ML20239A000

Submits Info Re Nonconformance Rept 4490,per Request at 840927 Meeting.Numbers of safety-related Welds Reinspected & & Rejected Noted & Company Providing Bulk of Rexaminers Stated.Related Info Including Partially Deleted Info Encl

ML20239A000
Person / Time
Site:	Seabrook
Issue date:	10/03/1984
From:	Cerne A NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:	Rachel Johnson JUSTICE, DEPT. OF
Shared Package
ML20238F776	List: ML20238F774 ML20238F839 ML20238F847 ML20238F853 ML20238F864 ML20239A000 ML20239A176
References
FOIA-86-188 NUDOCS 8709160410
Download: ML20239A000 (8)

Text

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• UNITED STATES

. g o NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I

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631 PARK AVENUE KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19406 '

l' October 3,1984-Richard Johnson, Esquire Assistant US Attorney US Attorney's Office 55 Pleasant St.

Concord, N.H. 03301 Mr.~ Johnson:

Enclosed are the items you requested'during our meeting on September 27,1984 at your office.

Nonconformance Report (4490) was requested and received from the licensee Quality Assurance Staff and is sent to you with their knowledge. The first half of NCR 4490 contains copies of letters discussing the disposition to some of the welds which were not reinspected. The back of NCR 4490 contains the tabulation of the welds. While there appear to be some minor discrepancies in numbers that I must work out, the following ficures should be accurate enough for your purpose, i

-- Safety-Related welds reinspected & rejected = 05 (IMT, 23PT, IUT)

-- Welds important to safety reinspected & rejected = 42 (11MT, 31PT) 1 (The remainder of the 95 welds are clearly nonnuclear-safety).

SNT-TC-1A is also enclosed. Your interest should probably be satisfied in Sections 6,8,9 810. In this regard, you'll note that I was somewhat in error with respect to the type of college credit that can be taken. See Table 6.2.1A of SNT-TC-1A which states the credit for " years of engineering or science study". Individual company programs may cive credit for other callege study, but only to the extent that this credit is above the minimum stated requirements of SNT-TC-1A.

l Other information you requested included the State of New Hampshire contact for administering the " agreement state" responsibilities for the radiography license.

Diane Tefft

' Manager, Radiological Health Program l Dept. of Health & Welfare Health & Welfare Bldg.

Hazen Drive Concord, N.H. 03301 It is unclear at this time whether the radiation fafety concerns, raised by the subject of your investigation in May '82, were actually referred to the h3 CARDE06-Jeg 0 870924 ppg ~.

Richard Johnson ~ 2 10/3/84 4

4 State of N.H. because there were no specific allegations associated with the '

general concerns. We are researching our records in this regard. . It is clear that the backscatter "B" allegation was technically investigated, to l

the extent deemed necessary, and closed.

Also, the following is the company which provided the bulk of the personnel who performed the reexamination of the suspect welds. j National Inspection & Consultants (NIC)

Suite 407, Landmark Bldg. '

3949 Evans Ave.

Ft. Myers, Fla. 33901 ,

(tel: 813-939-4313)

I (Note: NIC personnel are presently not being employed at Seabrook. They were let go last April in anticipation of the work stoppage.)

Should you require further information or assistance, I can be reached, I l

at NRC Resident Office at Seabrook,. telephone 474-3589 or 3S80. ]

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% N c h ,te,l % s W e, Seabrook reports j

inf "fe""ar A?'s*ent J! l nucNr plant pleaded guilty .

N' (163)' R )i. I P N ) e.

Monday in federal court to two '

()&9/ O /tOflCC,) $4d g( an fjl# 4 counts of an eleven count indict 1 ment for f alsifying weld inspec fl C#C o famfs Padavano, 31bf "f MrldcIlo4 if(OP 4 Waukesha, Wis., faces ugto 10 i I h NI r leg a if ng weldi un,.t .s s.accc . m a, a a : qar .4 o U S. Attorney Rich

((( q ft, ( fYCl4 0 t' ha e bee d p as part o ,

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~~f M FlIf I)f Padavano was employed by the Pulman Higgins, Co. from LAC Ml4 kY#4%j ( f4lf fo ng c t I tests on h4 f)to4 1 'A f o9 A rding to ohn K te, a spokesman for the p!hnt t ilder, e New Hampshire Yankee.;

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" cosmetic" repairs.

