ML20207F564

Forwards Notice of Violation & Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in Amount of $800.Violation Based on Inattentive Behavior While on Duty

ML20207F564
Person / Time
Site:	Peach Bottom, 05507557
Issue date:	08/09/1988
From:	Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
To:	Koehler C PECO ENERGY CO., (FORMERLY PHILADELPHIA ELECTRIC
Shared Package
ML20207F567	List: ML20207F564 ML20207F570
References
EA-88-105, NUDOCS 8808230021
Download: ML20207F564 (3)

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09 AUB 1988 Docket No. 55-7557 License No. 50P-10507 EA 88-105 Mr. Charles E. Koehler ESIomIa cnicinL H

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SUBJECT:

NOTICE OF VIOLATION AND PROPOSED IMPOSITION OF CIVIL PENALTY In March 1987, the NRC received information that control room operators at Philadelphia Electric Company's Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station had been observed sleeping while on duty in the control room, reading materials not directly job related, and being otherwise inattentive to the obligations of their licenses. The NRC promptly confirmed toit, information during the initial phase of an investigation of this matter. As a result, the NRC no longer had reasonable assurance that the facility would be operated in a manner to assure that the health and safety of the public would be protected, and therefore, issued an Order to Philadelphia Electric Corpany (PEco) on March 31, 1987 suspending operations of the Peach Bottom reactors, effective innediately.

Subsequently, the NRC found that the inattentiveness described in the Order h6d occurred over an extended period of time and was pervasive. Other examples of inattentive behavior not known at the time of the Order were also identified such as: control room personnel being routinely reclined in a resting position with their head back and eyes closed for an indeterminate period of time; play-ing hand held evmputer games or on one of the computer display screens in the control room; and engaging in horseplay. Operators were aware of these conditions and failed to initiate action to correct them. As a result of these findings, the NRC conducted an enforcement conference with you on May 17, 1988 for the p(urpose of discussing your understanding of (1) these inattentiveness issues

2) their safety significance (3)theircauses,and(4)correctiveactions taken by both you and the utility to prevent recurrence. During that conference, you specifically admitted to your personal involvement in at least some of this inattentive behaylor. Your actions constituted a violation of your individual reactor operator license. The violation is described in the enclosed Notice and is classified at Severity Level II in accordance with the "General Statement of Policy and Procedure for NRC Enforcement Actions," 10 CFR 2, Appendix C (Enforcement Policy) (1988).

The NRC recognizes that your license was terminated as you are no longer employed by PECo. Nonetheless, the activities described in the Notice were engaged in by you for an extended period prior to the shutdown and were indicative of a complacent and unprofessional attitude by you toward the privileges and responsibilities of your license, contrary to safety, and constituted serious dereliction of duties in carrying out those responsi-bilities. Further, as a shift supervisor responsible not only for manipulating controls, but also for directing manipulation of controls by reactor operators you set a poor example for these individuals and failed Maagg g$g7 g$IY G

Charles E. Koehler to exercise the control and comand responsibilities expected of a person that was in your position.

You are reminded that you held a license from the United States government which conferred upon you the special trust and confidence of the American peo)le in the safe operation of nuclear facilities and pieced you in a position w1ere your perfomance was expected to be above reproach. Consequently, I have determined that additional action should be taken to emphasize that license holders are not only accountable to their management but also individually accountable to the NRC and have a responsi-bility to remain alert and attentive at all times to ensure protection of public health and safety.

During the NRC deliberations concerning appropriate enforcement action, the NRC considered the entire spectrum of possible enforcement actions, including a letter of Reprimand, Notice of Violation and Civil Penalty. After consultation with the Comission, I have decided to issue to you the enclosed Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in the amount of $800 to emphasize that you, as a license holder, were individually accountable to the NRC for your conduct and your failure to take correctivt actions. Because of the fact that pervasive and extended management failures contributed significantly to the unacceptable conditions at Peach Bottom stronger actions against individual licensees was considered inappropriate. The violation is classified at Severity level II. Although the enforcement policy does not provide a schedule for civil penalties against individual operators, the penalty is based on the schedule provided for other small material individual licensees (see Table IA, 10 CFR Part 2. Appendix C).

You are required to respond to the enclosed Notice and should follow the instruction specified therein when preparing your response.

In accordance with Section 2.790 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice " Part 2 Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, a copy of this letter and its enclosures will be placed in the NRC Public Document Room.

The responses directed by this letter and the enclosed Notice are not subject to the clearance procedures of the Office of Management and Budget as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, Pub. L. No.96-511.

Sincerely,

.f s M. Taylor xecutive Director for Regional Operations

Enclosures:

(1) Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty (2) Enforcement Conference Transcript (Licensee) cc w/ encl:

Corbin McNetil, Executive Vice President, Nuclear Public Document Room (PDR)

Local Public Document Room (LPDR)

NRC Resident Inspector Comonwealth of Pennsylvania Jane P. Malatesta, Killian & Gephart

3 DISTRIBUTION:

bec w/ encl:

RegionIDocketRoom(w/ concurrences)

SECY Congressional Affairs J. Taylor, DEDO W. Russell, RI D. Holody, RI 4

J. Lieberman, OE Enforcement Directors, RII-RIII Enforcement Officers, RIV-Y F. Ingram, PA E. Jordan, AE00 B. Hayes, O!

5. Connelly, OIA F. Hiraglia, NRR D. Nussbaumer, 0GPA OE/ES File OE/EA File EDO Rdg File DCS L. Chandler, OGC 4

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