ML20198T044

Discusses Insp Rept 50-458/97-20 on 980205 & Forwards Notice of Violation & Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in Amount of $55,000

ML20198T044
Person / Time
Site:	River Bend
Issue date:	01/05/1999
From:	Merschoff E NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION IV)
To:	Edington R ENTERGY OPERATIONS, INC.
Shared Package
ML20198T048	List: ML20198T044 ML20198T069
References
50-458-97-20, EA-98-132, NUDOCS 9901120109
Download: ML20198T044 (6)

See also: IR 05000458/1997020

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^%- UN'TED STATES

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. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGloN IV

.O,, [ 611 RYAN PLAZA oRIVE, sulTE 400

'%. ARUNGToN. TEXAS 76011-8064

"******d'- Janusry 5, 1999

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l; EA 98-132

Randall K. Edington, Vice President - Operations 1

. River Bend Station i

. Entergy Operations, Inc.

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P.O.- Box 220  ;

St. Francisville, Louisiana 70775 '

SUBJECT: NOTICE OF VIOLATION AND PROPOSED IMPOSITIOfJ OF CIVIL PENALTY -

$55,000 (NRC INVESTIGATION RE: PORT 4-97-059)

Dear Mr. Edington' ~I

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- This is in reference to the June 26,1998, predecisional enforcement conference in the NRC's

- Region IV office in Arlington, Texas, regarding an apparent violation of 10 CFR 50.9. This

conference was the culmination of a series of interactions and correspondence with Entergy

l Operations, Inc. (EOl), regarding v;hether the Superintendent of Radiation Control at Entergy's

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River Bend Station (RBS) nuclear power plant willfully provided the NRC with incomplete or

inaccurate information to avoid a Notice of Violation. The NRC conducted a predecisional

= enforcement conference with the Superintendent on February 27,1998, and described the

apparent violation of 10 CFR 50.9 in a letter to Entergy dated May 7,1998. Entergy provided

its perspective on, and additional information relating to, the apparent violation in letters dated

June 25, July 1, and July 8,1998. j

Based on our review of the information developed during the investigation, and all the  !

information provided before, during, and after the conferences, the NRC has determined that a i

violation of NRC requirements occurred. This violation is cited in the enclosed Notice of

Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty and it involves the deliberate failure to l

provide the NRC with information that was complete and accurate in all material respects, in l

violation of 10 CFR 50.9. Specifically, the violation involves deliberate misconduct by a licensee j

manager, the RBS Superintendent of Radiation Control, when he provided an NRC senior i

resident inspector with information he knew was not accurate and not completa during a

(. meeting on October 15,1997.

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[~ The circumstances of the case are briefly described as follows. On October 10,1997, an NRC

l inspector observed a contract radiation protection (RP) technician reach across a contami.1ated

l area boundary (to perform a smear survey) in the fuel storage building while wearing only

l cotton liners on his hands, in violation of radiation work permit (RWP) requirements (refer to

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. NRC Inspection Report 50-458/97-20, dated February 5,1998). The inspector was informed by

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the technician's supervisor that the applicable RWP was 97-0002, which required " booties and

. gloves" as minimur1 protective clothing. The inspector who observed the violation left the site

on October 14,1997, after providing information regarding the potential violation to the NRC's

on-site senior resident inspector, On October 15, the RBS Superintendent of Radiation Control

scheduled a meeting with the NRC senior resident inspector to discuss the potential RWP )

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violation. Specifically. the potential violcti- e was a failuro to adhere to r.WP 97-0002 in that the

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RWP listed minimum anti-contamination clothing requirements as booties and gloves," when )

the technician, on October 10,1997, only wore cotton glove liners. 1

During the October 15,1997, meeting, the RBS Superintendent of Radiation Control showed

the senior resident inspector the access logs and the four RWPs that the technician signed

onto during the period October 10-15,1997. The access logs indicated that on October 10, the j

technician had signed onto RWP 97-9002, which applied to drywell activities, and not to the I

technician's activities which were observea in the fuel storage building. The log also indicated I

that the technician had signed onto RWP 97-0002 on October 14. During the October 15 ,

meeting, the RBS Superintendent of Radiation Control explained that RBS' program allows a l

radiation protection technician to work under an RWP (i.e.,97-0002) without actually signing i

onto it under certain circumstances (e.g., if the technician is signed on an RWP in which the  !

