ML20135J036
| ML20135J036 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 09/19/1985 |
| From: | Jordan E NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE) |
| To: | Hind J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8509250156 | |
| Download: ML20135J036 (3) | |
Text
_
September 19, 1985 i
j MEMORANDUM FOR: John A. Hind, Director i
Division of Radiation Safety j
ard Safeguards Region III i
i FROM:
Edward L. Jordan, Director i
i Division of Emergency Preparedness i
and Engineering Response j
Office of Inspection and Enforcement 4
1
SUBJECT:
ALLEGED POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST FOR COMEX CORPORATION I
J. A. Gonyeau, Manager, Production Training, Northern States Power., ampany, raised concerns regarding a potential conflict of interest on the part of COMEX l
Corporation in a letter to C. J. Paperiello, dated March 5,1985 (Enclosure 1).
We have reviewed the alleged potential of a conflict of interest for COMEX as a participant in emergency preparedness workshops and have found no conflict of j
interest.
We have reviewed information provided by the Department of Energy (Enclosure 2) i j
against the standards set forth in Section 170A of the Atomic Energy Act. The i
l bases for our decision are:
a) Battelle executed a standard agreement for a j
fixed dollar amount with workshop participants regardless of the number of attendees; b) Battelle and COMEX have lost financially on the 1985 workshop and consider their participation as a service to the attendees; c) COMEX did not design the workshop or compile the mailing list; and d) there was never any l
suggestion or impifcation to our knowledge made to the utilities that they l
attend the workshops as a possible means of reducing exercise deficiencies.
I recomrend that you advise Northern States Power Company in regard to this matter with respect to COMEX, and provide them with the bases for the decision.
i orig;na s;v.4 se L L Jordan b
8509250156 850919 Edward L. Jordan, Director pon MISC pon Division of Emergency Preparedness i
85o9250156 and Engineering Response i
Office of Inspection and Enforcement i
Contact:
Robert A. Meck, IE I
492-4854 i
Enclosures:
DISTRIBUTION I
- 1. Ltr. from J. A. Gonyeau dtd.
CRVan Niel, IE RBarber, DOE HQ l
3/5/85 RHVollmer, IE FKantor, IE JBlaha, IE i
1
- 2. Ltr. from M. J. Lawrence dtd.
JGPartlow, IE RAMeck, IE CBeckwith, RM j
7/30/85 BKGrimes, IE BBerson, RI!!
DCorley, IE
[
ELJordan, IE EPB RF REAvery, ELD cc:
J. Martin, PNL SASchwartz, IE JLieberman, ELD DC57 i
DBMatthews, IE EWBrach, EDO DEPER RF KEPerkins IE MPlahuta. DOE PDR JAAxelrad. IE CJPaperiello
- SEE PREVIOUS CONCURRENCES
- EFB:IE
- EPB:!E
- EPB:!E DD:DEPER:!E ER:!E
- ELD l
RAMeck:sc CRVanNiel DBMatthews SASchwartz LJordan REAvery 9/16/85 9/16/85 9/16/85 9// 7/85 9//J'/85 9//J/85
}
O t
~
i MEMORANDUM FOR: -John A. Hind, Director Division of Radiation Safety and Safeguards Region III FROM:
Edward L. Jordan, Director Division of Emergency Preparedness and Engineering Response i
i Office of Inspection and Enforcement SUJBECT:
ALLEGED POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST FOR COMEX CORPORATION l
J. A.
Gonyeau, Manager, Production Training, Northern States Power Company, raised concerns regarding a potential conflict of interest on the part of COMEX i
Corporation in a letter to C. J. Paperiello, dated March 5, 1985 (Enclosure 1).
j We have reviewed the alleged potential of a conflict of interest for COMEX as i
a participant in emergency preparedness workshops and have found no conflict of j
interest.
I We have reviewed information provided by the Department of Energy (Enclosure 2) i against the standards set forth in Section 170A of the Atomic Energy Act. The bases for our decision are:
a) Battelle executed a standard agreement for a fixed dollar amount with workshop participants regardless of the number of attendees; b) Battelle and COMEX have lost financially on the 1985 workshop and consider their participation as a service to the attendees; c) COMEX did not design the workshop or compile the mailing list; and d) there was never any suggestion or implication to our knowledge made to the utilities that they I
attend the workshops as a possible means of reducing exercise deficiencies.
i l
I recomend tt t you advise Northern States Power Company in regard to this j
matter with respect to COMEX, and provide them with the bases for the decision.
I l
Edward L. Jordan, Director i
Division of Emergency Preparedness and Engineering Response Office of Inspection and Enforcement
Contact:
Robert A. Meck, IE
]
492-4854 1
1 I
Enclosures:
DISTRIBUTION j
- 1. Ltr. from J. A. Gonyeau dtd.
