ML121570127

G20120327/EDATS: OEDO-2012-0282 - Transcript Mary Lampert 2.206 Regarding Labor Dispute - Pilgrim Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, Pages 1-19

ML121570127
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim
Issue date:	05/31/2012
From:	Richard Guzman Plant Licensing Branch 1
To:
Guzman R, NRR/DORL 415-1030
References
2.206, G20120327, NRC-461, OEDO-2012-0282, NRC-1660, TAC ME8704
Download: ML121570127 (20)

Text

Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Title:

10 CFR 2.206 Petition Review Board RE Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Docket Number: (n/a)

Location: (teleconference)

Date: Thursday, May 31, 2012 Work Order No.: NRC-1660 Pages 1-19 Edited by Rich Guzman, NRC Petition Manager NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.

Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433

1 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +

4 10 CFR 2.206 PETITION REVIEW BOARD (PRB) 5 CONFERENCE CALL RE 6 PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION 7 + + + + +

8 THURSDAY 9 MAY 31, 2012 10 + + + + +

11 The conference call was held, Joseph 12 Giitter, Chairperson of the Petition Review Board, 13 presiding.

14 PETITIONER: MARY LAMPERT, Pilgrim Watch 15 PETITION REVIEW BOARD MEMBERS 16 JOSEPH GIITTER, PRB Chairman 17 RICHARD GUZMAN, PRB Petition Manager 18 MERRILEE BANIC, PRB Coordinator 19 KIMYATA MORGAN BUTLER, Division of Policy and 20 Rulemaking, Generic Communications Branch 21 THOMAS SETZER, Division of Reactor Projects, 22 Region I 23 MICHAEL CLARK, Office of the General Counsel 24 GERALD GULLA, Office of Enforcement (in absentia) 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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2 1 ALSO PRESENT:

2 JOSEPH LYNCH, Entergy 3

4 5

6 7

8 9

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3 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 2:08 p.m.

3 MR. GUZMAN: Well, I'll go ahead and get 4 started with the welcome and introductions.

5 I'd like to thank everybody for attending 6 this meeting. My name is Rich Guzman and I am the NRC 7 Plant Project Manager for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station 8 and we are here today to allow the Petitioner, Mary 9 Lampert, to address the Petition Review Board or PRB 10 regarding the 2.206 Petition dated May 16th, 2012 as 11 supplemented on May 18th, 2012.

12 I'm the Petition Manager for the Petition.

13 The PRB Chairman is Joe Giitter.

14 As part of the PRB's review of this 15 Petition, Mary Lampert has requested this opportunity to 16 address the PRB.

17 This meeting is scheduled from 2:00 to 3:00 18 p.m. Eastern Time.

19 The meeting is being recorded by the NRC 20 Operations Center and will be transcribed by a court 21 reporter. The transcript will become a supplement to 22 the Petition. The transcript will also be made publicly 23 available.

24 I'd like to open this meeting with 25 introductions. As we go around the room, please be sure NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4 1 to clearly state your name, your position and the office 2 that you work for within the NRC for the record.

3 I'll go ahead and start off. My name is 4 Rich Guzman again. I am the NRC Plant Project Manager 5 for Pilgrim.

6 Here also at NRC Headquarters.

7 MS. BANIC: Lee Banic, 2.206 Petition 8 Coordinator, NRR.

9 CHAIR GIITTER: Hi. This is Joe Giitter.

10 I'm the PRB Chairman.

11 MR. CLARK: Mike Clark. I'm an attorney 12 with the NRC's Office of the General Counsel.

13 MR. GUZMAN: Okay. And that's all of us 14 here at NRC Headquarters.

15 At this time, are there any NRC participants 16 from the Regional Office on the phone? Tom.

17 MR. SETZER: Yes. Hi. This is Tom 18 Setzer. I'm a Senior Project Engineer for Region I, 19 Division of Reactor Projects.

