In the Matter of Tennessee Valley Authority, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant; Confirmatory Order (Effective Immediately), 3103-3104 [E9-823]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 11 (Friday, January 16, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3103-3104]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-823]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos.: 50-327, 50-328; License Nos.: DPR-77, DPR-79; EA-08-211; 
NRC-2009-0006]


In the Matter of Tennessee Valley Authority, Sequoyah Nuclear 
Plant; Confirmatory Order (Effective Immediately)

I

    Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA or Licensee) is the holder of 
Operating License Nos. DPR-77 and DPR-79, issued by the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) pursuant to 10 CFR Part 50 on 
September 17, 1980, and September 15, 1981, respectively. The license 
authorizes the operation of Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, 
(Sequoyah or facility) in accordance with conditions specified therein. 
The facility is located on the Licensee's site in Soddy-Daisy, 
Tennessee.
    This Confirmatory Order is the result of an agreement reached 
during an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mediation session 
conducted on September 22, 2008.

II

    On April 18, 2008, the NRC's Office of Investigations (OI) 
completed an investigation (OI Case No. 2-2007-025) regarding 
activities at the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant. Based on the evidence 
developed during the investigation, the NRC staff concluded that on May 
31, 2007, a contract security sergeant at Sequoyah deliberately 
falsified an equipment inventory form, and caused TVA to be in apparent 
violation of NRC and licensee requirements, including 10 CFR 50.9(a), 
Completeness and Accuracy of Information, the Sequoyah Physical 
Security Plan, and implementing procedure NSDP-26, Weapons 
Accountability. The results of the investigation were sent to TVA in a 
letter dated August 15, 2008.

III

    On September 22, 2008, the NRC and TVA met in an ADR session 
mediated by a professional mediator, 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. The NRC and TVA agreed that a contract security supervisor at 
Sequoyah failed to conduct an adequate inventory of security equipment. 
To conceal the inadequate inventory, the supervisor deliberately 
destroyed the record of the inventory, and falsified a newly created 
record that replaced the destroyed document. These actions placed TVA 
in violation of 10 CFR 50.9(a), the Sequoyah Physical Security Plan, 
and Sequoyah Procedure NSDP-26.
    2. Based on TVA's review of the incident and NRC concerns with 
respect to precluding recurrence of the violation, TVA agreed to 
corrective actions and enhancements, as fully delineated in Section V 
of the Confirmatory Order.
    3. At the ADR session, the NRC and TVA agreed that the above 
elements involving the violation, and TVA's corrective actions and 
enhancements as delineated in Section V, will be incorporated into a 
Confirmatory Order. The resulting Confirmatory Order will beconsidered 
by the NRC for any assessment of Sequoyah, as appropriate.
    4. In consideration of the commitments 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 TVA of August 15, 2008 (EA-08-211).
    5. This agreement is binding upon successors and assigns of the 
Sequoyah Nuclear Plant and TVA.
    On December 12, 2008, the Licensee consented to issuance of this 
Order with the commitments, as described in Section V below. 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 agreed to take actions to address the 
violation as set forth in Section III above, 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 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 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 50, It is hereby ordered, 
effective immediately, that License Nos. DPR-77 and DPR-79 are modified 
as follows:
    a. TVA will ensure that site security procedures for all TVA 
nuclear sites are revised such that original documents required to be 
maintained by site security procedures are not destroyed, and are 
retained in accordance with regulatory requirements.
    b. As part of first line supervisory training for security 
supervisors, TVA will provide fleet-wide training related to Civil 
Treatment/Ethics, Roles of the Supervisor, Communication in the 
Workplace, Standards of Conduct, Coaching and Counseling Employees, 
Operational Issues and Operating Experience, Leadership, 
Administration, Client Interface/Service, Regulatory Reporting 
Requirements, Safety, and Security Observation Program. Upon completion 
of TVA's transition to an in-house security force, TVA will ensure that 
security supervisors receive training consistent with first line 
supervisors in other disciplines.
    c. TVA will ensure that security personnel at all TVA nuclear sites 
receive annual training on the use of TVA's internal programs for 
resolution of issues/deficiencies (e.g., Corrective Action Program, 
Employees Concerns Program), consistent with training received by TVA 
personnel requiring unescorted access to the TVA nuclear sites.
    d. Beginning within 30 days of the issuance of this Confirmatory 
Order, TVA will conduct a minimum of 15 observations of Sequoyah 
security activities each month, until TVA transitions to an in-house 
security force.
    e. TVA agrees to complete items V.a through V.d above no later than 
September 30, 2009.
    f. During TVA's transition to an in-house security force, each TVA 
nuclear site will conduct meetings at a minimum of twice each month 
with the security contractor, to monitor the status of corrective 
actions associated with the Security Independent Evaluation referenced 
below.
    g. TVA will assess the effectiveness of the corrective actions and 
enhancements identified in its Security Independent Evaluation, and the 
results

[[Page 3104]]

of this follow-up assessment will be factored into the TVA Corrective 
Action Program. TVA agrees to complete the assessment of the 
effectiveness of the corrective actions and enhancements no later than 
June 30, 2010.
    h. Upon completion of the terms of the Confirmatory Order, TVA will 
provide the NRC with a letter discussing its basis for concluding that 
the Order has been satisfied.
    The Regional Administrator, NRC Region II, may relax or rescind, in 
writing, any of the above conditions upon a showing by TVA of good 
cause.

VI

    Any person adversely affected by this Confirmatory Order, other 
than the Licensee, may request a hearing within 20 days of its 
issuance. 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 TVA 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 FR 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 
HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV, 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\TM\ to access the Electronic 
Information Exchange (EIE), a component of the E-Filing system. The 
Workplace Forms Viewer\TM\ is free and is available at https://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 https://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, it 
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 https://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 https://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 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 
https://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

    In the absence of any request for hearing, or written approval of 
an extension of time in which to request a hearing, the provisions 
specified in Section V above shall be final 20 days from the date of 
this Order without further order or proceedings. If an extension of 
time for requesting a hearing has been approved, the provisions 
specified in Section V shall be final when the extension expires if a 
hearing request has not been received. A request for hearing shall not 
stay the immediate effectiveness of this order.

    Dated this 5th day of January 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Victor M. McCree,
Deputy Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. E9-823 Filed 1-15-09; 8:45 am]
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