technician would likely receive the majority of his or her exposure and if he or she understands  ;

and follows the requirements of the appropriate RWP, and if the dose received is transferred to

the appropriato RWP). The Superintendent statsd that none of the RWPs, including

RWP 97-0002, were violated because none of the RWPs required " minimum booties and I

gloves;"instead the RWPs allowed a technician to determine the protective clothing

requirements. However, during that meeting the Superintendent did not present the version of

RWP 97-0002 that had been in effect on October 10,1997. The Superintendent instead

presented a subsequent revision to the RWP that changed the minimum protective clothing

requirements to state that the protective clothing requirements could be established by the RP

technician.

After careful consideration the NRC has concluded that during the October 15,1997 meeting

with the NRC's senior resident inspector, the RBS Superintendent of Radiation Control provided

the NRC senior resident inspector with information that the Superintendent knew was

inaccurate and incomplete. Information that the RBS Superintendent of Radiation Control

provided during his Ol interview and the predecisional enforcement conferences did not

convince us otherwise. A summary of Entergy's position on this matter and the bases for the

NRC's conclusions are summarized in Enclosure 2.

The NRC must be able to rely on licensee managers providing complete and accurate

information on matters involving compliance with requirements. A willful violation of

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10 CFR 50.9 involving a licensee manager can result in a Severity Level I violation in

accordance with the General Statement of Policy and Procedures for NRC Enforcement I

Actions, NUREG-1600 (Enforcement Policy). In consideration of the relatively low safety l

significance of the underlying issue, i.e., the use of cotton glove liners in lieu of rubber gloves in

an area where the technician was familiar with the contamination levels, and in consideration of I

the individual's position within the company, the violation has been classified at Severity Level

111.

In accordance with the Enforcement Policy, a base civil penalty in the amount of $55,000 is

considered for a Severity Level 111 violation. Because the violation involved willfulness, the NRC

considered whether credit was warranted for Identification and Corrective Action in accordance

with the civil penalty assessment process in Section VI.B.2 of the Enforcement Policy. Since

the violation was identified by the NRC, licensee credit for identification was not warranted.

However, the NRC has determined that Entergy is @ serving of Corrective Action credit based

on us actions. Wnile disagreeing that there was any willfulness on the part of the

Superintendent Entergy's corrective actions included: emphasizing management expectations

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i on communicating with the NRC; conducting " Regulatory Sensitivity" training sessions foi

l certain personnel and supervisors; providing additional guidance for communicating with NRC

while ma!ntaining open communications; taking disciplinary action against the Superintordent; -

- and implementing additional oversight over the Superintendent and his department.

To emphasize the importance of providing complete and accurate information to the NRC, and

communicating witn candor, I have been authorized, after consultation with the Director, Office

of Enforcement, to issue the enclosed Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil

Penalty (Notice) in the base amount of $55,000 for the Severity Level lil violation described

above.

in addition to the enforcement action against Entergy, we are simultaneously issuing a Notice of

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Violation to the individual as a result of his misconduct. A copy of that action will be sent to you

!. by separate correspondence.

In taking this action, the NRC is particularly sensitive to the concem that this action may have a

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chilling effect on communications with the NRC. The NRC's Enforcement Policy recognizes

! that oral information may in some situations be inherently less reliable than written submittals.

The Commission must be able to rely on oral communications from licensee officials but

recognizes that information exchanged in initial discussions on issues frequently changes as i

further facts are developed. In this case, however, the NRC does not view the discussions that

took place on October 15 as the initial discussions between an inspector and a licensee

l manager. There had been two discussions between the inspector who observed the RWP

violation and the Superintendent, and the Superintendent had multiple discussions with

members of his staff -in order to address the issue, Moreover, willfulness was involved in this  ;

case. After careful consideration, the NRC concluded that enforcement action was warranted in

this case.

You are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions specified in the

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enclosed Notice when preparing your response, in your response, you should document the

specific actions taken and any additional actions you plan to prevent recurrence. Your

! response may reference or include previous docketed correspondence, if the correspondence 1

adequately addresses the required response. The NRC will use your response, in part, to I

determine whether further enforcement action is necessary to ensure compliance with

regulatory requirements.

