U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant; Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant; and Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, 35828-35835 [2017-16178]
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 146 / Tuesday, August 1, 2017 / Notices
originally scheduled to close on August
2, 2017. The NRC has decided to extend
the public comment period on this
document until August 16, 2017, to
allow more time for members of the
public to submit their comments.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 27th day
of July, 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Alexander D. Garmoe,
Acting Chief, Generic Communications
Branch, Division of Policy and Rulemaking,
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017–16153 Filed 7–31–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50–390; 50–391; 50–259; 50–
260; 50–296; 50–327; 50–328; License Nos.
NPF–90; NPF–96; DPR–33; DPR–52; DPR–
68; DPR–77; DPR–79; EA–17–022; NRC–
2017–0172]
U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority, Watts
Bar Nuclear Plant; Browns Ferry
Nuclear Plant; and Sequoyah Nuclear
Plant
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Confirmatory order; issuance.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) issued a
confirmatory order (Order) to U.S.
Tennessee Valley Authority (the
licensee), confirming the agreement
reached in an Alternative Dispute
Resolution mediation session held on
June 9, 2017. This Order will ensure the
licensee restores compliance with NRC’s
regulations.
DATES: The Order was issued on July 27,
2017.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID
NRC–2017–0172 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of
information regarding this document.
You may obtain publicly-available
information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2017–0172. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol
Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For
technical questions, contact the
individual listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this
document.
• NRC’s Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at
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SUMMARY:
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https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.
html. To begin the search, select
‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then
select ‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS
Search.’’ For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC’s Public
Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737, or by
e-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The
ADAMS accession number for each
document referenced (if it is available in
ADAMS) is provided the first time that
it is mentioned in this document.
• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and
purchase copies of public documents at
the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Scott Sparks, Region II, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Atlanta,
Georgia 30303–1257; telephone: 404–
997–4422; e-mail: Scott.Sparks@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of
the Order is attached.
Dated at Atlanta, Georgia, this 27th day of
July 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Leonard D. Wert,
Deputy Regional Administrator for
Operations.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50–390; 50–391; 50–259;
50–260; 50–296; 50–327; 50–328;
License Nos. NPF–90; NPF–96; DPR–33;
DPR–52; DPR–68; DPR–77; DPR–79;
EA–17–022; NRC–2017–0172]
In the Matter of U.S. Tennessee Valley
Authority, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant;
Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant; and
Sequoyah Nuclear Plant
CONFIRMATORY ORDER
(EFFECTIVE UPON ISSUANCE)
I
U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA or Licensee) is the holder of
Operating License Nos. NPF–90; and
NPF–96; DPR–33; DPR–52; DPR–68;
DPR–77; and DPR–79; issued by the
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC or Commission) pursuant to part
50 of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR). The licenses
authorize the operation of the Watts Bar
Nuclear Plant (WBN) Units 1 and 2,
Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 2
and 3, and Sequoyah Nuclear Plant,
Units 1 and 2, in accordance with
conditions specified therein. These
facilities are located in Spring City,
Tennessee, Athens, Alabama, and
Soddy Daisy, Tennessee, respectively.
This Confirmatory Order (CO) is the
result of an agreement reached during
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an alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
mediation session conducted on June 9,
2017.
II
On December 1, 2016, the U. S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
completed a Problem Identification and
Resolution inspection at TVA’s Watts
Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN), Units 1 and
2 (Inspection Report 05000390/2016013,
05000391/2016013, ML17069A133).
The results of the inspection were
transmitted to TVA by letter dated
March 10, 2017, and included the
identification of one Apparent Violation
(AV) of a previously issued CO, (EA–
09–009,203, dated December 22, 2009,
ML093510993). The AV involved the
following:
Confirmatory Order Modifying
License, (EA–09–009,203) dated
December 22, 2009, (ML093510993)
states, in part, that by no later than
ninety (90) calendar days after the
issuance of this Confirmatory Order,
TVA shall implement a process to
review proposed licensee adverse
employment actions at TVA’s nuclear
plant sites before actions are taken to
determine whether the proposed action
comports with employee protection
regulations, and whether the proposed
actions could negatively impact the
Safety Conscious Work Environment
(SCWE). Such a process should consider
actions to mitigate a potential chilling
effect if the employment action, despite
its legitimacy, could be perceived as
retaliatory by the workforce.
