[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 157 (Monday, August 17, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41455-41458]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-19642]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No.: 70-1151; NRC-2009-0355; EA-08-244; License No.: SNM-1107]


In the Matter of Westinghouse Electric Company LLC; Confirmatory 
Order (Effective Immediately)

I

    Westinghouse Electric Company LLC (WEC or Licensee) is the holder 
of Operating License No. SNM-1107 issued by the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC or Commission) pursuant to 10 CFR part 70. The license 
in effect at the time of the matters described below was most recently 
amended via Amendment 5, issued on April 10, 2009. The license 
authorizes the operation of WEC in accordance with the conditions 
specified therein. The facility is located on the Licensee's site in 
Columbia, South Carolina.
    This Confirmatory Order is the result of an agreement reached 
during an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

[[Page 41456]]

mediation session conducted on July 27, 2009.

II

    On August 11, 2008, the NRC's Office of Investigations (OI) 
completed an investigation (OI Case No. 2-2008-002) regarding 
activities at the WEC facility located in Columbia, South Carolina. 
Based on the evidence developed during the investigation, the NRC staff 
identified three apparent violations.
    The first apparent violation involved the failure to establish 
adequate management measures, as required by 10 CFR 70.62(d), to ensure 
that Items Relied On For Safety (IROFS) are available and reliable to 
perform their function when needed, in that the periodicity of required 
ventilation system filter differential pressure readings, which the 
Integrated Safety Analysis specified as IROFS Vent 902, was not 
specified in implementing procedures.
    The second apparent violation involved two examples in which 
information provided to the NRC or required to be maintained by the 
licensee was not complete and accurate as required by 10 CFR 70.9. In 
the first example, information documented in the corrective action 
program and provided to the NRC on September 11, 2007 regarding the 
circumstances surrounding falsified ventilation system data was 
inaccurate and incomplete as to the identification and employment 
status of the individual responsible for the falsification. In the 
second example, training records documenting employee completion of 
required training were incomplete and inaccurate in that the Electronic 
Training and Procedures System (ETAPS) indicated training was completed 
when, in fact, it was not.
    The third apparent violation involved training records that were 
falsified by a contractor foreman, who accessed individual electronic 
training records of various employees and acknowledged completion of 
certain training requirements, when those training requirements were 
not accomplished. This action was an apparent willful violation of 
Columbia Plant Administrative Procedure CA-002, Columbia Plant 
Procedure System, which states that ETAPS End Users must read and then 
acknowledge procedures governing their job responsibilities in ETAPS 
before performing work assignments or manufacturing processes.
    The results of the investigation were sent to the Licensee in a 
letter dated May 6, 2009. This letter also offered the Licensee the 
opportunity either to: provide a written response, attend a
    Predecisional Enforcement Conference, or participate in ADR 
mediation. In response to the NRC's offer, the Licensee requested use 
of the NRC's ADR process to resolve the apparent violations.

