ML120060300

IA-11-055 G. Rinehart, Notice of Violation (NRC Office of Investigation Report No. 1-2010-055)

ML120060300
Person / Time
Site:	Susquehanna
Issue date:	01/06/2012
From:	Bill Dean Region 1 Administrator
To:	Rinehart G - No Known Affiliation
McLaughlin M
References
IA-11-055, OI 1-2010-055
Download: ML120060300 (7)

Text

January 6, 2012

IA-11-055

Mr. Gerald Rinehart HOME ADDRESS DELETED UNDER 10 CFR 2.390

SUBJECT:

NOTICE OF VIOLATION (NRC Office of Investigations Report No. 1-2010-055)

Dear Mr. Rinehart:

In a letter dated October 6, 2011, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) provided you the results of an investigation initiated by the NRC Office of Investigations (OI) on August 20, 2010, regarding your activities while you were employed as a Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) at the PPL Susquehanna, LLC (PPL) Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (SSES). The investigation was conducted to determine whether you willfully failed to promptly report a July 10, 2010, legal action, consisting of a complaint and summons issued by the Indiana State Police, as required by NRC regulations. PPL investigated the issue after you reported the legal action on your second day back to work and, upon identifying misconduct, informed the NRC of the matter. As noted in the October 6, 2011, NRC letter, based on the evidence developed during the OI investigation, it was subs tantiated that you willfully failed to promptly report the legal action. Enclosed with that letter was a factual summary of the OI report.

The October 6, 2011, NRC letter also informed you that the NRC was considering escalated enforcement action against you for an apparent violation. Specifically, based on the OI investigation, the NRC determined that you willfully failed to report the July 10, 2010, legal action until July 21, 2010, even though your first day back at work following the legal action was on July 18, 2010, when you worked the mid-shift. This is contrary to the requirements in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 73.56(g) which, in part requires individuals maintaining unescorted access (UA) to promptly report any legal actions taken by a law enforcement authority that could result in incarceration or requires a court appearance. PPL implementing procedure NDAP-00-2002, Revision 9, "Fitness for Duty/Behavior Observation Program,"

describes promptly as "on the first day back to work."

In the October 6, 2011, NRC letter, you were provided the opportunity to address the apparent violation by either attending a pre-decisional enforcement conference or by providing a written response before the NRC made its final enforcement decision. During a telephone conversation on October 27, 2011, you initially indicated that you would provide a written response. However, in a follow-up conversation on November 21, 2011, you subsequently indicated that you did not prepare the written response and you agreed to the NRC proceeding with its enforcement action based on the results of the OI investigation.

G. Rinehart 2 The NRC determined that your failure to promptly report the legal action constituted a willful violation of NRC requirements, based on testimonial and documentary evidence gathered during the OI investigation, which indicated that you were aware of the legal action and the requirement to promptly report it to PPL. The violation is cited in the enclosed Notice of Violation (Notice)

(Enclosure 1). In determining the significance of the violation, the NRC considered that, at the time of the violation, you were a licensed SRO and, therefore, uniquely entrusted to conduct yourself with the utmost integrity and with strict adherence to NRC requirements. For this reason, in addition to the deliberate nature of your actions, this violation has been categorized in accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy at Severity Level III.

In determining the appropriate sanction to be issued in this case, the NRC considered issuing an Order prohibiting your involvement in NRC-licensed activities as a result of you actions.

However, after consultation with the Director, Office of Enforcement, and after considering the circumstances of this case, including the facts that: (1) you did self-report the legal action, although not within the necessary timeframe; and (2) PPL took action regarding your wrongdoing, including removing your unescorted access authorization (UAA) to SSES, I have decided to issue the enclosed Notice of Violation. You should be aware that if you are involved in NRC-licensed activities in the future, additional deliberate violations could result in more significant enforcement action or criminal action.

You are not required to respond to this letter at this time. However, should you apply for UAA with an NRC-licensee in the future, you will be requi red, pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR 2.201, to submit a written response within 30 days of being granted UAA. In that case, or if you choose to provide additional information, you should follow the instructions specified in the enclosed Notice.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter, its enclosures, and your response, if one is provided, will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room and from the NRC

=s Agency-wide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To the extent possible, your response should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be made available to the Public without redaction. The NRC also includes significant enforcement actions on its Web site at (http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/enforcement/actions/

).

In addition, this letter will be maintained by the Office of Enforcement in an NRC Privacy Act system of records, NRC-3, "Enforcement Actions Against Individuals." This system, which is not publicly-accessible, includes all records pertaining to individuals who are being or have been considered for enforcement action, whether such action was taken or not. The NRC-3 system notice, which provides detailed information about this system of records, can be accessed from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/foia/privacy-systems.html.