CRVan Niel, IE RBarber, DOE HQ
)
3/5/85 RHVollmer, IE FKantor, IE JBlaha, IE l
- 2. Ltr. from M. J. Lawrence dtd.
JGPartlow, IE RAMeck, IE CBeckwith, RM 1
7/30/85 BKGrimes, IE BBerson, RIII DCorley, IE i
l ELJordan, IE EP3 RF REAvery, ELD 4
cc:
J. Martin, PNL SASchwartz, IE JLieberman, ELD DCS
)
DBMatthews, IE EWBrach, EDO DEPER RF i
KEPerkins, IE MPlahuta, DOE PDR JAAxelrad. IE CJPaperiello, RIII I
DD:DEPER:IE D:DEPER:IE ELD RAMeck:sc C
Niel
< DB thews SASchwartz ELJordan REAvery 9/4 /85 9
/85 94 /85 9/ /85 9/ /85 9/ /85 N
i
1 1
1 4
I MEMORANDUM FOR: John A. Hind, Director Emergency Preparedness and Radiological Safety Branch Region III FROM:
Edward L. Jordan, Director Division of Emergency Preparedness and Engineering Response l
Office of Inspection and Enforcement SUJBECT:
ALLEGED P0TENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST i
FOR COMEX CORPORATION t
J. A. Gonyeau, Manager, Production Training, Northern States Power Company, raised concerns regarding a potential conflict of interest on the part of COMEX Corporation in a letter to C. J. Paperiello, dated March 5, 1985 (Enclosure 1).
We have reviewed the alleged potential of a conflict of interest for COMEX as a participant in emergency preparedness workshops and have found no conflict of i
interest.
We have reviewed information provided by the Department of Energy (Enclosure 2) against the standards set forth in Section 170A of the Atomic Energy Act. The bases for our decision are:
a) Battelle executed a standard agreement for a i
fixed dollar amount with workshop participants regardless of the number of attendees; b) Battelle and COMEX have' lost financially on the 1985 workshop and consider their participation as a service to the attendees; c) COMEX did not design the workshop or compile the mailing list; and d) there was never any i
suggestion or implication to our knowledge made to the utilities that they
~
j attend the workshops as a possible means of reducing exercise deficiencies.
1 I recommend that you advise Northern States Power Company in regard to this j
matter with respect to COMEX, and provide them with the bases for the decision.
I
)
Edward L. Jordan, Director i
Division of Emergency Preparedness and Engineering Response j
Office of Inspection and Enforcement
Enclosures:
DISTRIBUTION j
- 1. Ltr. from J. A. Gonyeau dtd.
._JMTaykr, Iit CRVan Niel, IE RBarber, DOE HQ
,d i
3/5/85 RHVollmer, IE FKantor, IE JBlaha, IE
- 2. Ltr. from M. J. Lawrence dtd.
JGPartlow. IE RAMeck, IE CBeckwith, RM 7/30/85 BKGrimes, IE BBerson, RIII DCorley, IE ELJordan, IE EPB RF REAvery, ELD i
cc:
J. Martin, PNL SASchwartz, IE JLich eman, ELD DCS 1
DBMatthews, IE EWBr u, EDO DEPER RF-KEPerkins, IE MPlahuta, DOE PDR JAAxelrad IE CJPaperiello, RIII EPB:IE L
- ME
[W IE DD:DEPER:IE D:DEPER:IE ELD $/k RAMeck:sc l RVanNiel
'f%Matthews SASchwartz ELJordan REA ery 9/ <
9/(f /85 9/(r/85 9/ /(5 9/ /85 9/l /85 l
g//85
/,GN i
7echk u es.
So -2.63 M3 So - 2$2, h
' 3CG Northem States Power Company Riverside Training Center 2900 NE Marshall Street Minneapolis, MN 55418 PRIORITY ROUTING March 5, 1985 ve,.
s en.e la M
yas uc sa su Mr. C J Paperiello, Chief 0;s 4
Q? i g
v Radiological Safety Branch 5ic US Nuclear Regulatory Commission FILE dh,-
Region III 799 Roosevelt Road Glen Ellyn, IL 50137
Dear Mr. Paperiello:
Potential Conflict of Interest We recently received a brochure advertising two workshops on emergency preparedness.
The workshops are sponsored by Battelle's Pacific Northwest Division and will be presented at the Holiday Inn East in Williamsburg, VA.
The first workshop covers emergency preparedness plans and programs and the second covers scenario development for emergency preparedness exercises.
Each workshop is scheduled for five days and will be presented on two consecutive weeks beginning on March 18 and 22.
