In the Matter of Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc; Confirmatory Order Modifying License (Effective Immediately), 5853-5856 [2012-2596]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 24 (Monday, February 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5853-5856]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-2596]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0028; Docket Nos.: 50-333; 50-313; 50-368; 50-416; 50-247; 
50-286; 50-255; 50-293; 50-458; 50-271; 50-382: License Nos.: DPR-59; 
DPR-51; NFP-6; NFP-29; DPR-26; DPR-64; DPR-20; DPR-35; NFP-47; DPR-28; 
NFP-38; EA-10-090; EA-10-248; EA-11-160]


In the Matter of Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc; Confirmatory 
Order Modifying License (Effective Immediately)

I

    Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy or licensee) is the 
holder of Operating License Nos. DPR-59, DPR-51, NFP-6, NFP-29, DPR-26, 
DPR-64, DPR-20, DPR-35, NFP-47, DPR-28, and NFP-38, issued by the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) pursuant to Title 
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 50. The licenses 
authorize operation of the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant, 
Arkansas Nuclear One Units 1 & 2, Grand Gulf Nuclear Station Unit 1, 
Indian Point Nuclear Generating Units 2 & 3, Palisades Nuclear Plant, 
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, River Bend Station, Vermont Yankee 
Nuclear Power Station and Waterford Steam Electric Station Unit 3 
(collectively, the Facilities), in accordance with conditions specified 
therein. The Facilities are located in the vicinity of the following 
cities: Oswego, New York; Russellville, Arkansas; Vicksburg, 
Mississippi; New York City, New York; South Haven, Michigan; Boston, 
Massachusetts; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Brattleboro, Vermont; and New 
Orleans, Louisiana; respectively.
    This Confirmatory Order is the result of an agreement reached 
during an ADR mediation session conducted on November 9, 2011, in the 
NRC Region I office in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

II

    On July 1, 2009, February 5, 2010, and April 8, 2010, the NRC 
Office of Investigations (OI) initiated separate investigations (OI 
Case Nos. 1-2009-041, 1-2010-019, and 1-2010-031, respectively) at 
Entergy's James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant facility 
(FitzPatrick). Based on the evidence developed during these 
investigations, the NRC concluded that FitzPatrick radiation protection 
technicians (RPTs), on occasions between 2006 and 2009, failed to: (1) 
Test required individuals for respirator fit in accordance with the 
requirements specified in 10 CFR Section 20.1703 and site procedures;
    (2) maintain accurate documentation of completed respirator fit 
tests in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 50.9; (3) perform 
and/or accurately document in accordance with site procedures required 
by Technical Specifications (TS) and 10 CFR 50.9, independent 
verification of Drywell Continuous Atmospheric Monitoring System valve 
positions after the valves were manipulated; (4) document a personal 
contamination event in accordance with site procedures required by TS; 
(5) perform a contamination survey in accordance with site procedures 
required by TS, prior to removing an item from the radiologically 
controlled area; and (6) perform daily radiological surveys in 
accordance with 10 CFR 20.1501(a).
    In a letter dated September 8, 2011, the NRC provided Entergy the 
results of the investigations, informed Entergy that escalated 
enforcement action was being considered for apparent violations 
identified during the investigations, and offered Entergy the 
opportunity to attend a predecisional enforcement conference or to 
participate in ADR.