G. Rinehart 3 Please feel free to contact Paul Krohn of my staff at 610-337-5120 if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

/RA/ William M. Dean Regional Administrator

Enclosure:

Notice of Violation cc w/encl:

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

ML120060300 To receive a copy of this document, indicate in the box:

" C" = Copy without attachment/enclosure " E" = Copy with attachment/enclosure " N" = No copy OFFICE RI/ORA RI/DRP RI/DRS RI/DRS RI/DRP RI/OI NAME M McLaughlin/MMM* P Krohn/ PGK* J Trapp/J Cherubini for* C Miller/P Wilson for* D Roberts/D Ayers for* J Teator/ JAT* DATE 12/12/11 12/12/11 12/15/11 12/16/11 12/21/11 12/16/11 OFFICE RI/ORA RI/ORA HQ/NSIR HQ/OE HQ/OGC RI/RA NAME K Farrar/KLF* DHolody/DJH* S Coker via emailN Coleman via email M Marsh via email W Dean/ DATE 12/20/11 12/20/11 12/29/11 1/04/12 12/28/11 01/05/12 G. Rinehart 4

DISTRIBUTION w/encl

ADAMS (PARS)

SECY OCA OEMAIL OEWEB W Borchardt, EDO M Virgilio, DEDR M Franke, OEDO R Zimmerman, OE A Rivera-Varona, OE N Hasan, OE K Lora, OE N Hilton, OE N Coleman, OE D Furst, OE C Scott, OGC M Marsh, OGC E Leeds, NRR M Ashley, NRR J Wiggins, NSIR S Coker, NSIR C McCrary, OI H Bell, OIG M Williams, OCFO E Hayden, OPA Enforcement Coordinators RII, RIII, RIV W Dean, RA D Lew, DRA J Tappert, RI J Clifford, RI C Miller, RI P Wilson, RI P Krohn, RI P Finney, SRI, RI J Greives, RI K Farrar, ORA D Holody, ORA A DeFrancisco, ORA M McLaughlin, ORA R Urban, ORA D Screnci / N Sheehan, PAO-RI N McNamara / D Tifft, SLO-RI

C O=Daniell, RI R1DRPMailResource Region I OE Files (with concurrences)

NOTICE OF VIOLATION

Gerald Rinehart

[HOME ADDRESS DELETED UNDER 10 CFR 2.390] IA-11-055

During an NRC investigation at the PPL Susquehanna, LLC (PPL) Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (SSES), initiated by the NRC Office of Investigations (OI) on August 20, 2010, for which an OI report was issued on May 16, 2011, a violation of NRC requirements was identified. In accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy, the violation is listed below:

10 CFR 73.56(g), in part, requires any individual who is maintaining unescorted access (UA) to promptly report to the reviewing official, his or her supervisor, or other designated management personnel any legal action(s) taken by a law enforcement authority or court of law to which the individual has been subject that could result in incarceration or a court order or that requires a court appearance, including but not limited to an arrest, an indictment, the filing of charges, or a conviction, but excluding minor civil actions or misdemeanors such as parking violations or speeding tickets.

SSES implementing procedure NDAP-00-2002, Revision 9, "Fitness for Duty/Behavior Observation Program," describes promptly as "on the first day back to work."

Contrary to the above, while employed at SSES as a licensed Senior Reactor Operator with UA to the site, you failed to promptly report to supervision on your first day back to work following an arrest that a legal action had been taken against you on July 10, 2010.

Specifically, you did not report the legal action until July 21, 2010, even though your first day back at work following the legal action was on July 18, 2010.

This is a Severity Level III violation (Example 6.11).

You are not required to respond to this Notice of Violation at this time. However, should you apply for unescorted access authorization to an NRC-licensed nuclear power reactor in the future, you will be requir ed, pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR 2.201, to submit a written response within 30 days of being granted UAA. This reply should be clearly marked as a "Reply to a Notice of Violation; IA-11-055" and should include: (1) the reason for the violation, or, if contested, the basis for disputing the violation, (2) the corrective steps that have been taken and the results achieved, (3) the corrective steps that will be taken to avoid further violations, and (4) the date when full compliance was/will be achieved. If an adequate reply is not received within the time specified in this Notice, an order or a Demand for Information may be issued as to why such other action as may be proper should not be taken. The reply should be addressed to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Regional Administrator, Region I, 475 Allendale Rd. King of Prussia, PA 19406, and marked "Open by Addressee Only." If you contest this enforcement action, you should also provide a copy of your response, with the basis for your denial, to the Director, Office of Enforcement, United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

Notice 2 Because your response will be made available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room and from the NRC's Agency-wide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, to the extent possible, it should not include any personal privacy, proprietary, or safeguards information so that it can be made available to the public without redaction. If personal privacy or proprietary information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, then please provide a bracketed copy of your response that identifies the information that should be protected and a redacted copy of your response that deletes such information. If you request withholding of such material, you must specifically identify the portions of your response that you seek to have withheld and provide in detail the bases for your claim of withholding (e.g., explain why the disclosure of information will create an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or provide the information required by 10 CFR 2.390(b) to support a request for withholding confidential commercial or financial information). If safeguards information is necessary to provide an acceptable response, please provide the level of protection described in 10 CFR 73.21.

This letter will be maintained by the Office of Enforcement in an NRC Privacy Act system of records, NRC-3, "Enforcement Actions Against Individuals." This system, which is not publicly-accessible, includes all records pertaining to individuals who are being or have been considered for enforcement action, whether such action was taken or not. The NRC-3 system notice, which provides detailed information about this system of records, can be accessed from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/foia/privacy-systems.html.

Dated this 6th day of January 2012.