ML20215F114

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Transcript of 850808 Interview of J Merritt in Dallas,Tx. Pp 1-14
ML20215F114
Person / Time
Site: Comanche Peak  Luminant icon.png
Issue date: 08/08/1985
From:
NRC OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS (OI)
To:
Shared Package
ML20214X072 List:
References
NUDOCS 8610160086
Download: ML20215F114 (14)
v • d • e


Text

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INTERVIEW OF JOHN MERRITT 11 AUGUST 8,

, 1985 12 2: 08 P . it .

DALLAS, TEXAS

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A P P EA RAN C E 5: -

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'H. BROOKS GRIFFIN . . .

3  ! Investigator

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4 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Region IV

bil Ryan Plaza Dr., suite 1000 5 ,

Arlington, Texas 76011 1

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APPEARING FOR NRC

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l WORSHAM, FORSYTHE, SAMPLES 9 & WOOLDRIDGE

  • 10 Suite 2500, 2001 Bryan Tower j Dallas, Texas 75201
  • 11 i BY: ROBERT A. WOOLDRIDGE 12 ,

APPEARING FOR TUGCO 13 AND JOHN HERRITT .

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15 a 16 .

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. 17 18 WITNESS: JOHN MERRITT PAGE

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Examination by Mr. Griffin 3

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, dk. GRIFFIN: For the record, this is

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an interview of Jonn Merritt --

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THE, WITNESS: Correct.

h 5 HR. GRIFFIN: --

the assistant project 6

gener,a1 general manager for TUGCO. The location of 7 l this interview is Dallas, Texas.

The date is August 8

the 8th, 1985, and the time is 2:08 p.m.

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Present at this -interview are John Merritt 10

  • and his personal representative, Robert Wooldridge, i

11 j and myself on behalf of the NRC, Investigator, i

. 12 ,

Brooks Griffin.

This interview is being transcribed

_ 13  ! by a court Reporter.

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i John, I need you to rise and raise your 15 right hand. I will swear you to the contents of I

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your testimony.

  • 17 Do you swear that the information that you 18 f.are about to give as the truth, the whole t r u t h, , and 19 fnothing but the truth, so help you God?

i 20

. THE WITNESS: I do.

21 MR. GRIFFIN: Thann'you.

22 i EXAMINATION '

23 BY MR. GRIFFIN: '

t 24 Q.

i John, you were first hired by Texas

  • 25

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Utilities in May of 1968, is tnat correct?

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4 1 A. Yes.

2 Q. And you assumed your duties as assistant ...

3 project general m.anager in the summer of '83?

4 i A. That is correct.

5 Q.

John, did you have -- were you involved in 6  :

the original contract with Management Analysis 7

Company to perform the 1978 a u di t of the QA Program 8 at Comanche Peax?

9 A. No. -

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10 Q. You weren't involved in the negotiations 11 for that contract?

s 12

  • A. No. .

13 Q. .c Were you interviewed as part of the MAC s.

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review in May o.f 19- --

I think it was May of 19782 15 A.

I don't recall that interviews no, sir.

16 Q. Oxay. Let me explain one thing to you 17 before we go any further.

The r e t a ren that the NRC 18 is conducting this investigation is because since 19

  • the report was produced, you know, this late date 20 and it has been determined or believed tnat it was 21
  • producicle earlier, that EDO Dircks witnin the NRC 22 has requested that my part of the NRC office of 23 investigations try to complete the record or maxe a 24 clear record of wnat everybody's testimony is, what .

2s documents exist, wnat the thinking was at the time, "

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{ I why it was not produced. Just 'every phase, .

2 everybody's input.

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3 So what I hope to do is come away from the

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interview with you with essentially everytning that l 5  :

I you know about the origins of the MAC report, why it 6 l '

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wasn't produced, any input you had, and then later

', 7 I when it was discussed, any meetings you had, any 8

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involvement you had in that decision. So hopefully, 9 ,

we w111 get everything that you know on the subject 10 '

i so that as it is presented to all otner parties of 11  ;

the NRC, they will have your testimony essen'tially

. 12 on the subject.

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John, I have a copy of the MAC report. And

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Nd 14, they have'you listed as having been interviewed 15 assuming that their report is correct, as having

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l been interviewed as part of tneir review. And they l 17 also have you listed as having attended the pre-audit

j. 18 j meet 2ng whe'n they first ca'me on site.

l i Do you have a 19  !