20 MR. GUZMAN: Okay. And for the Licensee?

21 MR. LYNCH: This is Joe Lynch, Licensing 22 Manager, Entergy Pilgrim.

23 MR. GUZMAN: And, Ms. Lampert, if you could 24 please introduce yourself for the record as well as 25 anyone else in your Petition Group that is participating NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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5 1 on the call.

2 MS. LAMPERT: Yes, this Mary Lampert 3 L-A-M-P-E-R-T, Director of Pilgrim Watch, Petitioner.

4 MR. GUZMAN: Okay. And is there any other 5 members of the public? If there are, they can introduce 6 themselves as well.

7 Okay. I don't believe we have anyone else 8 on the bridge line. Good.

9 Okay. I'd like to emphasize that we each 10 need to speak clearly and loudly to make sure that the 11 court reporter can accurately transcribe this meeting.

12 If you do have something that you would like 13 to say, please first state your name for the record.

14 And for those dialing into the meeting 15 please remember to mute your phone to minimize any 16 background noise or distractions. If you do not have a 17 mute button, this can be done by pressing the key *6. To 18 un-mute, press the *6 keys again. Thanks.

19 And so, at this time, I'd like to turn it 20 over to the PRB Chairman Mr. Joe Giitter.

21 CHAIR GIITTER: Hopefully, you can hear me 22 okay.

23 Good afternoon, everybody and thank you for 24 your participation in this 2.206 Petition phone call.

25 First, I'd like to share some background on NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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6 1 our process. Section 2.206 of 10 CFR describes the 2 petition process, the primary mechanism for the public 3 to request enforcement action by the NRC in a public 4 process. This process permits anyone to petition NRC to 5 take enforcement-type action related to NRC licensees or 6 license activities.

7 Depending on the results of this 8 evaluation, NRC could modify, suspend or revoke an 9 NRC-issued license or take any other appropriate 10 enforcement action to resolve the problem.

11 The NRC staff guidance for a disposition of 12 2.206 Petition Request is in our Management Directive 13 8.11 which you can find on our website in its entirety.

14 The purpose of today's meeting is to give 15 the Petitioner Ms. Lampert an opportunity to provide any 16 additional explanation or support for the Petition 17 before the Petition Review Board's initial consideration 18 and recommendation.

19 This meeting is not a hearing nor is it an 20 opportunity for the Petitioner to request or examine the 21 PRB on the merits or the issues presented in the Petition 22 Request.

23 No decisions regarding the merits of this 24 Petition will be made at this meeting.

25 Following this meeting, the Petition Review NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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7 1 Board will conduct its internal deliberations and the 2 outcome of this internal meeting will be discussed with 3 the Petitioner.

4 The Petition Review Board typically 5 consists of the Chairman which is myself and has a 6 Petition Manager which as Rich indicated -- Rich Guzman 7 indicated is himself and a PRB Coordinator who is Ms.

8 Banic.

9 Other members of the Board are determined 10 by the NRC staff based on the content of the information 11 in the Petition Request.

12 So, at this time, I'm going to introduce the 13 Board. I've kind of done that already.

14 Joe Giitter, I'm the Petition Review Board 15 Chairman. Rich Guzman is Petition Manager and Ms. Banic 16 is the Office's PRB Coordinator.

17 Other members on the PRB include Kimyata 18 Morgan Butler from our Division of Policy Rulemaking, 19 Generic Communications Branch. Tom Setzer who you've 20 heard from for NRC's Region I Division of Reactor 21 Projects.

22 We also obtained advice from our Office of 23 General Counsel and you heard from Mr. Clark. He is 24 representing the Office of General Counsel and we also 25 have specifically a representative from our Office of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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8 1 Enforcement to discuss enforcement policy and guidance 2 and that's Gerry Gulla who's not physically here right 3 now.

4 As discussed in our process, the NRC staff 5 may ask clarifying questions in order to better 6 understand the Petitioner's presentation and to reach a 7 reasoned decision whether to accept or reject a 8 Petitioner's request for review under the 2.206 process.