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! This matter has been discussed between the NRC, Entergy, and the Superintendent in several

j letters. Entergy and the Superintendent have requested that their letters be withheld from

l public disclosure in accordance with Section 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practice," Part 2,

j~ Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, and exemptions 6 and 7 of the Freedom of information

i Act. Those letters have not yet been placed into the PDR. Also, the NRC's letters to the l

l Superintendent, as well as the enclosure to our May 7,1998 letter to Entergy, have not been

placed in the PDR. However, we note that,in accordance with *O CFR 2.790 records or

documents compiled for enforcement purposes are placed in toe NRC Public Document Room

1 (PDR). In light of the NRC's conclusion that the Superintendent engaged in deliberate

misconduct, correspondence related to this issue will be placed in the PDR af ter appropriate

l redaction foi personal privacy information such as home address. Subsequent responses may

also be placed in the PDR.

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If you have any questions or comments, please contact Mr. Art Howell at 817-860-8100.

Sincerely, -

--

Ellis W. Merscho

Regional Admin' trator

Docket No. 50-458

L License No. NPF-47

Enclosures: As stated

cc w/ Enclosures:

Executive Vice President and

Chief Operating Officer i

Entergy Operations, Inc.

P.O. Box 31995

. Jackson, Mississippi 39286-1995

Vice Piesident

Operations Support

Entergy Operations, Inc.

P.O. Box 31995

Jackson, Mississippi 39286-1995

General Manager

- Plant Operations

River Bend Station i

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Entergy Operations, Inc.

P.O. Box 220

I St. Francisville, Louisiana 70775

Director - Nuclear Safety

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E River Bend Station

L Entergy Operations, Inc.

P.O. Box 220

l St. Francisville, Louisiana 70775

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Wise, Carter, Child & Caraway

P.O. Box 651

Jackson, Mississippi 39205

' Mark J. Wetterhahn, Esq.

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Winston & Strawn

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1401 L' Street. N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005 3502

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Manager - Ucensing

River Bend Station

- Entergy Operations, Inc.'

P.O. Box 220

St. Francisville, Louisiana 70775

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.The Honorable Richard P. leyoub

Attorney General -

. Department of Justice ,

State of Louisiana

7 , P.O.= Box 94005 '

Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70604-9005 j

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! H.~ Anne Plettinge'r

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3456 Villa Rose Drive -

Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70806

President of West Felicia'na ,

Police Jury i

4 ' P.O. Box 1921

iSt. Francisville, Louisiana 70775

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Ronald L. Wascom, Administrator - l

Louisiana Radiation Protection Division i

P.O. Box 82135

Baton Rouge', Louisiana 70884-2135

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bec w/ Enclosures:

PDR IE 14

LPDR NUDOCS

SECY EC's: RI, Rll, Rlll

CA PA (0-2G4)

EDO (0-17G21) OlG (T-5D28)

DEDO (0-17G21) LIEBERMAN, OE (0-7H5)

OE:EAFile (0-7H5) 01 (0-3E4)

CH.^ NDLER, OGC (0-15B18) GOLDBERG, OGC (0-15B18)

NRR (0-12G18) BOGER, NRR/ADP (0-12G18)

RFretz NRR/PDIV-1 (0-13H3) OC/DAF (T-9E10) '

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AEOD (T-4D18) RWise

RA Reading File GSanbom-EAFile

RIV Files MIS Coordinator

PAO-Henderson RSLO (Hackney)

LWilliamson, Of CMarschall, DRP

E-MAIL DISTRIBUTION:

OEMAIL JDyer (JED2)

TPGwynn (TPG) EMerschoff (EWM)

GSanborn (GFS) WBrown (WLB)

BHenderson (BWH) CHackney (CAH)

GMVasquez (GMV) TReis (TXR)

Art Howell(ATH) DChamberlain (DDC)

CMarschall (CSM) LRicketson (LTR)

GReplog!e (GDR) KBrockman (KEB)

DNelson (DJN) MShannon (MPS1)

LWilliamson (ELW1) WSmith (WFS)

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OFFICE OE N RIV M [

Kn Ok:D h DEDE EDO p f

NAME MSatorius

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EMerschofi JLieberman M[p[ WTrd j

12/ j$/98 12/AP/98 1 98 I

DATE 12/lG/98 12/Ih/98

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

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