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recollection of attending that meeting?

20 i A. l f

I have no' recollection of either one of 21 those that you have referenced there of meetings, no.

22  !

u. Okay. Do you know the MAC r'epresentativest 25 '

John Jackson, Jack Norris, or another rellow? I 24 6 think his nane was nendron. Do you Know enem I i

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, personally?

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t 1 A. Ho, I do not.

2 i Q. Do you know ot any other reviews of the QA . ./

3 Program that MAC has performed at Comanche Peax 11xe 4

on Brown & Root or any of the other subcontractors?

5 A. No, sir. -

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Q. I'm telling you this. In 1980, the 7

Intervenor case made a request to Texas Utilities W. and"it was titled Item 10 of cases, interrogatories

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9 - "and requests to produce dated July the 7th, 1980.

16 It is clarified on August the 4th, 1980.

11 When the Utilities received the Intervenor's 12 requeste we're you made aware of this request? -

13 A. No.

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O. Were you or any of your subordinates asxed 15 to review any fales or contribute any or have any lu input to the Utilities' response to the Intervenor's

17. I request?

16 MR. WOOLDRIDGE: Are yu talking about, .

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again, all requests and all areas, or a specific .

20 report? .

21 Mk. GRIFFIN: As it relates to the QA 22 Program.

23 A. As it relates to,tne QA Program?

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(BY MR. GRIFFIN) Item 10 of this.

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, No , sir,

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,I nad,_no involvement in any 2T *

T~esponse _to.the QA Program.

3 Q.

Now, I'm telling you som,ething nere again.

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Appa r en t1y', when this request came*in, John Marshall

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i licensing was tasked with sending out 6 l i

notification of..the various divisions or groups b, 7 i 4 ..

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.ithi,n.the Utilities to gather or to arrange for the

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, identification of the. appropriate documents to -

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determine what was producible.

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Do you remember l

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l whetner you had any conversations with Marshall on

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, * . , -1 had conversation with Marshall on

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l - ' ' 14 supplying some_information as requested on '

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  • 15 engineering and. construction. '

16 Q. But not QA7 17 l A. Mut not QA.

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  • 18 Q.

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-Oxay. Do you remember having any 19 '

conversations with,Ron Tolson about,the t

-- what 20 i

l- should be produced under the Intervanor's request in 21 the area of QA7 -

22 A.

f' I do not recall any conversations with I

'23 Tolson on QA matters. i 24

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u. Do you know whether you attended tne ,

, .$) 25 l postiaudit meeting following the t4 AC ' s review?

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t i 1 A. I don't recall a post,a.udit meeting. I hac

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2 one meeting, but tnat wasn't a post-audit. It was /

3 4 some internal discussion, I guess, or some 4 discussion-we had.

5 .' Q. -

"We* being who?

6 A.

l Seems like it was Fikar and George, as best

, 7  ! I could remember. And then there were some others l

8 l in there, and that is all that I remember.

9 Q. What was'the subject?

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A. It was a question and answer session on 11 l issues that or items that were apparently raised 12 by M A C .-

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And it was just a general discussion.

15 f Q. Are you aware that the Uti'11 ties le j representatives formulated a response to the MAC l

l 17  ! report? '

I lb A. No, sir.,

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19 Q. Oxay.

l Well, then, I'a telling you this.

20 They did formulate a response and it is like --

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HR. WOULDRIDGE: Not a response to MAC.

22 j Q. o (BY HR. GRIFFIN) It wasn't sent to itAC, 23 but it was a response to tneir audit findings.

24 A.

' Oxay.

Let me clarity one thing now. I 25 1l read the MAC report when it was issued on May tne *J

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29th, ,30tn, the end of May, okay.

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All rignt.

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A. But back in those t'i n e s , I didn't know what -

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was happening there. I had no access to it.

5 Q.

i What were the circumstances of your 6 ,!' reviewing this report? Did somebody just send you a

. 7 copy?

8 A. That is correct.

9 Q., Did anybody --

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A.

In May, in late Hay.

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Q.

That sounds lixe --

12 i MR. WOOLDRIDGE: Of what year?

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THE WITNESS: 1985.

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(BY MR. GRIFFIN) Oh, oxay.

i 15 A. Late May of 1985.

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16 Q. I 'm sorry.

