ML20126K140

Sanitized Version of Investigation Rept QI-86-016 Re Alleged Employee Discrimination

ML20126K140
Person / Time
Site:	Millstone
Issue date:	04/02/1987
From:	Walsh R, Charlotte White NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
To:
Shared Package
ML20126J928	List: IA-92-163, Sanitized Version of Investigation Rept Q-1-85-017 Re Alleged Willful Violation of TS Concerning Rod Insertion Limits ML20126J925 ML20126J967 ML20126K007 ML20126K038 ML20126K101 ML20126K140 ML20126K178
References
FOIA-92-163 Q1-86-016, Q1-86-16, NUDOCS 9301070042
Download: ML20126K140 (5)

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Title:

MILLST0f 1,141T 1:

AtLEGED EVPLOYLE DISCRIMINATICN Liretisee: Case flurber: Q1-00-016 t.'ortheast Nuclear Energy Cortpany Report Date: April 2, 1987 -

P.O. Pop 770 Hartford, Conrecticut 0(101 Control Office: OI:RI Docket No.: 50-TG Status: Closed Inquiry Reported F3: Approved By:

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DETAILS OF INQUIRY Purpose of Inquiry This Inquiry was initiated on December 9,1986, upon receipt of a written request, Exhibit 1, from the Regional Administrator (RA), Region 1 (includes copy of RA's request to the Investigation R3f erral Board). The Office ~ ' ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ - " " "

of

~

[Investications (01)

)and ascertain thewas asked to circumstances su interviewL'rroundinik denial oIem'p' loin ~ent in June 1986 by Nuclear Energy Consultants (NEC), a contractor to NJ rtheast Nuclear Energy Company (NNECO), an NRC licensee. Theinterviewoff . .. .i]

would "... aid the Allegation Panel in deciding how best to address thelharges that this termination violated 10 CFR 50." (NOTE: This request for 01 investigative assistance was first discussed with the Director of 01. It was then decided that Ol:R1 would comply with the request.)

Background

NNECO is a subsidiary of Northeast Stilitie which operates Millstone Nuclear PowerStation/ Units 1,2,and3.J has claimed f was discriminated against by NEC and NNECO because L. had repo'rted safety concerns to the NRC when working at Millstone til in 1985 fnr Butler Services Group under the tutelage of a Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation (SWEC) supervisor.

Files maintained by Alan SHR0pSHIRE, Allegation C 3 ordinator,,,. telephonically Region I, were examined on December 12, 1986, and indicate that t contacted T. A. REBELOWSKI, NRC Resident inspector, Millstone Ill, at 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19, 1985. ( ' disclosed to REBELOWSK!

approximately eight technical concerns pertaining to Millstone 111. Between March 1985 and March 1986, Region I staff personnel sought Answers from Nnrtheast Utilities' officjals and perso ally conducted inspections of the various items reported byl and (co-worker (the latter requested confidentiality), t laforement oned technical concerns were dispositioned acceptably and no safety significances were noted by either NRC or Northeast Utilities.

OnMonday, July 7,1986,( ) telephonicJ lyl contacted Ebe HCCAPE, Chief, Reactor Projects, Section 3B tostate[ /was fired from a position--

with NEC in June 1986 because of(' ,71985 disclosures to the NRC. MCCABE's Allegatio,n Receipt R_pport, dated Jul'y 7,1986, is Exhibit 2, anj the follow-up l

letter tol ~ from MCCABE, dated July 17, 1986, telling ( to l

contact the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to obtain redress of any discrimi-l nation against him is Exhibit 3. Because NRC received no_ response, a second

letterfromMCCABE,Ex.hibit4,wasforwardedto[ ,JonOctober 22, 1986.

On November 4, 1986, L _ ' called MCCABE in response to the Oct letter and reiterated thatl _/was fired in June 1986 by NEC because[sber , ha d 22 made disclosures to the NRC in 1985. MCCABE's Allegation Receipj Report dated November 4, 1986 Exhibit 5. reports a claim byl _ _ .l that( 3 contacted DOL on three occasions but D0L refused to hear lease calling it a "whistleblower issue." Subsequently, Ol's assistance was sought (see Exhibit 1).

l

l Interview of;

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f advised thatl ' began work at Millstone !!! in February lib'4 and worked there for 13' months, until March 1985. InitiaU While at Hillstone.( y,(wa( ,_ aactually level 11 Inspactor of electrical equipment.

worked for Butler Services Group of Sreentree Massachusetts but was supervised by Gerald TURNER of SWEC.

(L helaimedthatTURNERhadinvalidatedseveralNonconformance

& Deviation Reports (NCDRs) that f 'had initiated.' ~ , refused to accept TURNER's explanation for the invalidations, was subsequentlytoldbyTURNERthatitwaspermisjibleto(ontacttheNRCif[__ _

so desired. To the bes of recollection.)~~_ first c tacted the NRC in February 19P5 (j~~'l ' advised that on March 77, 1985,'~ was laid pff from Millstone ill by the Butler Services Group because of "I ck of wnrk."

( ,said received nn, severance pay but believes that the lay off was

" justified." .. _

)said( worked at three,other jobs around the country betweenMarch[1985andJune1986,atwhichtime('waslaidofffroma.iobat the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station.

b ~ ) went on to say that the NRC provided C with , copies of the m inspectionreportswhichwerepreparedasaresultof( allegations.I saidtheNRCreportswerefurnishedto(E March 13, 1986. I stated that ' bystill letters on April disagrees with15,the1985, NRC and

~

inspection reports and cite'd specific reasons.