III

    On July 27, 2009, representatives of the NRC and WEC met in an ADR 
session mediated by a professional mediator, which was arranged through 
Cornell University's Institute on Conflict Resolution. ADR is a process 
in which a neutral mediator with no decision-making authority assists 
the parties in reaching an agreement or resolving any differences 
regarding their dispute. This confirmatory order is issued pursuant to 
the agreement reached during the ADR process. The elements of the 
agreement consist of the following:
    1. WEC acknowledged that corrective actions and enhancements were 
warranted to preclude recurrence of the matters discussed in the NRC's 
letter of May 6, 2009.
    2. With respect to the matters described in section II above and 
NRC concerns with respect to precluding recurrence, WEC completed the 
following corrective actions and enhancements:
    a. As part of the Nuclear Criticality Safety Improvement Project, 
WEC has updated procedures and provided enhanced markings to delineate 
steps that are critical to the availability and reliability of IROFS. 
This program was completed June 30, 2009.
    b. WEC revised management oversight for maintenance and contractor 
activities by establishing: (1) A Maintenance Operations Manager 
position responsible for day-to-day Westinghouse maintenance activities 
and (2) a Site Maintenance Manager, reporting to the Plant Manager, 
responsible for providing direct oversight of contractor operations, 
including contractor corrective action program issues and contractor 
training.
    c. Required primary service providers (i.e., Greggs Construction, 
Prime State Insulation (PSI)) to have a safety/compliance officer to 
monitor compliance with procedures and ensure safe operation of 
contractor activities.
    d. Reset ETAPS passwords for all PSI employees.
    e. Provided instruction to all WEC and contractors employees via 
the annual required refresher training to not share ETAPS passwords, 
and trained supervisors on methods to verify employee training 
completion.
    f. Developed process and procedures by which WEC will audit 
completion of required training on a sitewide basis.
    g. Required a Performance Improvement Program for PSI which 
includes expectations related to safety, reporting of issues, 
procedural compliance, training and fitness-for-duty.
    h. Provided independent training for human resources, security and 
two Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) managers regarding enhanced 
investigative training and documentation techniques for issues which 
have the potential to include employee wrongdoing.
    3. In addition to the actions completed by WEC as discussed above, 
WEC agreed to additional corrective actions and enhancements for the 
Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility, as fully delineated below in 
Section V of the Confirmatory Order.
    4. At the ADR session, the NRC and WEC agreed that (1) The actions 
referenced in section III.2 and section V would be incorporated into a 
Confirmatory Order, and (2) the resulting Confirmatory Order would be 
considered by the NRC for any assessment of WEC, as appropriate.
    5. In consideration of the completed corrective actions delineated 
in section III.2 and the actions to be taken delineated in section V of 
this Confirmatory Order, the NRC agreed to refrain from proposing a 
civil penalty or issuing a Notice of Violation for all matters 
discussed in the NRC's letter to WEC of May 6, 2009 (EA-08-244).
    6. This agreement is binding upon successors and assigns of WEC.
    On July 31, 2009, the Licensee consented to issuance of this Order 
with the commitments described in section III.2 and section V. The 
Licensee further agreed that this Order is to be effective upon 
issuance and that it has waived its right to a hearing.

IV

    Since the licensee has completed the actions as delineated in 
section III.2 and agreed to take the actions as set forth in section V, 
the NRC has concluded that its concerns can be resolved through 
issuance of this Order.
    I find that the Licensee's commitments as set forth in section 
III.2 and section V are acceptable and necessary and conclude that with 
these commitments the public health and safety are reasonably assured. 
In view of the foregoing, I have determined that public health and 
safety require that the Licensee's commitments be confirmed by this 
Order. Based on the above and

[[Page 41457]]

the Licensee's consent, this Order is immediately effective upon 
issuance.

V

    Accordingly, pursuant to sections 104b, 161b, 161i, 161o, 182 and 
186 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the Commission's 
regulations in 10 CFR 2.202 and 10 CFR part 70, It Is Hereby Ordered, 
Effective Immediately, that License No. SNM-1107 Be Modified as 
Follows:
    a. WEC will conduct a quarterly management audit, on a sampling 
basis, of Apparent Cause Analyses in the WEC Corrective Action Program.
    b. WEC will conduct an analysis of the causes of the falsification 
issues identified in section II above, and develop additional 
corrective actions and enhancements in response to the analysis.
    c. WEC will incorporate lessons learned from this incident into new 
employee training and annual refresher training to all WEC and 
contractor employees. Aspects to be communicated will include, but are 
not limited to, the falsification of the multiple records and/or data, 
and consequences of such actions.
    d. WEC will conduct an independent assessment of the effectiveness 
of the employee concerns processes to satisfactorily resolve WEC and 
contractor employee concerns.
    e. WEC will conduct an independent assessment of the effectiveness 
of the enhanced investigative and documentation techniques in section 
III.2.h within six months of issuance of the Confirmatory Order. The 
independent assessment will be conducted by a party other than the 
developer of the program.
    f. WEC agrees to complete the items listed in section V within 
twelve (12) months of issuance of the Confirmatory Order, unless 
otherwise stated.
    g. Within three (3) months of completion of the terms of the 
Confirmatory Order, WEC will provide the NRC with a letter discussing 
its basis for concluding that the Confirmatory Order has been 
satisfied.
    Notification to the NRC, as outlined above, should be made to the 
Regional Administrator, NRC Region II, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Suite 
23T85, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8931.
    The Regional Administrator, NRC Region II, may relax or rescind, in 
writing, any of the above conditions upon demonstration by WEC of good 
cause.