9 I'd like to briefly summarize the scope of 10 the petition under consideration and the NRC activities 11 to date.

12 On May 16th of this year, Ms. Lampert 13 submitted to the NRC a Petition under 2.206 regarding the 14 present labor dispute at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power 15 Station between Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. and the 16 Utility Workers Union of America Local 369.

17 On May 18th, Ms. Lampert submitted a 18 supplement to her Petition. In her Petition Request, 19 Ms. Lampert identified the following areas of concern.

20 She requested the NRC require Pilgrim to cease operations 21 during contract negotiations due to the threat to public 22 safety caused by the current lockout of its nonessential 23 workers, a likely strike and Entergy's refusal to honor 24 the demands of the Utility Workers Union of America Local 25 369 workers. She requests the NRC to maintain the plant NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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9 1 in shut-down mode if a full-blown strike occurs until the 2 workers' demands are met so the morale is restored.

3 As the basis for her concerns, Ms. Lampert 4 states in part that, number one, the plant cannot be 5 operated safely by replacement workers. Number two, 6 human performance will be degraded if substitute workers 7 are used to replace those on strike. Number three, a 8 negative work environment will exists from a lack of 9 cooperation by Entergy with its' workers. All of which 10 places an unacceptable risk to the public and the 11 environment.

12 So, let me talk about the activities that 13 NRC has taken to date. On May 21st, a Petition Manager 14 contacted you to discuss the 2.206 process and offer you 15 an opportunity to address the PRB by phone or in person.

16 Sorry.

17 MS. LAMPERT: No, I just coughed. We have 18 a wave of pollen throughout the region.

19 CHAIR GIITTER: Oh. Okay. I can relate 20 to that.

21 MS. LAMPERT: Oh, you've never seen 22 anything like this.

23 CHAIR GIITTER: You requested to address 24 the PRB by phone prior to its internal meeting to make 25 the initial recommendation to accept or reject the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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10 1 petition for review.

2 On May 24th, PRB met internally to discuss 3 the request for immediate action. The PRB denied your 4 request for immediate action on the basis that the 5 Licensee strike contingency plan has been reviewed by our 6 regional staff and was determined -- and we determined 7 that the plan is acceptable for demonstrating the plant 8 will continue to operate safety.

9 You were informed on May 29th of the PRB's 10 decision to deny your request for immediate action.

11 As a reminder for the phone participants --

12 so, I guess that summarizes -- yes, okay. So, in 13 essence, that summarizes the scope of the Petition.

14 Is that correct? Did I miss anything?

15 MS. LAMPERT: No, I believe you covered it.

16 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay. Thank you.

17 MS. LAMPERT: Except going into what the 18 supplements dealt with, but they are there.

19 MR. GUZMAN: Well, you did. He did cover 20 that as part of kind of the three sort of themed parts 21 of the --

22 MS. LAMPERT: So, is this -- it's specific 23 two-man for security?

24 CHAIR GIITTER: I didn't -- yes, I didn't 25 go into the details of that, but we did summarize it.

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11 1 MS. LAMPERT: Oh, that's fine.

2 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay. So, as a reminder 3 for the phone participants, please identify yourselves 4 if you make any remarks and I know who you are, Ms.

5 Lampert. I am not directing that comment at you. I'm 6 talking about anybody else who didn't identify 7 themselves. Because that will help in the preparation 8 of the meeting transcript.

9 So, Ms. Lampert, I'll turn it over to you 10 and allow you to provide any additional information you 11 believe the PRB should consider as part of this petition.

12 MS. LAMPERT: Yes, I have -- it's going to 13 be fairly short.

14 I talked with Rich. He informed me of the 15 decision that had been made to date. However, I would 16 hope that you would consider -- NRC would consider other 17 appropriate actions and also, in your official written 18 response to this request, that it goes beyond, and I'm 19 not meaning to be insulting, pablum. That we -- Region 20 I decided everything was fine and not a threat to safety, 21 but, in fact, address specifically the questions raised 22 -- issues raised in the petition in a substantive manner 23 and in particular, there would be five areas that I 24 respectfully request be addressed in your written 25 response and also, in doing so, consider the merits NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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12 1 therein for appropriate actions. Whether it go beyond 2 a request to cease operations. If I could be a lessons 3 learned for, you know, requirements or what have you 4 going forward in similar situations.

