ML062830123

Exhibit 15 of Case No. 3-2002-020, Office of Investigations Interview Regarding Fitness for Duty Issue at Kewaunee During 2001

ML062830123
Person / Time
Site:	Kewaunee
Issue date:	09/12/2002
From:	NRC/OI
To:
References
3-2002-004, 3-2002-020, FOIA/PA-2006-0113
Download: ML062830123 (15)

Text

i 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3

4 OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS

5. INTERVIEW

---

x IN THE MATTER OF:

-INTERVIEW OF: Docket No.

32002-004 10 (CLOSED) 3-2002-020

• 11 ------------------------- x 12 Thursday, September 12, 2002 13 14 Radisson Hotel and Conference 15 Center 16 2040 Airport Road 17 Green Bay, WI 18

19. The above-entitled interview was conducted 20 at 7: 15, p.m.

.21 22 BEFORE:

23 Mary Kay Fahey ormation in this re'cord was dIdt atiof 241 accordance with the Freedom of Inform t, exemptions 'c.

25 F -EXHIBIT-~--

1%- - 9 d~ 0 .Ag ( NEAL R. GROSS PAE1O

2 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 7:15 p.m.

3 SPECIATLGENT FAHEY: For the record, this

.4 is an interview with , *orm3(

5 mechanical and civil superintendent for 6 Day and Zimmerman Nuclear Power Systems at the 7 Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant for their 2001 outage.

8 Today's date is September 12, 2002. The 9 time is approximately 7:15 p.m. This interview is 10 being conducted at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin. My name is Mary Kay 12 Fahey. I'm a Special Agent with the U.s. Nuclear 13 Regulatory Commission's Office of Investigations.

14 This interview is being recorded on a Sony 15 cassette recorder, with a backup Sony micro-cassette 16 recorder. This is Mr. second initerview

.

17 concerning a fitness for duty issue in Kewaunee during I 18 2001.

.19 Mr please raise your right hand.

20 Do swear that the information you are about to give is 21 the truth, the whole truth, and-nothing but'the truth 22 so help you, God?

23 MR. (Inaudible response.)

24 WHEREUPON, MR.J 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS

3 1 was called as a witness and, having been first duly 2 sworn, was examined and testified as follows:

3 EXAMINATION OF MR..

4 BY SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: And for the 5 record, I previously interviewed you on Thursday, June 6 6th, 2002 at the Point Beach Nuclear Power Plant with 7 a court recorder present?

8 MR. Yes.

9 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: And I provided you 10 with, for your review, a copy of that transcript which ii you just read before we went on the record.

12 MRr7777' Yes.

13 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Did you see any 14 substantial problems with the way it qas court 15 reported, or transcribed?

16 17 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: And before you answer 18 any questions on the record, I think it's only 19 appropriate for me to explain to you why I'm 20 conducting this second interview. And I gave you a 21 brief.description on the phone when we scheduled the 22 interview.

23 First, we got another related allegation 24 at the NRC from And he is alleging 25 that NMC has denied him access in retaliation for NEALR. GROSS

-. .

• kr0% TAmiN:.RIBERS

4 1 raising a fitness for duty concerning Kewaunee. -He's 2 had his access denied and so I have some questions 3 about that since you were his supervisor.

4 The second issue concerns potential false 5 statements you've made -- have.made to me and to the 6 NMC investigator during the respective investigations.

7 A number of witnesses have contradicted what -- your 8 assertion that no 91reported fitness for duty concern 9 involving to you in 2001 while you were 10 working at Kewaunee.

1i And I feel it's only fair to explain to 12 you that any false statement made to a Federal Agent -

13 - Which would be me -- is a criminal violation of 18

14. uSC 1001.

15 In addition, NMC provided the NRC with an 16 investigative report that their investigator prepared.

17 It included copies of the reports of interview with 18 you on December 5th and December lth. If you made 19 false or inaccurate statements to that investigator 20 and they, in turn, provided that to the NRC, as their 21 report, NMC is now on the line for making false and 22 inaccurate statements to the NRC.

23 So, keeping that in mind, we've got three 24 options here. You.can go ahead with the interview, we 25 can stop the interview, reschedule it if you want to NEAL R. GROSS

5 1 seek legal counsel. You're certainly welcome to seek 2 counsel, to have somebody present with you during the 3 next interview. And of course, the third option is 4 you can refuse to answer my questions. So --

5 MRI can answer your questions.

6 SPECIAL AGENT. FAHEY: You want to go 7 ahead?

8 MR. Sure.

9 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. I just don't 10 want you to feel that you've been duped into this 11 interview. I want it clear there could potentially be 12 some criminal sanctions. taken against you if you've 13 made false statements, and I don't know.what you're 14 going to tell me but -- you understand?