~ l Pulman Higgins still operates . l the quality assurance pmgram l{ft /04p yt sa the cost of retesting Df'46f Q and repairing" the welds was ,

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_III3lJUL I W Hy TOM FAllEY Union Leader Staff Qchuk j '

A quality control inspector at the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant has been fired for falsifying welding inspection reports, Public Service Company of NeW Ilampshire g Q said yesterday. velopment. "The big boss said no The development means 2A00 gr_-

one will give out any informa. [b piping and structural steel welds , tion." an on-site spokesman said j in Unit 1. now 70 percent com- late yesterday. 1 plete. will have to be re inspected. - But Rivera said the inspector '

l' PSNH spokesman Myra Rivera began working at the site in Feb. c(ll gt.,

said the welding problems should ruary 1982 and was responsible not affect the cost or completion for 2.400 piping and structural W i date of the two-unit plant. steel welds.

$$)$[g i Antone Cerne, Nuclear Regula. "That does not mean that all ' I tory Commission senior resident 2.400 welds are affected. But all VtQgy $((ek inspector at the plant, said "a will have to be re. inspected," <

good number of (the welds) obvi- Rivera said. "We can tell from re- Mrg, Nd !

ously ere safety related." ports where they are, and we're in l Rivera said Public Service noti- the process of going back and see y fied the NRC Wednesday that the ing which welds really were in- 1l nt L inspector, employed by Pullman spected." N .r N  !

Higgins of Williamsport. Pa.. Cerne said welding "is a very f

" falsified inspection records." Pullman Higgins, welding and critical and important item in the h4 M3[0 from more than a year of work at the construction site. Problems pipmg contractor for Seabrook safety.of a nuciear power plant."

with his work became apparent Station, refused to identify the The problem welds "should Page employe or to comment on the de- SEABROOK .

be ac- 24 C'N*

F early last week,

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cessible" for re inspection. .hewhich seers,of Cerne the welds said, are "issafety to determine re- stancesend thatofledthe day,"

to an added int'eraal in- to circum-said, since builders "normally lated." The NRC would only be vestigation of the inspector by don't encase welds in concrete." concerned with problems in the Pullman Higgins. Within a week, Rivera said re-inspection and . ;, .

reactor area. Those in the turbine heRivera was fired.

said .. the problem be-repair costs, estimated at " sever- building, he said, are connected al thousands of dollars," would be with the production of electrical came more apparent when a doc-assessed to the project. "It will 4 not affect the cost or schedule of power, and "the NRC is not con- ument requiring two signatures  !

the plant." she said. "This is the cerned with output of power . . . was found to have been filed with l type of thing we build into con- to only with remain those systems functional for the pro- required ture. only the fired inspector's signa-tmgency plans." Public Service, Cerne said, But she added, "obviously this tection The ofmost the public."

intense quality in- "will have to do something to is going.to be a time consuming spections, often using radiogra- bring ihemselves back into code.

effort smce some access to the welds will have to be provided: phy, are given to the welding in They have 30 days in which to put scaf folds will have to be crected." pipes that are rnost critical to together an official report to us.

safety, such as pipes that carry At minimum, they'll have to tell water to cool the reactor, or to the us in writing what the status of The plant's ultimate costs are (stimated at $5.24 billion by most vital structural supports, this is."

PSNH, and at more than $8 bi!! ion Cerne said. Surface weld inspec- .The welds needing re inspec-by the Public Utilities Commis- tions are made on less critical (2on, Cerne said, "are not neces-sioWs latest report. PSNH says areas - cooling pipes or supports sarily bad welds. But they might l*ni I will be finished by Decem- designed with their lower inspec- show variations from what code bm 1984 and Unit 2 by mid 1987. tion priority in mind. In this case, allows. Surface mdications such The PUC envisions Unit 1 on line he said, surface inspections are in as bubbling or cracks,"anything in March 1986, with completion of question. which basically opens up a defect Unit 2 in 1989 at best.

Exactly how the inspector's indication to the surface of the Rivera said yesterday that faulty work was discovered is un. weld, requires further evalua .

w ork "will continue on both units clear. tion. In this case, that wasn't al-w hile the investigation is conduct . Cerne sa'id a second quality con- ways done, he said. ,

ed." Neither she nor Walter Haas, trol inspector "more or less coln-of NRC's Inspection and Enforce- cidentally" discovered " indica- He noted that there are more ment Division, could say for cer- tions of a problern weld which the than one million welds in any nu-tain whether the bred employe other guy should have found." Ac- clear plant, ranging in size from would be subject to criminal cording to Haas, "what was es- nine feet to is "This twotheinches in iength.

first time anything penalties.

< tablished is he didn't follow the "I don't know w hat we can do to preper procedures. With or with- of this sort has happened here "

,an individual," Haas said."We do out intent, that is enough to justifyable Rivera said.itThe to detect shows factour wequality were issue many hnes, and in some in. the action they are taking."

Cerne's assista nt. Robert control system does work."

stances the FBI becomes in-volved, especially in instance of , Gramm, noted that *l suspicionslem ' Cerne saidway with the he (PSNill finds "no hasprob- han-MeMrmhd meM06m"l.' ni of his suprvisor and his co-work- -- - ~ . n

DCS No: 50443-830429/50444-830429 1 Date: May 6, 1983 j PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATION OF EVENT OR UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE--PND-I-83-48 i This preliminary notification constitutes EARLY notice of events of POSSIBLE safety or public interest significance. The information is as initially . received without verification or evaluation, and is basically all that is known by the Region I l staff on this date. I Facility: Licensee Emergency Classification:

Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH) Notification of Unusual Event Seabrook Units 1 and 2 Alert Seabrook, New Hampshire Site Area Emergency (DN 50-443/444) General Emergency .

