ML20210S561

Discusses 860506 Ofc of Investigations Rept 1-85-019 & Forwards Notice of Violation & Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty in Amount of $50,000

ML20210S561
Person / Time
Site:	Peach Bottom
Issue date:	02/09/1987
From:	Murley T NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:	Kemper J PECO ENERGY CO., (FORMERLY PHILADELPHIA ELECTRIC
Shared Package
ML20210S567	List: ML20210S561 ML20210S626
References
EA-87-005, EA-87-5, NUDOCS 8702170654
Download: ML20210S561 (4)

Text

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FEB 0 01987 4 ,

Docket No. 50-278 License No. DPR-56 EA 87-05 Philadelphia Electric Company ATTN: Mr. John S. Kemper Senior Vice President 2301 Market Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19101 Gentlemen:

Subject:

NOTICE OF VIOLATION AND PROPOSED IMPOSITION OF CIVIL PENALTY (NRC INVESTIGATION REPORT NO. 1-85-019)

On May 6, 1986, the NRC Office of Investigations (OI) provided to the NRC staff its report of an investigation conducted at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in response to an allegation received by this office. The source alleged that a contractor health physics (HP) technician was threat-ened with dismissal if he continued to pursue his radiological concerns that he might have received an overexposure while working in the Unit 3 offgas tunnel in March 1985. A copy of the OI Investigation Report synopsis was sent to you on May 20, 1986, and a redacted version of the entire OI report was sent to you on September 22, 1986.

As a result of the evidence obtained during the OI investigation, the NRC has determined that your Field HP Supervisor terminated the employment of the con-tractor HP technician for engaging in protected activity. This termination constitutes a violation of the NRC employee protection provisions set forth in 10 CFR 50.7. On May 20, 1986 and November 18, 1986, enforcement conferences were conducted with Messrs. S. L. Daltroff, V. S. Boyer and other members of your staff to discuss this violation, its cause, and your corrective actions.

Although the Field HP Supervisor indicated that he directed that the HP tech-nician's employment be terminated because of excessive absenteeism, the NRC concludes, based on the evidence obtained during the OI investigation, that this stated reason for termination was a pretext for dismissing the technician for engaging in a protected activity. In particular, the following evidence is persuasive: (1) the technician apparently had never been counseled regard-ing excessive absenteeism; (2) there was no mention of such absenteeism in the technician's personnel file; (3) although seven employees were designated for layoffs due to excessive absenteeism, only three employees were discharged; and (4) termination based solely on absenteeism apparently was inconsistent with the then current and past practices at Peach Bottom.

CERTIFIED MAIL

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Philadelphia Electric Company 2 The importance of allowing. employees sufficient freedom to bring their perceived safety concerns to the attention of licensees, their contractors, and the NRC must be reinforced. While the NRC encourages licensees to adopt an "open door policy" which encourages employees and contractor employees to report problems to their supervision, it must also be made clear to employees that they have the right to contact the NRC whenever they perceive a safety problem exists and that they will not be harassed, intimidated, or discrimi-1 nated against for bringing such concerns to their supervision or to the NRC.

This incident also demonstrates the need for prompt and effective resolution of perceived safety issues raised by your staff, or contractor personnel. In this instance, the technician was concerned, based on a survey measurement, that he might have received an overexposure in March 1985. However, his concerns were not satisfactorily resolved. In fact, although the individual had been told that his survey meter had malfunctioned due to moisture and high humidity, subsequent analysis indicated that was not the case.

, The NRC considers this failure to promptly provide satisfactory resolution 4

of an employee's concern, and the resultant termination of the individual's employment, as being indicative of the need for more effective management control of the radiation protection program. To emphasize this need, I have been authorized, after consultation with the Director, Office of Inspection

and Enforcement, to issue the enclosed Notice of Violation and Proposed Impo-sition of Civil Penalty in the amount of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000) for the violation described in the enclosed Notice. In accordance with the " General Statement of Policy and Procedure for NRC Enforcement Actions," 10 CFR Part 2, Appendix C (1986) (Enforcement Policy), the violation has been categorized at Severity Level III. The base civil penalty amount for a Severity Level III violation is $50,000. The escalation and mitigation factors in the Enforcement Policy were considered and no adjustment has been deemed appropriate.

You are required to respond to this letter and should follow the instructions specified in the 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. After reviewing your response to this Notice, including your proposed corrective actions and the results of

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future inspection, the NRC will determine whether further enforcement action is necessary to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

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 enclosure will be placed in the NRC Public Document room.

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j T Philadelphia Electric Company 3 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,

Original Signed By.

• Thomas E. Murley t 1

Regional Administrator

Enclosure:

Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty cc w/ enc 1:

1 R. S. Fleischmann, Manager, Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Troy B. Conner, Jr. , Esquire W. H. Hirst, Director, Joint Generation Projects Department, Atlantic Electric G. Leitch, Superintendent Nuclear Generation Division Eugene J. Bradley, Esquire, Assistant General Counsel (Without Report)

. Raymond L. Hovis, Esquire 1

Thomas Magette, Power Plant Siting, Nuclear Evaluations (Without Report) j W. M. Alden, Engineer in Charge, Licensing Section i Public Document Room (PDR)

' Local Public Document Room (LPDR)

Nuclear Safety Information Center (NSIC)

NRC Resident Inspector Commonwealth of Pennsylvania i .

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Philadelphia Electric Company 4 bec w/ enc 1:

Region I Docket Room (with concurrences)

SECY CA J. Taylor, IE J. Axelrad, IE T. Murley, RI D. Holody, RI J. Lieberman, OGC J. Sniezek, DED/ROGR Enforcement Directors RII-III Enforcement Officers RIV-RV F. Ingram, PA J. Crooks, AE00 B. Hayes, 01 S. Connelly, OIA V. Miller, NMSS D. Nussbaumer, OSP IE/ES File IE/EA File EDO Rdg File DCS RI:ES0}N R- P RI ORP I:DRP Nh RI:DRSS RI Holody/ms Gmo Es broth lins ane gj'g; Gu r 11/p /86 11h86 11/@/86 11/')/86 11/ 9/86 11Mr/86 1M 3/86 j iu OGC IE:ES IE:DD IE:D ey Lieberman Beach Starostecki Taylor 1)/7,A 6 11 86 11 If l /

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