15 MR. Sure.

16 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. And you still 17 want to go ahead?

18 MR. Sure.

19 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. Actually, 20 take a look at the transcript then, and I'll take it 21 in the order in which I discussed it with you then, on 22 June 6th. I asked you, on page 13, if you ever asked 23 to be fitness for duty tested and you 24 responded no. And is that answer true and correct?

25 MR. Yes.

'NEAL R. GROSS

6 1 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. And that's 2 page 13, at lines 5, 6, 7 and 8. And beginning on 3 page 23 of the transcript, I asked you some pretty 4 specific questions about whether anyone raised fitness 5 .for duty concerns to you abou and you 6 answered no, and that's page 23, lines 11 to 14. Were 7 the statements that you made to me on June 6 th true?

8 MR.: Yes.

9 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: No one reported 10 concerns to you?

11 MR r No. There was -- nobody 12 officially came to me and -- and said that -- I 13 believe --

14 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Be careful what you 15 say here.

MR.* *Okay.

16 17 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay?. You're better 18 off not answering the question then-not answering it 19 truthfully.

20. MR Nobody officially came to my

.21 office and said, "We have a problem o 22 being-fit for duty.".

23 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY:

24 came to you and said he would not work fo**

25 because he thought he was drunk or smelled NEAL R. GROSS

7 1 of alcohol? never came to you?

2 No.

3 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: An4 0.1 never 4 came to you and told you they had concerns about 5 working for 6 MR. I know they didn't want to 7 work for because he came in as a foreman 8 and they wanted a, foreman position because they had 9 been there and he wasn't on the job yet. So there was 10 an issue with that.

11 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay, but you' re not 12 answering my question. Did they come to you and say 13 they wouldn't work for him per the reason that they 14 thought he was unfit for duty?

15 MR No.

16 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. And I use that 17 "unfit for duty" not as a. quote, but as a general 18 reference to their assertion that he either smelled of 19 alcohol or may have been unfit for duty. Okay. So' 20 that page 23, this is accurate? You stand by your 21 statements you mean, on June 6th?

22 MR. Yes.

23 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. Again, on 24 page 26, lines 19 through 25, I asked you again,* and

'25 I'll quote it, "Basically, the whole fitness for duty NEAL R. GROSS r.01 IRT RFPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS

0 1 cons xicting never came up while you were employed at 2 Kewaunee," and you answered no. That's correct? You 3 stand by that today?

4 MR. Yeah.

5 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay.. Do you know 6 why ad his access denied?

7 MR. I would imagine for 8 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: No, no, no, no, no.

9 That's not what I asked you.

10 MR 4 t No.

11 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. So no one at 12 Day and Zimmerman ever interviewed you concerning 13 Okay. Asked you questions about him 14 or his performance while he was employed at Kewaunee 15 in 2001?

16 MR. I I talked with my boss 17 about what was going on and -- and. but 18 I -- as far as knowing why he was denied, I don't 19 know.

20 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: And the boss being?

21 MR.

22 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: And were those 23 fitness for duty concerns that he had raised?

24 had raised? Or were they other -- were they 25 personnel-type matters?

NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS

9 1 M Well, this is -- this is 2 after the fact, when I was being interviewed by the 3 NMC and whatnot, I told my boss about it. But I 4 wasn't -- so I was kind of telling them all the --all 5 the different issues that had arose, service water 6 piping beam, control of air conditioning supports, 7 fitness for duty.

8 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay, but did 9 name specifically come up?

10 MR.I -- I brought his name up.

211 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. For the 12 welding issues or for the fitness for duty issue?

13 MR. CN01 For everything.

14 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay, buthow could 15 there be a fitness for duty issue if he never raised 16 anything to you?

17 MR. His name was mentioned. I

.18 don't know where, but I had heard his name.

19 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Someone identified 20 him to you as raising a fitness for duty concern?

21 MR.'There -- there -- *there was 22 just rumors about different things popping up, people 23 -- there was -- a couple of the supervisors were 24 turned in for improper internet use, and they got laid 25 off. And there was just a lot of stuff.popping up.

NEAL R. GROSS Crt IRT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS

10 1 And I was like who -- who was on the --- who was 2 unhappy and who made any kind of threats?

3 You know, I believe I said, back in.June, 4 the one -- the one after -- or, yeah. In fact, the 5 last time I .talked to you, I believe I talked about 6 whe:didn't get made a foreman back in 2001. He 7 was mad enough where he said there was people who are 8 going to go down for this. And I made -- he made a 9 real brash statement that -- where I just figured he 10 was mouthing off (inaudible).