III

    In response to the September 8, 2011 NRC letter, Entergy requested 
ADR. Consequently, on November 9, 2011, the NRC and Entergy 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 on resolving any differences 
regarding the dispute. During that ADR mediation session, an agreement 
in principle was reached. This Confirmatory Order is the result of that 
agreement, the elements of which consisted of the following:
    1. The NRC and Entergy agree on the facts as set forth in the NRC's 
September 8, 2011, letter to Entergy, the violations described therein, 
and willfulness of some of the violations, including deliberate actions 
by one of the RPTs.
    2. The NRC agrees that Entergy, upon receiving the information from 
the NRC regarding these issues, immediately conducted a comprehensive 
investigation into the issues. Entergy also ensured affected staff were 
properly re-tested for respirator fit and determined there were no 
previous radiological uptakes for the time period in question.
    3. In addition, the NRC acknowledges that, prior to the ADR 
session, Entergy took a number of corrective actions in response to the 
violations identified at the FitzPatrick site, so as to preclude the 
occurrence of similar violations in the future. These actions included:
    A. Completed Corrective Actions affecting the FitzPatrick site:
    a. Actions to address Individual Accountability:
    i. Reviewed and adjudicated the unescorted access authorization 
with individuals involved in the respirator fit test issue and 
subsequent radiation protection (RP) performance issues.
    ii. Completed disciplinary reviews/actions against the individuals 
involved with the conduct of or the receipt of a respirator 
qualification without performance of a quantitative fit test and 
subsequent RP performance issues.
    iii. Conducted a series of station and small group meetings between 
Entergy senior management and staff to reinforce station expectations 
with regard to raising issues via available station processes and 
procedure compliance.
    b. Actions to improve RP Procedures/Processes, and adherence to 
standards:

[[Page 5854]]

