NRC NEWS

U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV

1450 Maria Lane, Walnut Creek, CA 94596

CONTACT: Mark Hammond (510) 975-0254/E-mail: mfh2@nrc.gov

CONTACT: Mark Hammond June 7, 1996

Office: (510) 975-0254 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Home: (415) 674-1024 RIV-3896

Pager: (800) 916-4952 

 NRC STAFF PROPOSES $50,000 FINE

 IN RECORDS CASE AT TROJAN NUCLEAR PLANT

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a $50,000 fine against the

Portland General Electric Co. (PGE) for violation of NRC requirements at the Trojan nuclear

power plant near Rainier, Ore.

 The fine is for the submission of inaccurate and misleading information to the NRC in June

and October 1991. The NRC has also cited PGE for another violation involving the apparent

falsification of records. The latter violation, however, does not involve a monetary fine because it

occurred more than five years ago, a period that exceeds the statute of limitations for fines.

 This enforcement action is the result of investigations conducted by a law firm retained by

PGE and the NRC's Office of Investigations. The violations occurred before Trojan ceased

operations in October 1992. The NRC has approved PGE's decommissioning plan for the Trojan

plant.

 PGE hired the law firm, Stier, Anderson & Malone, in 1991 to investigate allegations

concerning PGE's responses to problems involving certain plant equipment. The firm conducted

two lengthy inquiries into both cases, and documented management failures and a pattern of

misinforming the NRC about equipment problems.

 The law firm's first investigation report, provided to the NRC in June 1992, concluded that

Trojan's former environmental qualification supervisor, in July and October 1990, had knowingly

falsified documents that justified the operation of certain electrical splices before necessary tests

had been conducted. A separate inquiry by the NRC's Office of Investigations, completed in

March 1994, reached the same conclusion.

 The law firm's second investigation report, provided to the NRC in February this year,

determined that PGE documentation to the NRC in December 1991 on the integrity of electrical

penetration assembly seals was incomplete, inaccurate and misleading. Electrical penetration

assemblies are large, cylindrical plugs that carry cables through the containment building, which

houses the nuclear reactor. 

 In a letter informing PGE of the fine, L. Joe Callan, Regional Administrator of NRC

Region IV in Arlington, Texas, said, ``The NRC recognizes that these violations were discovered

largely as a result of efforts undertaken by current Trojan management and do not reflect the

performance of current management.''

 Nevertheless, Mr. Callan said, they are significant because they concerned equipment

important to the safe operation of the Trojan plant and, in the case of the electrical splices,

records were found to have been apparently falsified.

 ``...[T]he violations are the result of significant management failures to address the

underlying technical issues as well as to establish an appropriate climate for being candid with the

NRC with regard to these issues,'' Mr. Callan said. ``The NRC notes that if it were not for the fact
that Trojan has a new management team, that the plant has permanently ceased operations, and

the current efforts to keep the NRC staff informed of onsite activities, the NRC would have

considered a civil penalty up to the statutory limit of $100,000.''

 PGE replaced the electrical splices and electrical penetration assembly seals in question in

1991. The individuals who were the primary focus of the investigations are no longer employed by

PGE.

 

 Both violations were classified Severity Level III in the NRC's four-level classification

system. Level I is the most serious. PGE has 30 days to respond to the NRC's citation, during

which time it may pay the fine or protest it. If the protest is denied, the utility may ask for a

hearing.