Additionally, by no later than one
hundred twenty (120) calendar days
after the issuance of the Confirmatory
Order, TVA shall implement a process
to review proposed significant adverse
employment actions by contractors
performing services at TVA’s nuclear
plant sites before the actions are taken
to determine whether the proposed
action comports with employee
protection regulations, and whether the
proposed action could negatively
impact the SCWE. Such a process will
likewise consider actions to mitigate a
potential chilling effect if the
employment action, despite its
legitimacy, could be perceived as
retaliatory by the workforce.
TVA implements the above process
through procedure NPG–SPP–11.10,
Adverse Employment Action. NPG–
SPP–11.10, Section 3.2.2, entitled
‘‘Review Process—Personnel Actions
Impacting TVA Employees,’’ paragraph
D, states that the ‘‘Vice President (or
designee) will complete section 3, Vice
President Record of Action of form
41175’’ (attachment 2 to NPG–SPP–
11.10). Form 41175, entitled ‘‘TVA
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41175 Adverse Employment Action
Review’’, states that ‘‘the purpose of the
review is to ensure that proposed
actions: (1) are warranted; (2) do not
occur because an individual has
engaged in a protected activity; and (3)
do not create the perception that
persons were retaliated against because
they engaged in a protected activity.’’
Additional actions are delineated in
NPG–SPP–11.10 Sections 3.2.2,
subsections A, B, C, E, F, G, related to
the positions of the Vice President, Line
Manager and the Human Resource
Representative, and in Section 3.2.3,
entitled ‘‘Review Process—Personnel
Actions Impacting Contractors.’’
Contrary to the above, from November
2014 to August 2016, TVA failed to
comply with Confirmatory Order (EA–
09–009,203), in that WBN: (1) failed to
implement a process to review proposed
licensee adverse employment actions at
WBN before actions were taken to
determine whether the proposed action
comports with employee protection
regulations, and whether the proposed
actions could negatively impact the
SCWE; and (2) failed to implement a
process to review proposed significant
adverse employment actions by
contractors performing services at
TVA’s nuclear plant sites before the
actions were taken to determine
whether the proposed action comports
with employee protection regulations,
and whether the proposed action could
negatively impact the SCWE. WBN
failed to comply with the CO because
the site failed to implement procedure
NPG–SPP–11.10, ‘‘Adverse Employment
Action.’’ Specifically, the Vice President
(or designee) failed to complete Form
41175, entitled ‘‘TVA 41175 Adverse
Employment Action Review’’ as
required by Section 3.2.3.D, for multiple
adverse employment actions taken
against TVA and contractor personnel
during this time period. Additionally,
the Vice President, Line Management,
and HR Representatives did not perform
procedural steps that were required by
procedure NPG–SPP–11.10, subsection
3.2.2.A, B, C, E, F, and G, and in Section
3.2.3.
In response to the NRC’s inspection
report of March 10, 2017, TVA advised
of its desire to participate in the
Agency’s ADR program to resolve the
enforcement aspects of this matter.
III
On June 9, 2017, 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
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parties in reaching an agreement or
resolving any differences regarding their
dispute. This CO 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 the
issue described above represents a
violation of regulatory requirements.
The NRC and TVA agree that the
violation is a significant matter.
