ML20085N504

Applicant Exhibit A-69,consisting of Rept of Interview W/ RA Kendall

ML20085N504
Person / Time
Site:	Vogtle
Issue date:	05/18/1995
From:	AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:
References
OLA-3-A-069, OLA-3-A-69, NUDOCS 9506300221
Download: ML20085N504 (3)

Text

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/ 2q' p5 - 02)-3 g?- 9 hgl95 hb? ?Y DOCKETED USNRC REPORT OF INTERVIEW RICHARD KENDALL YM SECRETARY On August 28, 1991 Richard A. (Rick) KENDALL, Senior Ge err 2RVICE Section DP-9, Department of Energy (DOE),19901 Germent p MD 20874, was interviewed by U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Connission C)gntown, Office of Investigations Investigator Larry L. Robinson at the NRC offices in the Maryland National Bank Building, Bethesda, MD. The nature of the interview pertained to allegations of willful material false statements to NRC by officialsofGeorgiaPowerCompany(GPC)regardingthereliabilityofthe Emergency Diesel Generators (EDGs) at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (VEGP) subsequent to a March 20, 1990 Site Area Emergency (SAE) at VEGP.

KENDALL stated that, at the time of the SAE, he was employed by NRC as a  !

Senior Electrical Engineer, Events Assessment Branch. Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. He stated that he had been an NRC employee for 12) years, j and started employment with DOE in December 1990.  !

KENDALL stated that he was assigned as a member of the Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) for the VEGP SAE, and that he thought he went to the VEGP site on the day after the event. He advised that after his first 2 days on site, the AIT was replaced by an Incident Investigation Team (IIT), and he became a member of the IIT. He stated that he was on site for approximately 2 weeks ,

and then the IIT returned to Bethesda. He stated that he returned to the VEGP site for 3-4 days at some point. He stated that he was primarily responsible for the EDG aspect of the IIT.

KENDALL advised that he was responsible for determining the root cause of the failure of the EDGs to perfom their intended safety function during the SAE, and that he was not directly responsible for an assessment of an improvement in the operability or reliability of the EDGs since the SAE. He stated that VEGP personnel did a lot of EDG testing immediately after the SAE, and they did have a series of successful diesel runs that varied in length from under 1 minute to 20 minutes. He advised that he and the IIT team leader, Al CHAFFEE, tried to get EDG start data from VEGP personnel, but they were unable to produce this data within a reasonable time. He advised that he,

< therefore, had to rely a lot on verbal infomation from GPC employees 1

Mike HORTON, Paul K0CHERY and Ken STOKES. He stated that EDG engineers

STOKES and K0CHERY were helpful, straightforward, ar,d interested in working on

! the EDG problem, but that HORTON, who was the supervisor of STOKES and K0CHERY, tried to present the appearance that he was knowledgeable, but he did l not seem to be that well versed in EDGs. FINDALL stated that a Transamerica

. Delaval Diesel Engine Service Representative Sheldon O' YOUNG, was on site at the time and was a very sharp individual. KENDALL stated that when the IIT left the VEGP site, he did not have a solid handle on the root cause of the

EDG failures, and he did not think the VEGP engineers had definitely identified it either. He advised that the VEGP engineers thought they had i identified the cause, though. He advised that they thought it was the Calcon

, jacket water temperature switches. KENDALL stated that the Wylie Lab positive

! verification of the root cause did not happen until just prior to the i

EHKr 24, Case No. 2-90-020 1 PR / OF Z PAGE(S) 9506300221 950518 PDR ADOCK 05000424 l T

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publishing of the IIT report, in approximately June 1990. He stated that

i. Wylie Labs found loose metal shavings and thread sealant in the Calcon j sensors. ,

i KENDALL stated that he was not present, either in person or by telephone, at I

an April 9. 1990, presentation at NRC. Region II offices by GPC management 2

regarding corrective actions taken to prevent a recurrence of the SAE. He

stated that he might have been asked his assessment of EDG reliability by ,

i someone from Region II at some point, but he did not recall specifically. He

stated that he did not think that he would have had an adequate basis for such ,

! an assessment, even if he had been asked. KENDALL stated that he was not i

! polled by anyone from Region II regarding objections to VEGP restart. He i

! stated that restart decisions were the Region's responsibility, and were not l l part of the IIT mission. *  !

i l KENDALL stated that NRC employee Faust ROSA would be the person to contact

! regarding EDG reliability criteria. KENDALL stated that he was not sure how

, . " successful start" data would apply to EDG reliability.

In closing, KENDALL stated that he observed that VEGP was using poor j calibration techniques en the Calcon sensors, and that they had no trending

program in place regarding EDG/Calcon problems. He stated that GPC personnel I i were not really aggressive in their efforts to determine root cause of the EDG l l failures until " pushed" by the NRC. However, on the other hand, he advised

! that he saw no attempts on the part of VEGP personnel to prevent the IIT from l l having access to documentation, and he heard no conversations or indications

. that VEGP personnel were going to deceive the NRC about the status of the j diesels.

This report of interview was prepared on September 3. 1991.

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Latrf L. Jrbbinson, Investigator Office of Investigations Field Office, Region II t-Case No. 2-90-020 2

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