After(, layofffromSeabrookinJune1986,[ . mailed a resume to NEC of Piverside, New Jersey and later talked via telephone wifh an)EC employee identified as Paul, FAROM. FAROM later informedi. _.that\ had a job fort, 'with NNECO in Perlin, Connecticut. However, the position de

( pended upon the approval of the client (NNECO) and a satisfactory interview.s a progran on environmental qualifications for NNECO. indicated that NNECO was seeking a person wijh a college,d_egree.' However, since u did not have a degree, ' told NEC would work for $50,000 per year instead of the $100,000 per y~ ear NNECO was willino to pay.

(had an interview'with,a,NNECO I~ went to Berlin, Connecticut on Monday, June 30, 1986, and said manager identified as John NECOSI.

said that Nh;EC0 knew' did not have a college degree before t,he interview was arranged, believed that NECOSI was impressed wjthi, ' credentials even without the college degree, s . said that if had been hired,; would have worked with the NEC Site Lead at NNECO identified as Charlie ALLEN.

That night, ALLEN telephonically contacted ( ~

and said that NNECO was going to hire land that an employment contract between himself and NNECO would be signed as early as the fo,) lowing Monday, July 7,1986. However.

ALLEN indicated that NNECO wanted, to attegd an imptomptu eaeting at Millstone IIImet theALLEN, next day, Tuesda,y, July 1, 1986. 'said(.

subsequently NECOSI, and a third NNECO emp ( loyee (nTi) at the main gate at Millstone III at 8:00 a.m. on July 1.

7 (u 1c fn W

went on to say that while waiting in the Security Building for

( learance c to enter Millstone 111 at approximatel _8;30_a.m , atSWEC employee identified as Paul .RAMOND1 walked b jpi_dnnwordswere in leated that subsequtntly exchangedbetween(111andaftended(ythegroup.

entered Millstone

'and RAMOND1.

a meeting until 2:00 p.m., lsaid that after RAMONDI passed,t remembered,that RAMONDI was thelead Electrical Engineer for tWEC at Unit 111 in 1985. I said that RAMONDI, who was TURNER',5 boss,hadsupportedTURNER'sinvalidationsoftheNCDRswhichf had prepared when working at Hillstone 111 in 1985. ~

At approximately 7:00 p.m. that night, Tuesday, July 1,\[gnt a call et home from ALLEN. He thinks ALLEN was calling from the NNECO offjce_ in Bergn.

ALLENsaidsomethingtotheeffect"Whatthehelldidyoul do to aggravate Northeast Utilities? Fif teen lawyers and the head of the corporation T

were to suewaiting them. for medid What when you Ido?"

returned L to Berlin.said)ty'rescaredyouaregoing can only assume that theSWECleadElectricalEngineer,said(somethingtoNNECOpersonnel RAMONDJ,ipast about\

contacts with the NRC.

b-NEC_ to work

_. . .,acknowledgedthat(,_IneversignedawrittencontractwithNNECOor for T_he contract was to be signed the following Monday, July 1,1986.(,NNECO. s said that ALLEN told ( .'that someone from Millstone 111 (nfi) had caljed NNECO tieadquarters anitold Al(EN and the NNECO people (nfi) not to permitt back onsite \, advised that ALLEN would not provide the'name JLf the perJon who demanded th~atC,~ be refused future access to Hillstone 111. / stated that during the next couple of days,i ' has unsuccessful in{, attempts to gather more infomation about "the obvious discrimination against me."

L professed that beforeL was laid off from Millstone 11.1 in March 1985,i called the D0L "in passachusetts" to indicate that( 1may be laid off for contacting the NRC. ( 'did not know the identity of the 00L representativa with whom and was not positive of the location of the 00L office. (. lindicated that )sonke,kontacted " DOL in Massa,chusetts" a second tine but could not proyide proof of this contact,unless , released g ' telephone bills, indicated thatt . subsequently rTeeived a letter fror NEC indica' ting thatt was not qualified for the job at NNECO.

) definitely believes ', was discrjminated against when trying to

( obtain employment with NNECO through NEC ( 1 reiterated that 'was never offjcially employed by JQC and that no written contract had been signed.

linsistedi was qualified for the job and identified two However,(hocouldvouchfor persons w credentials in the environmental quality field.

Referring to this proposed investigation of( )discriminationcomplaint, (I have with. stated "I'd rather see the NRC pursue the concerns and disagreements their inspection reports rather than pursue any discrimination complaint I may have. What's done is done. I still believe there are concerns at Hillstone 111."

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4 Closure Information

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was subsaquartly A copytoof6'illiam providad the Report of Interview KANE, Director, Division owithf ~~~ 'f Reactor Proiects, Ren On February 17, 1987, decided that MCCABE would anAllegatin)PanelMe_etingwasheldwhereatitwas{.

contact 4 to nail down the spacifics of technical concerns ,recarding, Millstone III . , Durina, MCCABE's _ telephone nn February 17, 1987, _ Jtold MCCABE tha+.

C,fshed conversation not pursuewith i Jemploynentdis not wish the NRC t investigate it. (grimination.cl(aim with the DOL

,Yemaining technical concerns will be addressed by the Recin M letter to '~~~f_ istaff.d~CCABEsubseauentlysentanother wherein stated the following: " Based on our discu{ssion, I understand .]havenotpursuedyour that you ('the Departme employment discrimination concern with this aspect to be pursued any further. Therefore, this matter is being closed." Considering the aforementioned information, it was agreed there is no need for further investicatire effort by 01: RI. If new inforrnation is ever received by 01 or the Peoion I staff regarding this matter, this inquiry can be reopened.

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