VI

    Any person adversely affected by this Confirmatory Order, other 
than the Licensee, may request a hearing within 20 days of the Order's 
publication in the Federal Register. Where good cause is shown, 
consideration will be given to extending the time to request a hearing. 
A request for extension of time must be directed to the Director, 
Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001, and include a statement of good cause for the extension.
    If a person other than WEC requests a hearing, that person shall 
set forth with particularity the manner in which his interest is 
adversely affected by this Order and shall address the criteria set 
forth in 10 CFR 2.309 (d) and (f).
    If a hearing is requested by a person whose interest is adversely 
affected, the Commission will issue an Order designating the time and 
place of any hearing. If a hearing is held, the issue to be considered 
at such hearing shall be whether this Confirmatory Order should be 
sustained.
    A request for a hearing must be filed in accordance with the NRC E-
Filing rule, which became effective on October 15, 2007. The NRC E-
filing Final Rule was issued on August 28, 2007 (72 Federal Register 
49,139) and was codified in pertinent part at 10 CFR part 2, subpart B. 
The E-Filing process requires participants to submit and serve 
documents over the Internet or, in some cases, to mail copies on 
electronic optical storage media. Participants may not submit paper 
copies of their filings unless they seek a waiver in accordance with 
the procedures described below.
    To comply with the procedural requirements associated with E-
Filing, at least five (5) days prior to the filing deadline the 
requestor must contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#96ded3d7c4dfd8d1d2d9d5ddd3c2d6d8c4d5b8d1d9c0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="08404d495a41464f4c474b434d5c48465a4b264f475e">[email protected]</span></a>, or by calling (301) 415-1677, to request (1) A 
digital ID certificate, which allows the participant (or its counsel or 
representative) to digitally sign documents and access the E-Submittal 
server for any NRC proceeding in which it is participating; and/or (2) 
creation of an electronic docket for the proceeding (even in instances 
when the requestor (or its counsel or representative) already holds an 
NRC-issued digital ID certificate). Each requestor will need to 
download the Workplace Forms Viewer<SUP>TM</SUP> to access the 
Electronic Information Exchange (EIE), a component of the E-Filing 
system. The Workplace Forms Viewer<SUP>TM</SUP> is free and is 
available at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/install-viewer.html. Information about applying for a digital ID certificate 
also is available on NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html.
    Once a requestor has obtained a digital ID certificate, had a 
docket created, and downloaded the EIE viewer, he/she can then submit a 
request for a hearing through EIE. Submissions should be in Portable 
Document Format (PDF) in accordance with NRC guidance available on the 
NRC public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. 
A filing is considered complete at the time the filer submits its 
document through EIE. To be timely, electronic filings must be 
submitted to the EIE system no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on 
the due date. Upon receipt of a transmission, the E-Filing system time-
stamps the document and sends the submitter an e-mail notice confirming 
receipt of the document. The EIE system also distributes an e-mail 
notice that provides access to the document to the NRC Office of the 
General Counsel and any others who have advised the Office of the 
Secretary that they wish to participate in the proceeding, so that the 
filer need not serve the document on those participants separately. 
Therefore, any others who wish to participate in the proceeding (or 
their counsel or representative) must apply for and receive a digital 
ID certificate before a hearing request is filed so that they may 
obtain access to the document via the E-Filing system.
    A person filing electronically may seek assistance through the 
``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html or by calling the NRC technical help line, 
which is available between 8:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Eastern Time, 
Monday through Friday. The help line number is (800) 397-4209 or 
locally, (301) 415-4737.
    Participants who believe that they have good cause for not 
submitting documents electronically must file a motion, in accordance 
with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing requesting 
authorization to continue to submit documents in paper format. Such 
filings must be submitted by (1) First class mail addressed to the 
Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and 
Adjudications Staff; or (2) courier, express mail, or expedited 
delivery service to the Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, 
Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. Participants filing a 
document in this manner are responsible for serving the

[[Page 41458]]

document on all other participants. Filing is considered complete by 
first-class mail as of the time of deposit in the mail, or by courier, 
express mail, or expedited delivery service upon depositing the 
document with the provider of the service.
    Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in 
NRC's electronic hearing docket, which is available to the public at 
http://ehd.nrc.gov/EHD_Proceeding/home.asp, unless excluded pursuant 
to an order of the Commission, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or 
a Presiding Officer. Participants are requested not to include personal 
privacy information, such as social security numbers, home addresses, 
or home phone numbers in their filings. With respect to copyrighted 
works, except for limited excerpts that serve the purpose of the 
adjudicatory filings and would constitute a Fair Use application, 
participants are requested not to include copyrighted materials in 
their works.

VII

    A Request for Hearing Shall Not Stay the Immediate Effectiveness of 
this Order.

    Dated this 6th day of August 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Victor M. McCree,
Deputy Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. E9-19642 Filed 8-14-09; 8:45 am]
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