ML20203B391
| ML20203B391 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crystal River  |
| Issue date: | 12/24/1996 |
| From: | Gibson A NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II) |
| To: | Mcnulty W NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20203B366 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-97-313 NUDOCS 9712150026 | |
| Download: ML20203B391 (1) | |
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NUCt. EAR REOULATORY COMMISSION y
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DEQ MBER 24, 1996-
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1f MEMORANDUM TO: William J. McNulty, Director Office of Investigations Field Omce, Region i tP
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l FROM:
Albert F. Gibson, Director Division of Reactor Safety ]
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SUBJECT:
CRYSTAL RIVER NUCLEAR PLANT: ALLEGED DISCRIMINATION l}
AGAINST SENIOR LICENSED OPERATIONS SUPERVISORS DAVID A. FIELDS AND ROBERT P. WEISS (CASE NOS. 2-95420-
- i AND 2-95 021) v i !
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Your memo to me. dated August 14,1996, regarding the subject cases requested a
' consensus view from the technical staff as to whether or not termination of Fields and Weiss "is considered appropriate under the circumstances and reasonable within the nuclear safety
,jj culture and the NRC's reaulatory expectations." Your memo further questioned "if the operators' licones/ conditions don't specifically address the issue of integrity, is it plausible for f{f Florida Power Corporation (FPC) to contend that, within the " nuclear safety culture", the i
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operators' failure to be forthcoming about the September 4 evolution raises a reasonable fitness for duty / plant access issue as a maiter of character and integrity" The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects licensees to be truthful. Truthfulness and ll integrity are essential to the effectiveness of our regulatory process. Licenses are issued h.
based upon an expectation that commitments made by applicants will be met, and licenses are maintained based upon the assumption that information provided by licensees is accurate and complete. Since only a small fraction of licensed activities is verified by NRC l3 inspections, truthfulness and integrity in general are essential to the effectiveness of our lT regulatory process and to the protection of public health and safety. Florida Power Corporation concluded that Fields and Weiss lacked integrity based upon their failure to I
disclose, for an extended period of time, the makeup tank evolution that occurTod on
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September 4 Taking this conclusion at face value, termination would appear to have been
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within F"s prerogative as an employer and would not be objectionable to the agency or at i
odds wiu, agency regulations.
l The Part 55 license conditions which apply to Fields and Weiss do not specifically address F
'the issue of integrity, and the fitness for duty provisions of Part 26 do not address integrity
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outside the context of substance use issues. However,10 CFR 50.5(a) prohibits employees j
from providing information to licensees which the employee knows is inaccurate or p
incomplete. In addition, the personnel access authorization requirements of 10 CFR 73.56,
'specifically Section 73.56(b)(1) requires, in part, that Part 50 licensees maintain a program r
- that provides high assurance that individuals granted unescorted access are trustworthy.
J Thus, FFC's denial of access to Fields and Weiss on the basis that they were not trustworthy i[
appears to be plausible.
i cc:. Docket Files of Fleilds and Weiss
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