X Not Applicable l

Subject:

POTENTIAL NONCONFORMANCES IN WELD NONDESTRUCTIVE EXAMINATIONS ,

On April 29, 1983, the licensee identified a potential nonconformance in the conduct of the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) performed by one contractor technician on approximately 2400 safety-related and nonsafety-related welds. The nonconformance involves procedural violations during magnetic particle and liquid penetrant examinations by a technician employed by a contractor organization which performs the majority of the NDE onsite. Based on a preliminary review, the licensee believes the majority of the affected welds are nonsafety-related. The licensee is continuing an investigation to identify all affected welds and to determine if the suspect NDE records were falsified. Currently, the licensee also plans a 100% reexamination of all accessible safety-related welds that were originally examined by the specific technician while acting alone. The licensee has terminated the employment of the individual and barred him from future employment at Seabrook Station. The ,

l NRC Senior Resident Inspector continues to monitor the licensee's actions.

Th2re has been media attention to this item as a result of information provided to the media I by the licensee. The NRC does not plan a press release but will respond to inquiries. _

The State of New Hampshire has been informed.

NRC Region I (Philadelphia) received initial notification of this rnatter from the NRC l Resident Inspector via telephone on April 27, 1983. The licensee informed the Resident l Inspector on April 27, 1983 and filed a report pursuant to 10 CFR 50.55(e) on May 4, 1983.

l CONTACT: A. Cerne R. Gallo ,

603-474-3580 488-1234 DISTRIBUTION: -

H. St. /J .'t3

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MNBB g Phillips /Mit E/W jjity Willsteinst Mail: ADM:DMB Chairman Palladino EDO NRR IE NMSS DOT:Trans only Comm. Gilinsky PA OIA RES Comm. Ahearne MPA AE0D Comm. Roberts ELD s Comm. Asselstine ACRS Air Rightsim INP01UE SECY SP NSAC/O -##

CA ,

PDR Regional Offices _

TMI Resident Section //;4')

RI Resident Office ja ;,o

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l. gig.g we n 4:e1 Licensee:

(Reactor Licensees)

T3 % 5rr$.ttt_Lp Region I Form 83

i t- Puli/,n lii gr,i n.; 'I n spec t or

'May 5, 1983 ,

l public Service of Jds llampshire repo'rted-to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that a' quality. control inspector' for Pulman-liiggins, a contract $r at.'Scabrook- Station, had falsified inspection i a .

records. -

The contractor' carried out an-investigation when an individual was suspected, in some cases, of not. doing actual field inspections- of piping and. structural steel . welds that had been recorded as checked by the inspector'T The individual was responsible for about 2400 weld inspections over the past two . years. A program for reinspecting the welds for any ,

possible defects will be initiated immediately.

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h. (Closed) Construction Deficiency Report (CDR 83-00-08): Suspect NDE j

examinations. The Final 20CFR50.55(e) Report (SBN 603) on this deficiency, dated December 21, 1983, documents the status of all i j

2,399 suspect items. The inspector reviewed this status against the '

detailed disposition 'of each item per Pullman NCR 4490, with all its l

supplements. A question developed on the status of two particular welds which had been originally categorized as unaccessible and accepted by engineering evaluation. A subsequent disposition to ,

these welds indicated that they had indeed been reinspected and accepted on that basis. Thus, the status of all 2,399 items, only I about a third of which are safety-related, appears to have been ]'

accurately documented and transmitted to the NRC.

NRC inspection has monitored the progress of licensee reinspection, repair, and engineering evaluation over the course of the licensee's implementation of its corrective measure program. Such NRC follow-up is documented in the following inspection / meeting reports: i

~

-- Combined Inspection Report Nos. 443/83-06 & 444/83-06, paragraph 4 l

-- Combined Meeting Report Nos. 443/63-10 & 444/83-07, paragraph 4

-- Combined Inspection Report Nos. 443/83-18 & 444/83-14, paragraph 4 and Attachment 3

-- Inspection Report No. 443/85-19, paragraphs 2.2 & 5 and Attachment 2 NRC independent reinspection of a sample of both those welds reexamined by the licensee and accepted without repair and those welds repaired by the licensee revealed no deficiencies or l inadequacies in the licensee reinspection program. Generic licensee corrective actions have included 3) the evaluation of weld NDE performed 1 I

by Pullman technicians other than the one involved in the suspect welds and 2) generation of new procedures for licensee / contractor verification of an employee's background and technical qualifications,.

YAEC third party verification activities have been established for -

contractor / supplier NDE operations and records.

Overall, NRC inspection of the licensee corrective actions, both <

specific to the suspect welds and generic to the adequacy of the NDE  !

controls, has determined that the licensee program to address the concerns raised-by this CDR, to correct all hardware deficiencies, and to prevent a future recurrence of this problem has been responsive and complete.

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l This construction deficiency'is closed.

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