ML20215C867

Forwards Order Imposing Civil Monetary Penalties in Amount of $200,000,based on Util Inattention to Detail,Failure to Adhere to Procedural Requirements & Generally Complacent Attitude,Resulting in Insufficient Personnel Oversight

ML20215C867
Person / Time
Site:	Peach Bottom
Issue date:	12/12/1986
From:	Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE)
To:	Kemper J PECO ENERGY CO., (FORMERLY PHILADELPHIA ELECTRIC
Shared Package
ML20215C870	List: ML20215C867 ML20215C874
References
EA-86-059, EA-86-59, NUDOCS 8612150481
Download: ML20215C867 (3)

Text

_ _ _ - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - . _ _ _ _ _ _ - _

3 DCJ UNITED STATES

• 1 7o NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION j i WASWNGTON, D. C. 20066

....,* DEC 121986 Docket No. 50-278 License No. DPR-56 .

EA 86-59 Philadelphia Electric Company ATTN: J. S. Kemper Senior Vice President 2301 Market Street 1 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19101 Gentlemen:

This refers to your letter dated July 23, 1986 in response to the Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalties (Notice) sent to you with our letter dated June 9,1986. Our letter and Notice described violations associated with an event reported to the NRC by members of your staff. The violations, which involved numerous personnel errors by control room staff, were categorized in the aggregate as two Severity Level III problems, and the base civil penalty amount for each problem was increased by 100 percent because of your recent poor enforcement history in the area of procedural adherence.

In your response to the Notice, you acknowledge the occurrence of the viola-tions as stated, but you request that the proposed civil penalties be mitigated from $200,000 to $100,000 because you believe escalation of the civil penalties was excessive and unwarranted. After careful consideration of your response, we have concluded, for the reasons given in the encioned Order Imposing Civil Monetary Penalties and Appendix, that a sufficient basis for mitigation of the proposed penalties was not provided in your response. Accordingly, we hereby serve the enclosed Order on Philadelphia Electric Company imposing civil penalties in the amount of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200,000).

We also note that in your response you disagree with the NRC contention that these personnel errors by four licensed individuals indicate a continuation of a pattern of inattention to detail, failure to adhere to procedural requirements, and a generally complacent attitude of staff toward performance of their duties at Peach Bottom. Apparently you attribute these problems to the failings of certain individuals against whom administrative disciplinary actions have been taken by Philadelphia Electric Company. Further, you disagree that an increased emphasis on management involvement is needed to ensure improved personnel per-formance, stating that " management and supervisors continually express the need to follow procedures and pay close attention when conducting operations." These actions by management and supervisors have not been effective in preventing recurrence of personnel errors, as evidenced by this most recent event. It is not sufficient for management to hire qualified personnel and provide them with adequate training and procedures for perfonning their duties; management also must provide appropriate oversight of personnel to assure they perform their duties properly.

CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED }d 8612150481 861212 '\ l PDR ADOCK 05000278 l G PDR

Philadelphia Electric Company Your enforcement history since January 1983 involves three' previous civil penalties for violations of technical specification requirements, two civil penalties for violations of radiation protection requirements, and a total of twelve enforcement conferences. Many of these enforcement conferences involved ~

violations resulting from personnel errors. Therefore, it is clear that a pattern of inattention to detail, failure to adhere to procedural requirements, and a generally complacent attitude of the staff has existed at Peach Bottom resulting from insufficient oversight of personnel. These types of deficiencies cannot be overcome solely by minor disciplinary actions of an administrative nature; rather, management must be sufficiently involved to correct the pattern.

In accordance with Section 2.790 of the NRC's " Rules of Practice," Part 2, Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, a copy of this letter and the enclosures will be placed in the NRC's Public Document Room.

The response directed by the accompanying Order is not subject to the clearance procedures of the Office of Management and Budget as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of -1980, PL 96-511.

l Sincerely, l

- - 4 h _

J mes M. Taylo irector ffice of Ins ction and Enforcement t

Enclosure:

Order Imposing Civil Monetary Penalties and Appendix cc w/ encl:

R. S. Fleischmann, Manager, Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station John S. Kemper, Vice President, Engineering and Research Troy B. Conner, Jr., Esquire W. H. Hirst, Director, Joint Generation Projects Department, Atlantic Electric G. Leitch, Superintendent Nuclear Generation Division Eugene J. Bradley, Esquire, Assistant General Counsel (Without Report)

Raymond L. Hovis, Esquire Thomas Magette, Power Plant Siting, Nuclear Evaluations (Without Report)

W. M. Alden Engineer in Charge, Licensing Section Public Document Room (PDR)

Local Public Nuclear Safety Information Document Center Room (LPDR) (NSIC)

NRC Resident Inspector Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

, j

bec w/ enc 1

..

Region I Docket' Room (with concurrences) ~

' ^

?J. Taylor, IE-J.' Axelrad, 'IE '

T. Murley, RI-H.-Denton, NRR-

.D.?Holody,'RI-J.-)Lieberman,0GC J. Sniezek, DED/ROGR.

Enforcement' Directors RII-RIII.

~

, ~ Enforcement Coordinators, RIV-RV'

.F.'Ingram, PA' G. Johnson, RM s J. Crooks, AE0D

8. Hayes. 01 S. Connely OIA

'D. Nussbaumer, OSP IE/ES File '

IE/EA File:

EDO Rdg' File DCS PDR NSIC PA0 RI y

,F s

t-hrs bouesuw (

% 4s**v .a/esan.,

\yO e

MTM/ yb gpv I[ f [

8" M Wh ES:IE ~RI OGC D DD:ID .D f HWong Murley Lieberman m9 Starpoecki y por 12/3/86 12/7/86 12/3 /86 12/f/86 12/3/86 2/j//86 A

t