ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD DISMISSES CHARGES 

IN GEISEN CASE REGARDING MISCONDUCT AT DAVIS-BESSE 

 A three-member panel of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), in a 2-1 

decision, has set aside all charges in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission enforcement hearing 

against former nuclear power plant engineer David Geisen, ending the proceeding before the 

Board and nullifying NRC sanctions that would prohibit Geisen’s involvement in any agencylicensed activities. 

The Geisen case stemmed from violations of NRC regulations associated with the 

significant reactor vessel head damage discovered in March 2002 at the Davis-Besse Nuclear 

Power Plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio. The NRC staff had charged Geisen and others with knowingly 

submitting false information regarding actions taken by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company 

(FENOC) in maintaining the Davis-Besse reactor vessel head. 

“We find that the Staff did not prove the charges it brought against Mr. Geisen by a 

preponderance of the evidence, and thus failed to establish that he engaged in deliberate 

misconduct,” the majority opinion of Administrative Judges Michael C. Farrar and Nicholas G. 

Trikouros said. “Insofar as Mr. Geisen was concerned, we find that FENOC’s submissions, 

although later stipulated to be false, were not contradictory to his then-understanding of the 

relevant situation and information.” 

The NRC originally issued an immediately effective Order to Geisen on Jan. 4, 2006, 

which ended his employment at another nuclear power plant and would have prohibited his 

involvement in agency-regulated activities for five years. He requested a hearing on the Order, 

which the ASLB granted but which the Commission held in abeyance during the Department of 

Justice’s parallel criminal case against Geisen. A federal jury found him guilty in April 2008 of 

three counts of lying to the NRC, one count of which dealt with a document central to the 

agency’s enforcement action. Geisen then requested the ALSB conclude its proceeding, which 

included an evidentiary hearing in December 2008 and post-hearing argument in March 2009. 

The ALSB panel’s majority opinion found that the criminal conviction did not prevent Geisen 

from contesting the NRC action, due to differing legal standards. Administrative Judge E. Roy 

Hawkens issued a dissenting opinion, which concludes both that the NRC’s sanctions were 

justified and that Geisen, upon completion of his five-year ban, is capable of resuming work in 

the nuclear industry. 

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No. 09-143 August 28, 2009
“Because the standard of proof is much higher in a criminal proceeding ... than in this 

administrative enforcement proceeding ... Mr. Geisen’s criminal conviction a fortiori compels 

the conclusion here that he had knowledge [the information was false],” the Hawkens opinion 

said. “I find a preponderance of the evidence supports the conclusion that Mr. Geisen knowingly

provided the NRC Staff with materially incomplete and inaccurate information.” 

The parties in the Geisen case have 15 days to file any appeals with the NRC’s 

Commissioners, who act as the appellate body for ASLB decisions. The ASLB is the NRC’s 

quasi-judicial arm dealing with licensing and enforcement matters. More information about the 

ASLB can be found at: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/aslbpfuncdesc.html. 

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