2. Based on a review of the incident,
TVA completed a number of corrective
actions and enhancements to preclude
recurrence of the violation including,
but not limited to, the following:
a. Performance of a Level I Root Cause
Analysis (RCA), COC condition report
(CR) 1271309, WBN Failure to
Implement Adverse Employment Action
Process, dated May 26, 2017, which
identified direct, root, and contributing
causes of the violation. The RCA also
included an extent of condition review,
an extent of cause review, and identified
specific corrective actions that were
entered into TVA’s Corrective Action
Program. TVA concluded that the
causes and corrective actions are
applicable to all TVA nuclear sites.
b. TVA took immediate actions to
reinforce the requirements in the
Adverse Employment Action process to
TVA Nuclear Suppliers and Contractors
and to TVA Contract Technical
Stewards (CTS).
c. Establishment of an Executive
Review Board (ERB) process to review
procedurally specified personnel
actions to ensure that actions do not
constitute retaliation based on employee
personal participation in protected
activities. The ERB process and
procedure was informed by
benchmarking other organizations in the
nuclear industry. The ERB may be
advised by representatives from human
resources, legal and ECP as appropriate,
so that ERB is informed if the subject
employee has engaged in any known
relevant protected activity.
d. TVA communicated the following
to nuclear employees, via a written Fleet
Focus memo from the Chief Nuclear
Officer, entitled ‘‘Key Revisions to
Adverse Employment Action
Procedure,’’ dated June 6, 2017: a
summary of the AV, the results of TVA’s
root cause analysis, purpose of the
Adverse Action process, planned
actions to correct the process, and
expectations for managers to consider
the impact of an adverse action on the
organizational SCWE and need to
communicate effectively to employees.
e. TVA hired an experienced
Executive Safety Culture Advisor, to
review and observe activities at TVA
through December 31, 2017. This
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consultant is contracted to conduct
leadership observations and provide
insights to TVA executives regarding
leadership behaviors to continue to
improve TVA’s nuclear safety culture
and SCWE.
f. TVA hired a third-party,
independent consultant to perform a
comprehensive nuclear safety culture
assessment at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant
in order to assess the Nuclear Safety
Culture and Safety Conscious Work
Environment programs.
3. Based on TVA’s review of the
incident and NRC’s concerns with
respect to precluding recurrence of the
violation, TVA agrees to implement the
following corrective actions and
enhancements:
a. Communication
1) By no later than three months after
issuance of the CO, the TVA Chief
Nuclear Executive Officer (CNO) shall:
a) Inform all working status TVA
nuclear first line supervisory employees
and above, as of the date of this CO,
about employee protections and the
need to maintain an environment free
from even the appearance of retaliation
or discrimination.
b) As a followup to the written
communication issued by the CNO on
June 6, 2017, conduct a video briefing
by the CNO for all working status TVA
nuclear employees and contractors who
perform NRC regulated activities,
describing the following: 1) reason why
TVA’s implementation of the Adverse
Employment Action process as required
by the 2009 CO had not been fully
effective, 2) a brief summary regarding
the background and reason the Adverse
Employment Action Process exists, 3)
summary of the NRC’s concerns
expressed in the March 2017 Inspection
Report, 4) the corrective actions both
taken and planned to restore TVA’s
compliance, and 5) informing
employees of the possible avenues
(including to the NRC) that they have to
raise concerns as outlined in TVA–SPP–
11.8.4, Expressing Concerns and
Differing Views. TVA shall make this
video briefing available to the NRC.
c) Document that all working status
TVA nuclear employees and contractors
who perform NRC regulated activities
(i.e. individuals who work on safetyrelated structures, systems, and
components) as of the date of this CO
have received the one time video
briefing, which will also require
responses to one or more questions to
document employee understanding in
order to receive credit for the training.
d) Each site Vice President shall
conduct an All Hands meeting at each
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TVA nuclear site. During the meeting
employees will be allowed the
opportunity to provide feedback and ask
questions of management related to the
communications listed above.
2) By no later than four months after
issuance of the CO, TVA shall ensure
that its nuclear safety culture and safety
conscious work environment policies
and guidance (e.g., procedures), are in
place, updated, and consistent with: 1)
the NRC’s March 2011 Safety Culture
Policy Statement and associated traits
described within; and 2) the NRC’s May
1996 Safety Conscious Work
Environment Policy Statement; and are
informed by: 1) the NRC’s Regulatory
Issue Summary 2005–18, ‘‘Guidance for
Establishing and Maintaining a Safety
Conscious Work Environment’’; and 2)
the industry’s common language
initiative (i.e. , INPO 12–012, Revision
1, April 2013).
a) TVA shall make updated policies
and guidance available to the NRC, and
b) TVA will make updated policies
and guidance available to employees,
and inform employees where related
materials are located.