    i. Completed actions to address identified RP respirator test 
deficiencies as documented in condition report CR-JAF-2009-02298. An 
apparent cause evaluation was performed to identify the causes and 
corrective actions.
    ii. Increased management oversight of RP activities, as a 
corrective action implemented as a result of CR-JAF-2010-1419, which 
identified an adverse trend in RP Department performance. Management 
provided coaching and other training to other RP supervision and 
personnel to enhance effectiveness.
    iii. Modified the mask fit test procedure to require individuals 
being tested to sign a statement affirming that the mask fit test was 
performed. Management also reviewed and modified the operation of the 
portable fit test machine.
    iv. Required RP technicians to complete focused training to 
remediate the work practices identified during the extent of condition 
review and fact finding and to bring them into alignment with station 
procedures and expectations.
    c. Actions to identify the extent that procedure compliance/safety 
culture issues may exist in other areas:
    i. Conducted a review of other processes that could be affected by 
single act vulnerabilities.
    ii. Completed focused crew assessments regarding departments 
outside of RP.
    iii. Performed an extent of condition review by an independent 
reviewer regarding activities outside of RP.
    iv. Completed an independent safety culture assessment, and 
developed and completed actions to enhance the safety culture at 
FitzPatrick.
    v. Implemented cross-functional observations by managers of other 
departments with a focus on procedure adherence and enforcement of 
standards in the conduct of work.
    d. Performed an effectiveness review of corrective actions taken to 
enhance procedural compliance and related work practices in the 
FitzPatrick RP Department. Additionally, Entergy Quality Assurance 
personnel performed a minimum of two observations of each shift RPT to 
confirm that the technicians performed assigned tasks in accordance 
with applicable procedures.
    B. Completed Corrective Actions affecting the Entergy Nuclear 
Fleet:
    a. Completed safety culture assessments at each of Entergy's nine 
commercial nuclear power plants in 2009.
    b. Conducted training for Entergy nuclear fleet personnel, 
including personnel at FitzPatrick, on the requirements of 10 CFR 50.5 
and 50.9. Supervisors and above, as well as those non-supervisors who 
have responsibility for communicating with the NRC, received 
instructor-based training. Others received computer-based training.
    c. Provided training to detect and prevent retaliation (based on 
the requirements of 10 CFR 50.7) to supervisors and above at 
FitzPatrick and other fleet sites.
    d. Entergy's Chief Nuclear Officer sent a message to the entire 
Entergy nuclear workforce, via electronic mail, informing them of the 
underlying misconduct related to the violations and stressing the 
importance of integrity.
    4. As part of the settlement agreement in principle, Entergy also 
agreed to take additional actions to ensure that the effectiveness of 
corrective actions previously taken, and to ensure that lessons learned 
from these events, is extended to the Entergy fleet and to the 
industry:
    A. Entergy will review its existing fleet-wide general employee 
training to ensure adequate coverage of the lessons learned from the 
event that formed the basis for the Confirmatory Order (CO), regarding 
both procedural compliance and the requirement to maintain complete and 
accurate records in accordance with 10 CFR 50.9. Entergy will document 
the results of this review of the general employee training within 60 
days after the issuance of the CO. If this review reveals a need to 
revise the general employee training, Entergy will make the appropriate 
revisions within 180 days of the date of the CO.
    B. Entergy will prepare a case study about the event that formed 
the basis of the CO, highlighting the role of those who had the 
opportunity to detect, report, and prevent the misconduct, as well as 
on the actions of the individuals who engaged in the misconduct. The 
Site Vice President or General Manager for Plant Operations at each of 
Entergy's nine commercial nuclear power plants will present the case 
study during two station-wide meetings to ensure that both day and 
night shift personnel will have the opportunity to attend. Entergy will 
complete these presentations within 180 days of the date of the CO. 
Entergy will make this case study available for NRC review before 
conducting these station-wide meetings.
    C. Within 90 days of the date of the CO, Entergy will add a 
commitment to the commitment tracking system to maintain the safety 
culture monitoring processes as described in NEI 09-07 ``Fostering a 
Strong Nuclear Safety Culture,'' or similar processes, at Entergy's 
nine commercial nuclear power plants.
    D. Within 90 days of the date of the CO, Entergy will review its 
procedure EN-QV-136, Nuclear Safety Culture Monitoring, which 
implements the safety culture monitoring processes in NEI 09-07 
``Fostering a Strong Nuclear Safety Culture,'' to determine whether the 
procedure (if that procedure had been in effect at the time of the 
violations) would have detected the safety culture weaknesses that led 
to the misconduct that formed the basis for the CO. If the review 
indicates that the implementation of that procedure may not have 
detected the weaknesses, Entergy will develop enhancements to the NEI 
process that would improve the ability to detect those weaknesses and 
revise the Entergy procedure accordingly. Entergy will complete this 
procedure revision, if needed, within 120 days of the completion of 
that review. Additionally, within 30 days after revising its procedure, 
Entergy will provide the results of its review to NEI for its 
consideration in revising NEI document 09-07 ``Fostering a Strong 
Nuclear Safety Culture.'' Entergy will make the results of this review 
available for NRC review.
    E. Within 360 days of the date of the CO, Entergy will deliver a 
presentation to Regional Utility Groups (RUG) or Plant Managers 
Meetings at Regions I, II, III, and IV, which will discuss the events 
that led to this CO, the lessons learned, and actions taken. If any of 
the RUGS or Plant Managers Meetings schedules will not support 
completion of this action, Entergy will contact the Regional 
Administrator, Region I, to provide notice and to resolve the 
scheduling issue.
    F. Within 360 days of the date of the CO, Entergy will develop an 
assessment plan and conduct an assessment consistent with that plan of 
the RP Departments at the nine Entergy commercial nuclear power plants. 
That assessment will review the rigor with which members of the RP 
Departments perform and document routine department activities. If 
those assessments identify performance or documentation issues, Entergy 
will enter those issues into its corrective action programs. Prior to 
the conduct of the first assessment, Entergy will make the assessment 
plan available to the NRC for review.
    G. Within 30 days of completion of all of the actions described in 
items 4A-F, Entergy will send the NRC a letter informing the Commission 
that all actions are complete, to facilitate NRC confirmatory reviews.
    5. Entergy also agreed to notify the senior resident inspectors at 
each of the Entergy sites, regarding the dates and