Mr. G Bethke of Comex Corporation is listed as a sessica leader for both workshopr.
Mr. D Schultz of Comex Corporation is listed as a session leader for the second workshop.
These individuals have been employed as Contract Evaluators for the NRC during past exercises at Prairie Island.
Mr. Bethke has also been used as an evaluator for the NRC at Monticello.
It is possible_that if a Licensee is judged by the NRC to have deficiencies in either emergency preparedness or exercise scenario development, the Licansee might commit to sending responsible individuals to workshops to improve the Licensees alleged deficiencies.
Clearly, Comex Corporation receives financial remuneration for providing the services of Mssrs. Bethke and Schultz during the Battelle sponsored workshops.
It is in the best interest of Comex Corporation that many people attend the Battelle sponsored workshops.
When employees of Comex Corporation act as evaluators of the Licensees emergency preparedness or exercise scenarios, they are in a position to find deficiencies in these areas possibly forcing a Licensee to attend a, workshop such as the ones sponsored by Battelle.
We believe this constitutes a conflict of interest on the part of Comex Corporation and specifically on the part of Mssrs. Bethke and Schultz.
8504300 pat i
h0W
\\
l 0
JAG 030585B03 565z i
We believe it is inappropriate that individuals responsible for identifying deficiencies should benefit financially from identifying these deficiencies.
. Sincerely,
-gR ca a,-< o - -
J A Go'ayeau, PE Manager Pro' duction Training
/
JAG:ab
-m
/
4 JAG 030585803
C; i
h Department of Energy 8'
3!
R cniand Operanons Of f:ce P O. Box 550
)
Ricniand. Washington 99352 JllL 3 01985 Mr. Edward L. Jordan, Director Division of Emergency Prepareoness and Engineering Response Office of Inspection and Enforcement U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Comission Washington, D.C.
20555
Dear Mr. Jordan:
POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST - CO EX AND BATTELLE In response to your letter of June 4, 1985, I requested members of my staff to examine the circumstances leading to the allegations made by Northern States Power Company (NSP) concerning a conflict of interest on the part of COEX Corporation, a subcontractor to Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories.
As I understand it, NSP's allegation is that COMEX's role in assisting NRC
~
in evaluation of licensees' emergency preparedness plans and programs and emergency preparedness exercise scenarios is incompatible with its activity as instructor at workshops sponsnred by Battelle related to emergency preparedness plans and programs and scenario development for emergency preparedness exercises.
Although NSP confined its allegations to COMEX, you asked whether the same assertions could be made regarding Battelle.
A response to NSP's allegations was requested from Battelle, which in turn solicited a response from COMEX.
Those responses have produced the follow-ing information.
The emergency preparedness workshop sponsored by Battelle was held for the first time in 1983. A total of five such workshops have been held during the 3-year period 1983-1985. Session leaders for the first workshop were provided by Battelle, 00E, NRC, and Sandia Corporation.
COMEX was added to the list of session leaders for the second workshop and has participated in all subsequent ones.
Battelle executed a standard agreement with each of the workshop participants which provided for a ceiling amount of $8,500.00 for their participation, regardless of the number of attendees.
Both Battelle and COEX have asserted that they realized a loss on the 1985 workshops.
In fact, COMEX has said that its loss for the workshop was
$7,000.00. COEX has'also pointed out that the workshops represent less than 1 percent of its annual gross income.
Battelle informed us that COMEX did not assist it in designing the workshops or in compiling a mailing list for the brochures.
Both Battelle and COMEX view the workshops as more of a service to attendees than as a comercial venture and believe that they A
Mr. Edward L. Jordan JUL 3 0 INS should continue to be conducted by the indiv'iduals and organizations with the most knowledge and experience in the field. They both have participated in emergency preparedness evaluations of licensed utilities as members of teams led by NRC; however, they point out that all communications with the utilities are conducted by the NRC, and they stated that there was never any suggestion or implication made to the utilities that they attend the work-shops as a possible means of reducing exercise deficiencies.
Based on the information set out above, I am unable to conclude that either Battelle or COMEX has been guilty of any misconduct or that their activities in connection with the workshops provide a realistic motive for bias on their part in performing their work for NRC. Given the level of the workshop 1
activity and the fact that it has proven to be unprofitable, the argument that it provides a sufficient motive for either party to jeopardize its work for NRC would appear to be tenuous at best.
I hope this information will assist you in making your determination.
If you have any questions concerning our response, please contact Mr. Maynard Plahuta on FTS 444-7034 or Mr. Gene Pride of our legal staff on FTS 444-7311.
- 1 Si c rely
/-
ll~--
Michael J. Lawrence Manager s--