In the Matter of Andrew Siemaszko; Amendment of Order Prohibiting Involvement INNRC-Licensed Activities, 62300-62301 [E6-17839]

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• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 205 (Tuesday, October 24, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62300-62301]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-17839]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[IA-05-021]


In the Matter of Andrew Siemaszko; Amendment of Order Prohibiting 
Involvement INNRC-Licensed Activities

I

    On April 21, 2005, the NRC issued an order (Order or April 21, 2005 
Order) to Mr. Andrew Siemaszko, which, although not immediately 
effective, would prohibit his involvement in NRC-licensed activities 
for a period of five years for reasons stated therein. This amendment, 
which incorporates the April 21, 2005 Order as if fully set out herein, 
is issued solely for the purpose of providing notice to Mr. Siemaszko 
of additional grounds upon which the NRC staff relies in support of the 
April 21, 2005 Order.

II

    Based on the statement of facts set forth in the Order, the Staff 
determined, and hereunder reiterates, that Mr. Siemaszko engaged in 
deliberate misconduct in violation of 10 CFR 50.5(a)(2) in submitting 
to FENOC information that he knew to be incomplete or inaccurate in a 
respect material to the NRC. Under the relevant provisions of that 
regulation, an employee of a licensee may not deliberately submit to 
the NRC or a licensee information that the person submitting the 
information knows to be incomplete or inaccurate in some respect 
material to the NRC. In the Order, the Staff premised the finding that 
Mr. Siemaszko violated that regulation based on the actions described 
in the Order relating to two documents; Work Order No. 00-001846-000 
and Condition Report 2000-1037.
    The Staff has determined that Mr. Siemaszko's actions with respect 
to three additional documents which were submitted to the NRC present 
additional instances in which he engaged in deliberate misconduct in 
violation of 10 CFR 50.5(a)(2). Accordingly, notice is provided that 
the grounds upon which the April 21, 2005 Order was issued are hereby 
amended to include those instances as described below.

III

    On August 3, 2001, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued 
Bulletin 2001-001, ``Circumferential Cracking of Reactor Pressure 
Vessel Head Penetration Nozzles,'' (Bulletin) to holders of operating 
licenses for pressurized water nuclear power reactors. The NRC 
requested that addressees provide information related to the structural 
integrity of the reactor pressure vessel head penetration (VHP) nozzles 
for their respective facilities, including the extent of VHP nozzle 
leakage and cracking that had been found to date, the inspections and 
repairs that had been undertaken to satisfy applicable regulatory 
requirements, and the basis for concluding that their plans for future 
inspections would ensure compliance with applicable regulatory 
requirements. The information was required to be submitted to the NRC 
in writing in accordance with the 10 CFR 50.54(f).
    FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company's (FENOC's) supplemental 
written responses to the Bulletin, dated October 17, 2001 (Serial 
Letter 2735) and October 30, 2001 (Serial Letter 2741 and Serial letter 
2744), set forth inaccurate, incomplete or otherwise misleading 
information, provided by Mr. Siemaszko to FENOC which, in turn, 
provided it to the NRC. For instance, Mr. Siemaszko was the source of 
the information in a table summarizing the previous three (1996, 1998, 
2000) refueling outage nozzle inspection results which was included in 
Serial Letter 2735 (as attachment 2) which was included, with minor 
changes, in Serial Letter 2741 (as attachment 2). The information 
provided in that table did not accurately identify the nozzles that 
were obscured in those three outages. Mr. Siemaszko knew that the table 
included incomplete or inaccurate information in some respect material 
to the NRC but nevertheless, on October 17, 2001, he signed off on the 
issuance of Serial Letter 2735.
    Furthermore, Mr. Siemaszko provided inaccurate, incomplete or 
otherwise misleading information to FENOC,

[[Page 62301]]

which FENOC submitted to the NRC in FENOC's supplemental written 
response to the Bulletin, dated October 30, 2001 (Serial Letter 2744). 
For instance, Mr. Siemaszko produced, assembled and labeled the 
pictures which were included in Serial Letter 2744 as further proof of 
the safe condition of the head. However, Mr. Siemaszko mislabeled some 
of the pictures and knew that the collection of the pictures that were 
provided to the NRC did not accurately reveal the true condition of the 
head which in reality was substantially worse than shown through those 
images.

IV

    The NRC determined, in the April 21, 2005 Order, that Mr. 
Siemaszko's submission of inaccurate and incomplete information in 
condition report No. 2000-1037 and Work Order No. 00-001846-000 was of 
very high safety and regulatory significance. Had the NRC been aware of 
this incomplete and inaccurate information, the NRC would likely have 
taken immediate regulatory action to shut down the Davis-Besse plant 
and require FENOC to implement appropriate corrective actions. The 
additional examples cited above provide further support for the 
determination in the April 21, 2005 Order that NRC cannot have 
reasonable assurance that Mr. Siemaszko will conduct NRC-licensed 
activities in compliance with regulatory requirements. The NRC is not 
proposing to modify the sanctions which were imposed on Mr. Siemaszko 
in the April 21, 2005 Order or otherwise alter the statement or terms 
of that Order by the citation of these three additional examples.

V

    In accordance with 10 CFR 2.202, Mr. Siemaszko must, and any other 
person adversely affected by this Amendment of Order may, submit an 
answer to this Amendment of Order within 20 days of the date hereof. 
The answer shall, in writing and under oath or affirmation, 
specifically admit or deny each allegation or charge made in this 
Amendment of Order and shall set forth the matters of fact and law on 
which Mr. Siemaszko or other person adversely affected relies and the 
reasons as to why the Amendment of Order should not have been issued. 
Any answer shall be submitted to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Attn: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, Washington, DC 
20555-0001. Copies also shall be sent to the Director, Office of 
Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, to the Assistant General Counsel for Materials Litigation and 
Enforcement at the same address, to the Regional Administrator, NRC 
Region III, 2443 Warrenville Road, Lisle, Il 60532-4352, and to Mr. 
Siemaszko if the answer is by a person other than Mr. Siemaszko. 
Because of a potential disruption in delivery of mail to United States 
Government offices, it is requested that answer be transmitted to the 
Secretary of the Commission either by means of facsimile transmission 
to 301-415-1101 or by e-mail to hearingdocket@nrc.gov and also to the 
Office of the General Counsel either by means of facsimile transmission 
to 301-415-3725 or by e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. In light of the 
fact that Mr. Siemaszko filed a timely request for hearing relating to 
the April 21, 2005 Order, which hearing has been commenced, a further 
request for hearing is not required to be filed for this Amendment of 
Order.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    Dated this 17th day of October 2006.
Martin J. Virgilio,
Deputy Executive Director for Materials, Research, State and Compliance 
Programs, Office of the Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. E6-17839 Filed 10-23-06; 8:45 am]
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