[[Page 5855]]

times of the site-wide case study presentation meetings, described 
above in Item 4.B, which will be conducted at their respective sites.
    In light of the actions that Entergy took as noted in Item 3, as 
well as the additional actions Entergy committed to as described in 
Items 4 and 5, the NRC agreed to not issue a civil penalty for the 
violations that are the subject of this ADR.
    On January 20, 2012, the Licensee consented to issuing this Order 
with the commitments, as described in Section V below. Entergy 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 additional actions to address 
NRC concerns, as set forth in Item III above, the NRC has concluded 
that its concerns can be resolved through issuance of this Confirmatory 
Order.
    I find that Entergy'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 
Entergy's commitments be confirmed by this Order. Based on the above 
and Entergy's consent, this Confirmatory 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:
    A. Entergy will review its existing fleet-wide general employee 
training to ensure adequate coverage of the lessons learned from the 
event that formed the basis for the CO, regarding both procedural 
compliance and the requirement to maintain complete and accurate 
records in accordance with 10 CFR 50.9. Entergy will document the 
results of this review of the general employee training within 60 days 
after the issuance of the CO. If this review reveals a need to revise 
the general employee training, Entergy will make the appropriate 
revisions within 180 days of the date of the CO.
    B. Entergy will prepare a case study about the event that formed 
the basis of the CO, highlighting the role of those who had the 
opportunity to detect, report, and prevent the misconduct, as well as 
on the actions of the individuals who engaged in the misconduct. The 
Site Vice President or General Manager for Plant Operations at each of 
Entergy's nine commercial nuclear power plants will present the case 
study during two station-wide meetings to ensure that both day and 
night shift personnel will have the opportunity to attend. Entergy will 
complete these presentations within 180 days of the date of the CO. 
Entergy will make this case study available for NRC review before 
conducting these station-wide meetings, and will notify the senior 
resident inspectors at each of the Entergy sites regarding the dates 
and times of these meetings at their respective sites.
    C. Within 90 days of the date of the CO, Entergy will add a 
commitment to the commitment tracking system to maintain the safety 
culture monitoring processes as described in NEI 09-07 ``Fostering a 
Strong Nuclear Safety Culture,'' or similar processes, at Entergy's 
nine commercial nuclear power plants.
    D. Within 90 days of the date of the CO, Entergy will review its 
procedure EN-QV-136, Nuclear Safety Culture Monitoring, which 
implements the safety culture monitoring processes in NEI 09-07 
``Fostering a Strong Nuclear Safety Culture,'' to determine whether the 
procedure (if that procedure had been in effect at the time of the 
violations) would have detected the safety culture weaknesses that led 
to the misconduct that formed the basis for the CO. If the review 
indicates that the implementation of that procedure may not have 
detected the weaknesses, Entergy will develop enhancements to the NEI 
process that would improve the ability to detect those weaknesses and 
revise the Entergy procedure accordingly. Entergy will complete this 
procedure revision, if needed, within 120 days of the completion of 
that review. Additionally, within 30 days after revising its procedure, 
Entergy will provide the results of its review to NEI for its 
consideration in revising NEI document 09-07 ``Fostering a Strong 
Nuclear Safety Culture.'' Entergy will make the results of this review 
available for NRC review.
    E. Within 360 days of the date of the CO, Entergy will deliver a 
presentation to Regional Utility Groups (RUG) or Plant Managers 
Meetings at Regions I, II, III, and IV, which will discuss the events 
that led to this CO, the lessons learned, and actions taken. If any of 
the RUGS or Plant Managers Meetings schedules will not support 
completion of this action, Entergy will contact the Regional 
Administrator, Region I, to provide notice and to resolve the 
scheduling issue.
    F. Within 360 days of the date of the CO, Entergy will develop an 
assessment plan and conduct an assessment consistent with that plan of 
the RP Departments at the nine Entergy commercial nuclear power plants. 
That assessment will review the rigor with which members of the RP 
Departments perform and document routine department activities. If 
those assessments identify performance or documentation issues, Entergy 
will enter those issues into its corrective action programs. Prior to 
the conduct of the first assessment, Entergy will make the assessment 
plan available to the NRC for review.
    G. Within 30 days of completion of all of the actions described in 
items A-F, Entergy will send the NRC a letter informing the Commission 
that all actions are complete, to facilitate NRC confirmatory reviews.
    The NRC Region I Regional Administrator, may, in writing, relax or 
rescind any of the above conditions upon demonstration by Entergy of 
good cause.

