ML14245A126

EA-14-082 NRC Investigation Report No. 1-2013-026

ML14245A126
Person / Time
Site:	Salem
Issue date:	09/02/2014
From:	Ho Nieh Division Reactor Projects I
To:	Joyce T Public Service Enterprise Group
Glenn Dentel
References
1-2013-026, EA-14-082
Download: ML14245A126 (4)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I 2100 RENAISSANCE BLVD., SUITE 100 KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 19406-2713 September 2, 2014 EA-14-082

Mr. Thomas P. Joyce President and Chief Nuclear Officer PSEG Nuclear LLC - N09 P.O. Box 236 Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038

SUBJECT:

NRC INVESTIGATION REPORT NO. 1-2013-026

Dear Mr. Joyce:

This letter refers to an investigation by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Office of Investigations (OI) conducted at PSEG Nuclear LLC's (PSEG's) Salem Nuclear Generating Station. The investigation, which was completed on May 9, 2014, was conducted to determine whether a Salem employee who was enrolled in an initial licensing training (ILT) class as a senior reactor operator (SRO) candidate, deliberately failed to disclose medically disqualifying information during the initial access authorization process.

Based on the evidence gathered during the OI investigation, the NRC has concluded that the employee deliberately failed to disclose medically disqualifying information to PSEG. Specifically, the employee failed to disclose information pertaining to his mental health condition during his June 27, 2012, clinical interview and provided inaccurate answers to questions pertaining to his mental health on his medical history form, a form required to be completed for a position as an SRO candidate.

The employee testified to OI that he did not disclose the information regarding his mental health history because he considered the information to be personal in nature and thought it was not required to be disclosed. In addition, the employee testified that by disclosing his mental health history the hiring process could have been delayed and that he was interested in expediting the process. Based on the above, the NRC has concluded that the employee deliber ately provided PSEG information that he knew was inaccurate and incomplete in some respect material to the NRC when he failed to disclose during a June 27, 2012, clinical interview his full history of mental illness and hospitalizations related to that illness and when he failed to disclose his mental health history in a medical form, required for a position as an SRO candidate. The information is material because it was used to make a trustworthiness and reliability determination and to determine the appropriate unescorted access status for the individual.

T. Joyce ln addition to the Ol investigation, on July 2,2014, the NRC conducted an on-site inspection of the access authorization program at Salem as it applied to the approval for unescorted access of an individual with potentiaily disqualifying medical information.

The inspection consisted of an examination of selected procedures and records as related to the employee who provided incomplete and inaicurate information to PSEG. The inspection did not identify any significant weaknesses in the implementation of the access authorization program at Salem. The access authorization program at Salem was implemented in accordance with NRC requirements.

After reviewing the specific circumstances regarding this issue, the NRC is not taking any enforcement action against PSEG. You are not required to respond to this letter. However, should you choose to respond, your response should be sent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commiision, ATTN: Regional Administrator, Region 1,2100 Renaissance Boulevard, Suite 100, King of prussia, PAl9406, and marked "Open by Addressee Only," within 30 days of the date of this letter, with a copy to the NRC Senior Resident Inspector at Salem'ln accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter will be 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.qov/readinq-rmiadams.html.

Should you have any questions regarding tnis ietter, please contact Mr. GIenn Dentel at 610-337-5233.

Sincerely, Docket No. 50 -272, 50-31 1 License No. DPR-70, DPR- 75 cc: Distribution via ListServ Ho K. Nieh, Director Division of Reactor Projects T. Joyce 2

In addition to the OI investigation, on July 2, 2014, the NRC conducted an on-site inspection of the access authorization program at Salem as it applied to the approval for unescorted access of an individual with potentially disqualifying medical information. The inspection consisted of an examination of selected procedures and records as related to the employee who provided incomplete and inaccurate information to PSEG. The inspection did not identify any significant weaknesses in the implementation of the access authorization program at Salem. The access

authorization program at Salem was implemented in accordance with NRC requirements.

After reviewing the specific circumstances regarding this issue, the NRC is not taking any enforcement action against PSEG. You are not required to respond to this letter. However, should you choose to respond, your response should be sent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Regional Administrator, Region I, 2100 Renaissance Boulevard, Suite 100, King of Prussia, PA 19406, and marked "Open by Addressee Only," within 30 days of the date of this letter, with a copy to the NRC Senior Resident Inspector at Salem.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of Practice," a copy of this letter will be

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. Should you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact Mr. Glenn Dentel at 610 337-5233.

Sincerely,

/RA/ Ho K. Nieh, Director

Division of Reactor Projects Docket No. 50-272, 50-311 License No. DPR-70, DPR- 75

cc: Distribution via ListServ Non-Public Designation Category: MD 3.4 Non-Public (A.3 - A.7 or B.1) ADAMS ACCESSION NUMBER: ML14245A126 DOCUMENT NAME:S:\Enf-allg\Enforcement\Proposed-Actions\Region1\Salem_HC closeout letter SRO cand records fals, no vio EA-14-082.docx X SUNSI Review/ CJC X Non-Sensitive X Publicly Available OFFICE RI/ORA RI/DRP RI/DRS RI/OI RI/ORA RI/ORA NAME C Crisden/CJC* G Dentel/GTD* A Dimitriadis/JRB* J Teator/JAT* B Klukan/BMK* B Bickett/BAB* DATE 8/22/14 8/25/14 8/25/14 8/25/14 8/26/14 8/27/14 OFFICE OE OGC RI/DRP NAME D Furst via email E Monteith via email H Nieh/HKN* DATE 8/22/14 8/22/14 8/28/14 See previous concurrence*OFFICIAL RECORD T. Joyce 3

Distribution:

W. Dean, RA D. Lew, DRA H. Nieh, DRP

M. Scott, DRP

J. Trapp, DRS B. Welling, DRS G. Dentel, DRP S. Barber, DRP A. Dimitriadis, DRS

J. Bream, DRS D. Screnci / N. Sheehan, PAO B. Klukan, RI B. Bickett, RI M. McLaughlin / C. Crisden, RI R. Urban, RI A. Patel, Salem SRI A. Ziedonis, Salem RI D. Bearde, RI N. McNamara / D. Tifft, RI Enforcement Coordinators RII, RIII, RIV (D. Gamberoni, S. Orth, V. Campbell)

D. Furst, OE E. Monteith, OGC S. Coker, NSIR

J. Teator, OI M. Holmes, OI R1DRPMailResource R1 OE Files (with concurrences)

RidsNrrPMSalem Resource

RidsOeMailCenter Resource ROPreportsResource@nrc.gov