ML20214P923

Requests Response to Encl Bn Case 870416 Appeal to NRC in Response to Simulator Exam Grading for Plant Licensed Operators

ML20214P923
Person / Time
Site:	Harris
Issue date:	04/24/1987
From:	Helms J SENATE
To:	NRC OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS (OCA)
Shared Package
ML20214P908	List: ML20214P906 ML20214P923
References
NUDOCS 8706040169
Download: ML20214P923 (6)

Text

TJESSE liELMS WORTM CAROLNBA Buited States $tnatt WASHINGTON, DC 20510 April 24, 1987 Office of Congressional Affairs Director Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1717 H Street, N.U.

Washington, D.C. 20555 Because of the desire of my office to be responsive to all inquiries and comrauni-cations, your consideration of the attached inquiry from Mr. Billy M. Case, Carolina Power and Light Company, Raleigh, NC 27602 will be appreciated.

Please address your response to my Raleigh Office, P.O. Drawer 2888, Raleigh, N. C. 27602.

With kind regards.

W\

U.S. Senator OK O H

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Dear Sir:

Please find -enclosed a copy of my appeal to the NRC, Region II, Mr. Caudie Julian, dated January 9,1987.

This appeal was. in response to a Simulator exam grading

'of unsat. that I feel was poorly administered and unfairly graded. (November 4, l985)

I (Billy case) would like to formally request the next step of the oppeal procens and would very much like to explain my actions to you in person. I cannot-fully explain actions on paper that would be obvious, if shown on the Simulator or illustrated to you.

Please also find enclosed a copy of a letter written to State Senator IIelms' of fice, Decetaber 12, 1986. This letter can give you some insight as.to the numerous problems I have incurred.

I would rather. like to briefly describe the sequence of events leading up to this appeal to you. -

I have been with Carolina Power & Light Company since August 16, 1978. All of this time I have been in Operations.

I have held the positions of fossil operator, reactor operator (licensed on 2 boiling water reactors), and I am currently a senior control operator at the Shearon Harris facility.

After two (2) years of cold license class, I was prepared to take my written SRO exam in January,1986. One week prior to taking this exam, Mr. Munro notified training that the I' ' exam that had been written was bad and was to be rewritten

! (by some contractor). We were placed back on rotating shift

! to await an exam date. I took the written SRO exam in February and the ORAL / Simulator exam in May,1986! I was, l

i informed of Satisfactory results and promoted to a senior

!- control operator in training.

The Shearon liarris Training Staf f was informed that the . first licensing group, whom had been exempted from a

' Simulator exam would be required to take this exam if my licensing group had greater than or equal to 30 percent r

failure. We had exactly 30 percent. The Simulator exams were given by contract examiners of which one Mr. W. C.

liemming failed (6) six out of (12) twelve. Mr. IIemming was i my examiner and Mr. Munro reviewed the results and informed me of my denial.

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.I uf that (contrary to NUREG 1021) charts, graphs, and r. . of-the Simulator were not kept. To appeal without docur - '.on would have been futile. My Operations Manager and S. isor informed me not to appeal that this was a political move by the NRC to ensure the first licensing group would take a Simulator exam. I was also told that Corporate Carolina Power & Light IIcadquarters also shared this view, and I would continue to receive license pay (f rom previous license) until I c'ould retake the Simulator exam. I feel I have been caught up in industry politics of which I am unprepared; since for approximately 9 (nine) years, I have devoted many- hours to nothing but Operations. Carolina Power

& Light also made the NRC aware that contract examiners were no longer welecme, and thus I had Mr. Munro as my examiner on the second simulator exam.

I was again given sig (6) weeks of Simulator training and on November 4,- 1986 was examined with Mr. Jay Lennartz and Mr. Ralph Bassett. All the candidates in this group had been previously failed by Mr. W. C. Hemming and all results reviewed by Mr. Munro. I have in my entire career never been subjected to an attitude like Mr. Munro's. (See attached letter to Senator Helms.) The Simulator Supervisor and Instructors / Candidates even commented on his arrogant, aggressive attitude. (Call Jim Pierce.)

At no time during the exam did I ever not follow my training, my procedures, or my technical specifications, and I always followed the conservative approach 'to safely shutdown the plant to protect the public and plant health and safety.

It appears that our group had been preconceived to fail.

The Simulator Supervisor (Mr. Bill Ceise) and the Simulator j - Instructor (Mr. Jim Pierce) who was my STA told us after

! watching the entire exam that we had performed very

! satisfactorily. When the results were received, my entire i management was in disbelief. The weak candidates had all

, passed and our entire group failed. (No reasons were given at this time.) I do not believe it is unbiased For me to appeal to the same man who previously reviewed my Simulator exam and administered and reviewed my second exam!

i

The contents of my appeal are absolutely true and can be verified.by the attached documents and following people

A) Mr. Jay Lennartz (License Examiner Region III NRC) l l-312-790-5651 l B) Mr. Bill Geise (Simulator Supervisor SilNPP) Played Phone

! Talker, Kept Logs) 1-919-362-3336 or 3340

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C) Mr. Jim Pierce .(Simulator Instructor) Played STA

'362-3253 D) 'an Leblonde (Simulator Instructor) Ran Simulator

'-362-3489 E)  : J.11ph Bassett (C.O. Real Time Training) BOP l-919-362-2034 Carolina Power & Light Company's original decision was to stay completely out of exam appeals due to fear of future repercussion and earlier contact with Region II. This has since been ' changed (last Simulator exams again resulted in 30 percent failure) and permission has been given to all involved people to testify to events witnessed.

I would also like to point out that when I questioned Mr. Munro of when I could reasonably receive results of my exam appeal (of which I had only 10 days to prepare), I was told that the NRC did not have guidelines on this and with the workload involved, it would take weeks. It took from January 6,1987 until Apri! 3,1987. This is well outside NUREG 1021 guidelines of 30 to 60 days.

The examiner states numerous times that he was not clear on my meaning of contentions and yet I have never been contacted..

I welcome all questions and ask only a chance to be treated fairly. I have devoted much of my adult life to this job, and it is very important to me.

I would like also to point out that the appeal denial disagreements are full of false statements and misinterprated facts that any operator who has been through plant specific training can see (e.g. , Mr. Munro states that Mr. Dean never stated that the Charging Safety Injection pump start problem and the Simulator operator incorrectly cleared the pump (control power was not removed.)

1) Mr. Dean's statement can be verified by myself (SCO) and Mr. Jay Lennartz (RO).

2) Simulator operator forgot to remove CSIP from SI Sequencer and when SI occurred, the CSIP started, ran, and pumped greater than 300 gpm flow. Ilow can this be with the breaker racked out even control power (D.C.) were still energized. Also control power would have appeared during, shif t turnover in the form of indication lights (red / green) when the Main Control Board was walked down for turnover!

3) I also do not understand Mr. Munro's reasoning for down grading a Simulator failure.

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• T ole precess has been demoralizing and has lowered the en Operations group's attitude and moral to believe the St. .ar is a Crap-shoot.

I am prepared. to take my appeal as far as possible and hope that if nothing else comes of this, Operators can be more fairly graded by competent / power plant background examiners. I question Mr. Munro's background for PWR examina t io n.

'<ery sincerely, ,

k-Billy N. Case (1-919-362-2160)

BNC .

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