VI

    Any person adversely affected by this Confirmatory Order, other 
than Entergy, may request a hearing within 20 days of its 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 made in writing to the Director, Office of 
Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, 
and include a statement of good cause for the extension.
    All documents filed in NRC adjudicatory proceedings, including a 
request for hearing, a petition for leave to intervene, any motion or 
other document filed in the proceeding prior to the submission of a 
request for hearing or petition to intervene, and documents filed by 
interested governmental entities participating under 10 CFR 2.315(c), 
must be filed in accordance with the NRC E-Filing rule (72 FR 49139, 
August 28, 2007). The E-Filing process requires participants to submit 
and serve all adjudicatory documents over the internet, or in some 
cases to mail copies on electronic storage media. Participants may not 
submit paper copies of their filings unless they seek an exemption in 
accordance with the procedures described below.
    To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least 
ten (10) days prior to the filing deadline, the participant should 
contact the Office of the Secretary by email at

[[Page 5856]]

hearing.docket@nrc.gov, or by telephone at (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 proceeding in which it is participating; and 
(2) advise the Secretary that the participant will be submitting a 
request or petition for hearing (even in instances in which the 
participant, or its counsel or representative, already holds an NRC-
issued digital ID certificate). Based upon this information, the 
Secretary will establish an electronic docket for the hearing in this 
proceeding if the Secretary has not already established an electronic 
docket.
    Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is 
available on NRC's public Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html system requirements for accessing 
the E-Submittal server are detailed in NRC's ``Guidance for Electronic 
Submission,'' which is available on the agency's public Web site at 
https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. Participants may 
attempt to use other software not listed on the Web site, but should 
note that the NRC's E-Filing system does not support unlisted software, 
and the NRC Meta System Help Desk will not be able to offer assistance 
in using unlisted software.
    If a participant is electronically submitting a document to the NRC 
in accordance with the E-filing rule, the participant must file the 
document using the NRC's online, Web-based submission form. In order to 
serve documents through the Electronic Information Exchange (EIE), 
users will be required to install a Web browser plug-in from the NRC 
Web site. Further information on the Web-based submission form, 
including the installation of the Web browser plug-in, is available on 
the NRC's public Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html.
    Once a participant has obtained a digital ID certificate and a 
docket has been created, the participant can then submit a request for 
hearing or petition for leave to intervene. 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 
documents are submitted through the NRC's E-Filing system. To be 
timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the E-Filing 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 email notice confirming receipt of the document. The 
E-Filing system also distributes an email 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 
documents on those participants separately. Therefore, applicants and 
other participants (or their counsel or representative) must apply for 
and receive a digital ID certificate before a hearing request/petition 
to intervene is filed so that they can obtain access to the document 
via the E-Filing system.
    A person filing electronically using the agency's adjudicatory E-
Filing system may seek assistance by contacting the NRC Meta System 
Help Desk through the ``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC Web site 
at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html, by email at 
MSHD.Resource@nrc.gov, or by a toll-free call at (866) 672-7640. The 
NRC Meta System Help Desk is available between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., 
Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, excluding government holidays.
    Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not 
submitting documents electronically must file an exemption request, 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. A presiding officer, 
having granted an exemption request from using E-Filing, may require a 
participant or party to use E-Filing if the presiding officer 
subsequently determines that the reason for granting the exemption from 
use of E-Filing no longer exists.
    Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in 
NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at 
https://adams.nrc.gov/ehd/, unless excluded pursuant to an order of the 
Commission, or the 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, unless an NRC 
regulation or other law requires submission of such information. 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 submission.
    If a person (other than Entergy) requests a hearing, that person 
shall set forth with particularity the manner in which his interest is 
adversely affected by this Confirmatory 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.
    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 this 
Confirmatory Order is published in the Federal Register 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.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
     Dated this 26th day of January 2012.
William M. Dean,
Regional Administrator, NRC Region I.
[FR Doc. 2012-2596 Filed 2-3-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P