NRC NEWS

U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I

475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406

CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610)337-5330/ e-mail: dps@nrc.gov

Neil A. Sheehan (610)337-5331/e-mail: nas@nrc.gov

or vld@nrc.gov

I-96-36 

Contact: Diane Screnci FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Victor Dricks June 4, 1996

NRC STAFF PROPOSES $100,000 FINE AGAINST NORTHEAST NUCLEAR ENERGY

CO. FOR ALLEGED DISCRIMINATION AGAINST FORMER CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has cited Northeast

Nuclear Energy Co. (NU) for alleged discrimination against a

former contractor employee at its Millstone Nuclear Power Station

in Waterford, Connecticut. The staff has proposed a fine of

$100,000.

 The NRC staff proposed the fine after determining that a

senior health physics technician of Bartlett Nuclear, Inc., an NU

contractor, was discriminated against for raising safety

concerns. The NRC also issued a Notice of Violation to Bartlett,

citing the company for discriminating against an employee engaged

in a protected activity. 

 In December 1995, a Department of Labor Administrative Law

Judge ruled that NU had discriminated against the individual by

laying him off at the Millstone site in December 1994, after the

worker filed a complaint with DOL and an NRC inspection of

concerns raised by the individual. The worker was subsequently

rehired at the facility in March 1996.

 

 Federal law protects workers who raise safety concerns with

management or with NRC staff about possible violations of NRC

rules and regulations. In a letter to NU officials, NRC Region I

Administrator Thomas T. Martin said NU's acts of discrimination

"are significant because they could have a chilling effect on

other licensee or contractor personnel and deter them from

identifying and/or raising safety concerns. The violation takes

on even more significance because the NRC has issued two civil

penalties to you since May 1993 for violations involving

discrimination against employees who raised safety concerns."

 The licensee was fined $100,000 in May 1993 for harassment

and intimidation of a former NU employee, and $100,000 in July

1994 for harassment and intimidation of an NU engineer.

 To emphasize the importance of maintaining a work

environment in which employees are free to engage in protected

activities without fear of retaliation, the base civil penalty of

$50,000 was doubled because the violation was not identified by

the licensee and many of the corrective actions were still in the

planning phase. 

 

 Since the civil penalty is based on the recommended decision

and order of the DOL Administrative Law Judge, which is still

being reviewed by the Secretary of Labor, NU may delay payment of
the civil penalty until 30 days after the final decision of the

Secretary of Labor. However, the licensee is required, within

30 days, to document the specific actions it has taken and

additional actions it plans to take to prevent recurrence and

counter the perceived "chilling effect" of the discriminatory

actions.

 *** 

 NOTE TO EDITORS: The NRC's Inspector General has made

public a report on an investigation into the NRC staff's decision

to withhold Northeast Utilities' internal task force reports on

plant performance at Millstone Station from the Public Document

Room. A copy of the executive summary is available through the

Region I office.