5 The first deals with the qualifications of 6 Senior Reactor Operators. From talking to union 7 members, our understanding and obviously, it is 8 dependent upon Region I and the NRC permanent staff at 9 Pilgrim to verify that they do not have the hands-on 10 experience operating the control board at Pilgrim.

11 According to our sources, the SROs at 12 Pilgrim unlike the reactor operator counterparts do not 13 have experience turning dials, pulling levers, reading 14 gauges, et cetera, et cetera and we understand that of 15 the management personnel who would be used at Entergy in 16 the event of a strike only six have any experience 17 actually touching control room equipment.

18 If, in fact, after looking into this by NRC 19 staff, they determine it to be accurate, we would like 20 in the written response verification by saying how many 21 of the SROs actually have hands-on experience operating 22 control room equipment and what percent that would be of 23 those who would be taking over those functions.

24 Number two, which is more of less a 25 subcategory of one, we would like a verification of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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13 1 whether it is correct that the senior operators who would 2 take the place of the reactor operators are, in fact, as 3 we are told, asked to self-access their qualifications 4 to operate the plant.

5 If that is correct, it does seem to pose a 6 safety issue to us anyway because some people can think 7 they know something, but then when the test comes, in 8 fact, they don't and so, it would seem reasonable that 9 instead of a self-assessment that, in fact, there would 10 be the usual testing to assure that there was the breadth 11 of knowledge that would provide more assurance for 12 safety.

13 And so, we would like a response in the 14 written reply to this Petition to verify whether, in 15 fact, it is correct that senior operators who would be 16 taking the place in the event of a strike or lockout or 17 paid holiday, whatever they call it, will be asked, in 18 fact, to self-assess their qualifications to operate.

19 Number three involves the training of 20 replacement workers. Specific answer we would 21 appreciate in your reply whether, in fact, what we are 22 told that they are not being trained on a simulator or 23 more importantly have on-site training shadowing, if you 24 will, regular employees.

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14 1 these workers who have been brought out from Kentucky or 2 Tennessee or I don't know where and are, we are told, 3 spending a lot of time at bars, how much training, in 4 fact, they have had specifically on-site and off-site and 5 that would hopefully have specifics like X number are 6 going to be brought on-site and of those, so many hours 7 of X percent were spent on a simulator and so many hours 8 on-site shadowing workers so they had a feel for the 9 place.

10 And I think this information would be 11 useful. I mean I'm not into shutdowns just for the hell 12 of it. It's really what can be done to assure safety and 13 all of the i's are dotted and t's are crossed.

14 Number four would be a response to the 15 question of whether the two man-rule will be strictly 16 adhered to if replacement workers are called in.

17 And last, number five would concern 18 security issues which I did not bring forward. This is 19 a new piece for your consideration that I just happened 20 to think about. That looking at on-site emergency 21 planning in the event of a security event, I had had the 22 good fortune to be able to take part in panel discussions 23 at the NRC in those deliberations and one of the concerns 24 was the use of workers and whether the operation duties 25 would conflict with the added duties in a security event NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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15 1 and then the question became would there be enough people 2 on-site to respond to both and if yes, fine. If not, then 3 what?

4 And so, in this situation if there were a 5 strike, would there be the sufficient coverage for that 6 aspect and second, if workers are brought on-site in the 7 event of a strike or a lockout, how much consideration 8 and training has there been on that other function if 9 there were a security event when they were brought on?

10 In other words, do they have the familiarity of what the 11 security processes are and locations of things on the 12 plant and what is actually going on? Have they been 13 instructed in the security procedures in the event of a 14 terrorist event or what have you at the site when they're 15 on duty?