3) By no later than six months after
issuance of the CO, a Senior TVA
manager shall share the company’s
experiences and insights with respect to
the importance of properly
implementing an Adverse Employment
Action process, including lessons
learned and actions taken by TVA, in a
presentation to other nuclear utilities at
an industry meeting.
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b. Training
1) By no later than three months after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall
acquire an independent third party who
is experienced with NRC employee
protection regulations (10 CFR 50.7,
Section 211 of the Energy
Reorganization Act, as amended), and
nuclear safety culture and safety
conscious work environment policies to
assist TVA in development of initial and
refresher training on employee
protection and safety conscious work
environment.
a) Training shall include:
i) case study examples of
discriminatory practices as well as
examples related to the adverse action
process implementation.
ii) the definition of key terms
included in employee protection
regulations, nuclear safety culture and
safety conscious work environment
policy statements, and be informed by
the industry’s common language
initiative (e.g., nuclear safety issue,
protected activity, adverse action,
nuclear safety culture traits).
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iii) behavioral expectations for
demonstrating support for raising
nuclear safety and quality concerns
without fear of retaliation, and available
avenues for raising concerns.
iv) how to properly implement the
adverse employment action process
including at a minimum discussion on
the following:
(1) Disciplinary action is not taken as
a result of an employee’s engagement in
activities protected by the employee
protection regulations of 10 CFR 50.7;
(2) Determination if the action could
be perceived as negatively impacting
any individual or organizational aspect
of Safety Conscious Work Environment,
cause a potential chilling effect or be
perceived as retaliatory, independent of
discipline legitimacy.
b) The training material shall be
available to the NRC upon request.
c) Training records shall be retained
consistent with applicable TVA record
retention policies and be made available
to the NRC upon request.
2) The training will be provided
within one year and on an annual basis
thereafter, to, at a minimum, all working
status nuclear business group
supervisory employees, contractor
supervisory employees involved in
nuclear related work activities, human
resource staff involved in the adverse
employment action process, employee
concerns program staff, contract
technical stewards for nuclear related
work activities, and the personnel in the
TVA Office of General Counsel who are
engaged in nuclear related work
activities.
(3) New supervisory employees shall
complete initial training through inperson or computer based training,
within three months of their hire or
promotion effective date. The training
shall require, at a minimum, a
discussion of the training material with
personnel in the TVA Office of General
Counsel who are engaged in nuclear
related work activities.
(4) The initial training for personnel
specified in III.3.b.2 who work at WBN
and personnel in the TVA Office of
General Counsel who are engaged in
nuclear related work activities shall be
conducted in-person by the
independent third-party. Initial training
for the other employees specified in
III.3.b.2 and subsequent refresher
training shall be conducted by
personnel in the TVA Office of General
Counsel who are engaged in nuclear
related work activities.
c. Work Processes
(1) By no later than six months after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall
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maintain a uniform process to ensure
independent management review of all
proposed adverse actions in accordance
with the procedure. This process shall
be executed by an ERB chaired by a
TVA Vice President or above. The ERB
shall, at a minimum, review proposed
adverse employment actions to include
suspensions (one or more days off
without pay), terminations for cause,
involuntary reduction in force, and nofault terminations of employment.
(2) By no later than three months after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall revise
the Adverse Employment Action
procedure to require all adverse
employment actions, as described in
III.3.c.1), to be reviewed for potential
effects on the safety conscious work
environment, regardless of whether the
employee engaged in a protected
activity.
(3) By no later than three years after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall
perform in-person benchmarking of at
least two external organizations in the
nuclear industry with developed
adverse employment action processes,
specifically including ERBs.
(4) Develop individual performance
appraisal assessment criteria for nuclear
vice presidents and plant managers, to
evaluate if these individuals are meeting
expectations with regard to employee
protection, nuclear safety culture, and
safety conscious work environment for
their respective organizations. The
assessment criteria and results of the
evaluation shall be documented in their
performance appraisals for the 2017,
2018, and 2019 performance review
cycles.