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As I said, 1 s'a w it for the first time that 18  ! I can recall of --

It was in late May.

19 Q. You saved me half a dozen questions.

20 l Do you recall -- Between 1980 wnen the 21 Intervenor made the request which included items '

22 i involving QA and some items within your review, do 23 you recall being present at any conversations with '

24 Cnapn.an or Tolson where they discussed the .

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'i/ producibility of a nAC report or of an independer.t t FEDERAL C'OURT REPORTERS * ~

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A. No. I was not present at any of that ._/..

3 i discussion.

4 Q.

Did you ever testify in any of the ASOB 5 nearings? -

l 6 l A. Yes. -

7 Q. .

Did you have any conversations with any 8

l Texas Utilities' employees which they raised or 9 i i

quest'ioned you or told you anything about this MAC 10 report?

11 A.

Not to the best of my knowledge.

12 Q.

When did you first -- Tell me again. When --

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. did you first become aware of the existence of this 7 14 .c 1 1976 HAC report?

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', 15 i A. I guess when it hit the papers. And then 16 l in late May 1985, this is when I asned for a copy of 17 it.

t 18 Q. Oxay.

? Were you interviewed by 19  ! Mr. wooldridge here as part of his internal 20 investigation into the MAC report issue? .

21 l A. ' Yes.

22 Q.

l Since you became aware of the existence of 23 the MAC report in May of '65, nave you had any '

1 24 discussions witn Mr. Fixar as to wny he 'witnhelu  :.-

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25 tnis document back in 19607 i~

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Have you had any conversations with anybody 3 i else within the Utilities of why this document was 4

  • withheld?' '

5 A. No. .

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. Q.. Do you Know of any documents related to the

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QA Program that were determined to be proprietary i

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  • and were withheld, other -than thlis MAC report?

9 l A. No. ~

10 Q.

Jonn, do you xnow of anybody, other t h'a n 11 I

. Fixar, who was involved in the decision to withhold

. 12  ! the MAC report? '

13 l A. No.

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I 14 Q.

, . Have you read the result of Boo's 15 1

investigation as to why the report was withheld, 16 '

i tnat he sent out to the NRC and ASOB7 -

17 i A.

The ASOB, that is correct, I nave read his 16 j AsOG report. '

19 Q.

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Are there any areas within that report tinat 20 you nave any personal knowledge of as it relates to 21 1

' the origins or history of tne MAC report or the 22 I various opinions expressed 12xe of Chapman and 23 Tolson and any of those?

24 A. ho.

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25 u. Oxay.

s; / John, are there any otner areas 9

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related to the MAC report's origins, decision to

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withhold, location of in 1985, anything that woula  ;./

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sned any light on the history of the report that I 4 .

have not questioned you about or that we haven't 5 discussed? -

6 A. None that I'm aware of.

7 Q.

! Is your testimony in response to my

- i 8 i questions essentially what you told Wooldridge when 9 ne was doi,ng his internal review?

10 A. Yes, sir.

11 Q. All right.

. John, have I threatened you in 12  ! any manner?

13 A. No. -

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l Have I offered you any rewards in return' 15 f for this statement? # '

1 16 l A. No. *

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17 Q. ,

Have you given this statement freely and 18 .

voluntarily?

19 A. Yes.

l 20 O.

Is there anything further that you would 21 i care to add to the recoru?

22 , A. Not a thing.

l 23 Q. Okay. Listen, I appreciate your time.

24 A. Thanx you, sir. ~

I 25 (Interview concluoed at 2:25 p.m.'-

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1 CERTIFICATE OF OFF I C I AI. . RE POR TE R d '

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3 This is to certify-that the attached proceedings 4  :

  • before the* UNITED STATES NULCEAR REGULATORY 5

COMMISSION in the matter of:

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NAME OF PROCEEDING:

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OFFICE OF INVESTIGATION 8 - -

INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEW 9 .

(CLOSED) 10 i

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12 13 I PLACE:

DALLAS, TEXAS

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i IS DATE: AUGUST 8, 1985 .

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17 Ib were held as herein. appears, and that this is ,the 19 original transcript thereof for the file of the 20 .

Uniteo States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  !

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23 JAMESj H. Sil A W , CSR, RPR j

Offiedal Reporter I 24 Federal Court Reporters

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1226 Commerce Street 25 i Suite 411 .:

I' Dallas, Texas 75202 ' '

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