16 I think that's an important consideration 17 and frankly, it is one I hadn't thought of until one of 18 my mid-evening waking-up periods and I certainly hadn't 19 thought of it in discussions on security and training 20 issues on emergency planning. So, I'm bringing it 21 forward in the hopes that it would stimulate thinking on 22 your part and I would appreciate, we would appreciate, 23 in your response to the Petition that that be answered.

24 So, believe it or not, I don't see any 25 purpose in summarizing what is already in writing. That NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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16 1 seems to waste all of our time. I just wanted to make 2 the request that I don't see a petition of this sort as 3 either accepted or not accepted. I see it instead as an 4 opportunity to perhaps get a middle ground where 5 appropriate actions, if any points brought forward are 6 deemed by the PRB to have merit, would then be put into 7 place so that we would all be in a better place at the 8 end.

9 Does this make sense to you or do you have 10 any questions? Because frankly, that's all I have to 11 say.

12 CHAIR GIITTER: That was my next question.

13 Does that conclude your remarks, Mr. Lampert?

14 MS. LAMPERT: Yes, I hope that appropriate 15 actions would be taken if the answers to any of those 16 questions or points brought forward are -- you know, that 17 isn't covered and it should be. So, an appropriate 18 action would be taken like hey, guys, get it together on 19 this point.

20 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay. Thank you.

21 MS. LAMPERT: And, number two, I would 22 really appreciate, and we all would, that we don't get 23 the pablum, relax, be happy, everything's fine, response 24 to these petitions, but actually get a substantive answer 25 to questions raised and I brought forward the five that NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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17 1 concerned us.

2 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay. Thank you, Ms.

3 Lampert.

4 At this time, does the staff here at 5 headquarters have any questions for Ms. Lampert?

6 MR. CLARK: I just have one clarifying 7 question. Ms. Lampert, this is Mike Clark. I just 8 wanted to clarify whether all the Petitioners share all 9 five concerns. Are you speaking for all?

10 MS. LAMPERT: Yes, I am. Thank you. And 11 would you like that in writing?

12 MR. CLARK: No. No. This will be 13 transcribed. So --

14 MS. LAMPERT: Oh. Okay. Sure.

15 MR. CLARK: Be enough. Thank you.

16 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay. Any other questions 17 from headquarters?

18 Okay. Does the region have any questions?

19 MR. SETZER: No, Joe, I appreciate the 20 presentation from Ms. Lampert. But, no questions on 21 this end. Thanks.

22 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay. Does the Licensee 23 have any questions?

24 MR. LYNCH: The Licensee has no questions.

25 Thank you.

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18 1 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay. Do we have any other 2 members of the public on the line?

3 MR. GUZMAN: No.

4 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay. All right. Before 5 I conclude the meeting, well, I guess there's no other 6 members of the public.

7 As stated in the opening, the purpose of 8 this meeting is not to provide an opportunity for the 9 Petitioner or the public to question or examine the PRB 10 regarding the merits of the Petition request.

11 Ms. Lampert, I would like to thank you for 12 taking time to provide the NRC staff with your clarifying 13 information on the Petition you submitted.

14 Before we close, does the court reporter 15 need any additional information for the meeting 16 transcript?

17 COURT REPORTER: I do have one question, 18 but we can handle it off-line.

19 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay. A question for who?

20 COURT REPORTER: For the PRB.

21 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay. With that, this 22 meeting is concluded and we will soon be terminating the 23 phone connection. Leave it open for the court reporter.

24 So, thank you, everybody.

25 MS. LAMPERT: Oh, thank you for the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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19 1 opportunity and enjoy the rest of the day.

2 CHAIR GIITTER: You, too. Hope the pollen 3 gets better.

4 MS. LAMPERT: Oh, yes, it is out of control.

5 It's usually for about four or five days, but we have 6 woods behind us and the ocean in front. So, we're 7 doomed.

8 CHAIR GIITTER: Okay.

9 MS. LAMPERT: Okay. Bye now.

10 CHAIR GIITTER: Thank you.

11 (Whereupon, at 2:32 p.m., the meeting was 12 adjourned.)

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