11 SPECIALAGENT FAHEY: Okay. But besides 12 the three welders that I mentioned and 13 Tthere are other witnesses who say that they were 14 aware that these welders had raised a fitness for duty 15 concern in August of 2001, to you, and nothing was 16 done about it. So while I can appreciate that you --

17 I mean, you certainly went into it at length in June, 18 that you had a problem with.these three welders, what 19 about other people that you didn't necessarily have 20 a problem with?

21 MR. Well, you know, all I can 22 say, Mary Kay, is that there were a lot of unhappy 23 people who -- they got laid off early. And I -- I was 24 in a position where I was the bad guy because people 25 got laid off early. (Inaudible) frustration kind of NEAL R. GROSS _ .

II 1 comes back to me.

2 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. So all these 3 people are making false statements in retaliation 4 against you, for laying them off?

5 MR Well, I know there was a lot 6 of unhappy people.

7 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: But you won't go 8 that-far as to say that?

9 MR Well, I don't know what to 10 think. I-know I have a lot of people who won't talk 11 to me anymore in the Local because I've basically been 12 -- you want to talk about blackballed.

13 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: But you're working.

14 You haven't sat home for a year with your access 15 denied. So when you say blackballed, I'm not sure 16 what you mean.

17 MR. By my fellow brothers in the 18 Local. I --

19 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: -You mean, socially, 20 kind of?

21 MR..i a Yes.

22 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. Okay. And if 23 someone had come to you with this concern at the time 24 that you (inaudible) 'what would you have -- as a 25 supervisor, have done?AI NMAL . Q1MU00

12 1 MR I would've walked with them, 2 say something toand gone to security.

3 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. First thing, 4 I mentioned about lleging 'that he had his 5 access denied in retaliation for raising a fitness for 6 duty concern, what would you say to that- I mean, 7 since you're basically telling me he never raised a 8 fitness for duty concern to you.

9 M. I'm thinking his access was 10 denied just because of all the different issues that 11 were brought up and all the money. that was spent 12 investigating allegations where there was a lot of 13 accusations but no -- nothing that was proved, or

.14 proven. (Inaudible) maybe his backgrýound was 15 questioned.

16 As I said earlier, there were a lot of

.17 different issues that kept popping up and I'm thinking 18 he was probably involved with every one of them.

19 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Do you know if any 20 of those guys have gotten their access back yet? I'm 21 guessing you're not keeping in touch with them.

22 MR. (Inaudible response.) 4O-23 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: No, you don't know, 24 and no, you're not in touch with them?

25 MR. .Inaudible response.)

NEAL R. GROSS

13 1 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. I don' t think 2 I have any other questions. Is there anything else 3 you want to throw on the record here?

4 MR Well, if -- you said

5. suing the NRC or the NMC or --

SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: No, I never --

7 MR Oh.

8 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: I MON has 9 filed a discrimination complaint with the NRC, 10 claiming that he raised a safety concern, which would 11 be a fitness for duty concern, and as a result of 12 that, he was denied employment.

13 MR *was a foreman 14 that I brought out and then I made him a general 15 foreman. And went to work for had -- had a lot of problems wit al 17 also. He might be somebody that you want to talk to 18 about (inaudible) his behavior and some of the 19 problems that he caused.

20 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: And where s' 21 now? Is he at Point Beach?

22 MR. He's at Kewaunee.

23 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: And who does he work 24 for?

25 MR. Day and Zimmerman.

NEAL R. GROSS . 7-L-

14 1 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: And where are you at 2 now?

3 MR. . Point Beach.

4 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. That's right.

5 I called you there today. Okay. Anything else?

6 MR. (Inaudible response.)

7 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. Have I 8 threatened you in any manner or offered you any reward 9 in return for your statements?

10 MR No.

11 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Have you given your 12 statement freely and voluntarily?

13 MR. Yes.

14 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Anything fiurther you 15 want to add for the record? Last chance..

16 MR (No audible response.)

17 SPECIAL AGENT FAHEY: Okay. We' re off the 18 record at approximately 7:32.

19 (Whereupon, the interview in the above-20 entitled matter was concluded at 7:32 p.m.)

21 22 23 24 25.

NEAL R. GROSS r'.

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9 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of:

'Name of Proceeding: Interview of Docket Number: 3-2002-004 and 3-2002-020 Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin were held as herein appears, and that this is the original transcript thereof for the file of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission taken by me and, thereafter reduced to typewriting by me or under the direction of the court reporting company, and that the transcript is a true and accurate record of the foregoing proceedings as recorded on tape(s) provided by the NRC.

S)ýne-Edingtf~n Official Transcriber Neal R. Gross & Co., Inc.

NEAL R. GROSS.

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