the Government Accountability Project (GAP) have been making sensational anc broad allegations concerning the quality of engineering and construction at the Midland Twin Nuclear Power Plant anc other Bechtel Power Corporation pro.1ects at which Kent was empicyed several years ago.

- Most recently, tnese unfoundes allegations have led to a new tvist in GAP's unrelenting assault on nuclear power in this country. In a letter dated March 6, 1965, GAP has directec new charges at the huclear Regulatory Commission contending that its investigation of the Kent / GAP allegations amounted to

" gross bungling" of this matter. GAP now requests that the Concission appoint an ASLB member to " review, investigate and issue findings reharding the Nuclear Regulatory Coc=ission Staf f's handling of the allegations."

. Allegations made by Kent and GAP have been thoroughly investigated on numerous occasions, not only by Bechtel but by Regions 111 and V, and NRR, 01, 01A and now Bht. Bechtel has fully cooperated with each of these government investigations. The costs of these various investigations have been enormous to the taxpayers, hechtel and our clients. All of the investigations have uniformly concluded within their scope that the Kant/ GAP allegations raise no significant issues or safety-related concerns.

The Kant/ GAP allegations receivea ao much attention in the first place due to GAP's skillful use of the news media and GAP's claims and statements that Kant has a diploma in engineerint and has been involved in engineering work for 17 years, that GAP " thoroughly investigated" Kant's background and credentials and found them " impeccable," and that GAP pre-investigateo the allegations and found them seritorious. Yet all competent investigations have shown a pattern of error, lack of understanding, or insignificance in his contentions. It is now apparent that GAP's " thorough" investigations either were never conducted or were patently faulty.

G510180175 851007 PDR ADOCK 05000329 A PDR

, Mr. Willic: J. Dircks May 9, 1985 l When Kent was terminatec by Becntel Power Corporation in March of 1962 for

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twice f ailing the exa=ination requirec to be certified as a Level I welding inspector at Micland, he mace sweeping allegations of f aulty engineering and construction throughout the plant. Both Bechtel Power and. Region 111 extensively interviewec Kent in a concertec erfort to obtain specifics, with little success. The specific equipment and welds Kent did identif y as f aulty were inspected and found satisfactory, as documented in the series of Region 111 inspection reports issued in the Spring and Summer of 1982. Kent's ever-increasing list of grievances then spread to SONGb. In the Fall of 1982, he gave a six-hour taped interview regarding SONGS to Region V investigators.

All of his allegations were thorougnly investigated by Re gion V anc the }hh, which found in a detailed written report that no items of noncompliance were icentified. In response to accusations of administrative corruption by GAF, 01A reviewed the Region V investigation and found no reasons to question the technical findings rem arcing Kent's allegations.

GAP, in its letter datec March 6, 1985, characterizes the 01A report as

" sophomoric, self-serving and short-sighted." It contenes again, without offering one shred of evidence, that "the Kent inspection was curtailed and prejudices at the onset by SCE and Bechtel influence." Inst is patent nonsense. Tnis is manifest in GAP's letter itself where it criticizes OAl for a number of reasons including the f ailure of the OA1 investigator to contact "any representatives of Bechtel, SCL, or Consumers Power." Such absence of contact harcly manifests undue influence by these entities. What does emerge fro: the 01A investigation is that:

a) NRC conducted a site tour at San Onof re to inspect anc review Kent's concerns, performed a technical analysis of techtel welding proce-dures and appropriate codes, and determined that Kant's welding concerns "were without technical merit."

b) Region V officials, while conceding that some of its inspection l

procedures may have been less adequate than desirable, concluced that 1 - - from a technical standpoint, Kent's concerns were acequately addressed.

Region Ill, after exhaustively interviewing Kent and reviewing his

. GAP-sponsored af fidavits to the NRC, retained BNL, an independent party, to reanalyze Kent's Midland allegations. After thorough investigation SNL die I

not identify allegations within the scope of its work that raised significant issues or safety-related concerns.

In a letter dated harch 22, 1965, to Consumers Power Company, releasing the BNL report, NRC Region 111 proposes to defer resolution of certain allegations which were beyond the scope of DNL's work for possible inclusion in the NRC Midland Open Items List, the CCP or IDVP in tne event construction at Midland is resumed.

Without question, thousands of manhours and dollars have now been opent interviewing Kant, conducting inspections, researening the kant/ GAP claims, investigating the Kant/ GAP allegations, and carefully responding to them.

These extensive efforts have resulted in one consistent conclusions the Kent /GAF allegations of safety-related problems have absolutely no substance.

. Mr. tiillia: J. Dircks May 9, 1965 i

The Kent / GAP response is that Aent has other allegations he has never revealed, and that the disposition of his previous allegations is merely evidence of extensive corruption throughout the NRL. In its March 6, 1985 letter to the Commissioners, GAP has now carried the campaign to the absurd length of demanding an investigation of an investigation of an investigation.

We sincerely believe that the time has come to view the GAP /Kant fiasco for what it is: the product of an organization consistently critical of nuclear power and the industry, skilled at a.anipulating the administrative process and news media, using anc encouraging a disgruntled former employee to make sensational allegations he is unqualified to make anc which have proven scritiess, in order to achieve its own purpose.

We are convincec that the QA/QC programs and the practices it. place on the projects in question, in conjunction with the current NRC inspection programs, are fully capable of identifying anc resolving quality issues of safety significance. In particular, the Bh1 report provides additional substance to the conclusions of the Region V investigation of similar allegations at San Onofre. These, when added to the results of extensive NRC inspections and investigations of Midland construction and the scope of the ludependent Design Verification and Construction Completion programs planned or underway prior to project shutdown, shoule provide ample basis for a decision to terminate further special attention to the remaining allegations.

Many of the allegations investigated extensively by Region V and NRR are aisilar to those used by Kent at Midland. Moreover, coincident with the Region III letter, the NRC issued its Statement of Policy: handling of late Allegations which states in relevant part that "la]11egations which . . . on their face or after initial inquiry are . . . too vague or general in nature to provide sufficient information for the staff to investigate will receive no further consideration." (50 Federal Register No. 53, March 19,1985, at p.

11031.)

Based on these facts, we believe that kesion III could quickly dispose of the matters held open in its March 22, 1965 letter. bechtel would be pleased to

. seet with Region III and Nka to facilitate closure of these matters.

, Sincerely,

' t& -

,/ ,

A

k. W. Wahl Vice President cc: James C. Kappler, U.S. NRC Region Ill Steven H. Howell, Consumers Power Company bec: J. D. Carter, SFO G. Charnoff, Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge W. G. Henry, AAA0 P. R. Placier, Thelin, Marrin, Johnson & Bridges F. Stastesky, Jr., BPC Washington Office

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