(5) Within six months following
issuance of the CO, TVA shall revise
Nuclear Safety Culture Monitoring
guidance to incorporate a requirement
for the Senior Leadership Team to
conduct a review of Adverse
Employment Actions to identify
potential trends that could impact an
organization’s nuclear safety culture.
(6) By no later than three months after
issuance of the CO, TVA shall reinforce
through a written fleet communication
that personnel who may have engaged
in work associated with NRC-regulated
activities departing the company have
the opportunity to participate in an
Employee Concerns Program Exit
Interview/Survey to facilitate
identification of nuclear safety issues
and identifying resulting trends and
conclusions as part of the TVA
Employee Checkout process.
(7) By no later than six months after
issuance of the CO, TVA shall establish
procedural guidance for a safety culture
peer team outlining additional oversight
specifically focused on fleet wide safety
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culture performance and safety
conscious work environment at all TVA
nuclear locations.
(a) The peer team will assess, at least
twice a year, the nuclear safety culture
trends in process inputs that could be
early indications of a nuclear safety
culture weakness.
(b) The peer team guidance shall be
informed by guidance in NEI’s 09–07,
Revision 1, Fostering a Healthy Nuclear
Safety Culture.
(c) The initial implementation of the
peer team will be advised by an external
consultant with extensive nuclear
experience.
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d. Independent Oversight
(1) Beginning in 2017, an independent
third-party shall perform quarterly
audits for the first year after the date of
issuance of the CO, and semi-annually
for the next two years, of the adverse
employment action process to evaluate
whether TVA is in compliance with the
Adverse Employment Action Process.
The independent person/group shall be
experienced with NRC employee
protection regulations (10 CFR 50.7,
Section 211 of the Energy
Reorganization Act, as amended),
nuclear safety culture and safety
conscious work environment, and ERBs.
The third-party chosen to audit the
adverse action process must be
independent of TVA, and must have
had no direct, previous involvement
with implementation of the adverse
employment action process at TVA. The
audit shall include reviewing all
adverse employment actions,
periodically attending ERBs, reviewing
chilling effect mitigation plans, and
providing recommendations as
appropriate. The audit shall evaluate
whether the process is effective at
determining whether adverse
employment actions comport with
employee protection regulations,
whether adverse employment actions
could negatively impact the SCWE, and
developing plans to mitigate the
potential chilling effects of adverse
employment actions. The third-party
shall report all findings and
recommendations from the audits to the
CNO. The audits shall be available for
NRC review. This shall remain in effect
for three years after issuance of the CO.
(2) By no later than three months after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall
modify its process for conducting
pulsing surveys such that it is informed
by the adverse action process. Pulsing
surveys shall be conducted, as
appropriate, shortly after a SCWE
mitigation plan has been implemented
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to assess whether additional mitigation
actions are necessary.
e. Assess and Monitor Nuclear Safety
Culture and Safety Conscious Work
Environment
(1) An independent nuclear safety
culture (NSC) assessment, consistent
with industry practices, shall be
conducted at WBN in 2017. Within one
year of issuance of the CO, TVA shall
perform an independent NSC
assessment consistent with industry
practices, at Browns Ferry Nuclear
Plant, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant and
Corporate Nuclear. One additional
independent NSC assessment shall be
performed at each site, within
approximately two years of the first
assessment at that site. TVA shall
compare the result of the assessment
with prior years’ survey results in an
effort to identify trends. TVA shall
evaluate the results and develop,
implement, and track to completion
corrective actions to address weaknesses
identified through the assessments. TVA
shall make the results of each survey
and the planned corrective actions
available for NRC review after the
development of the planned corrective
actions.
(2) TVA shall maintain a nuclear
safety culture monitoring panel,
informed by the guidance in NEI’s 09–
07, Revision 1, Fostering a Healthy
Nuclear Safety Culture.
(3) By no later than three months after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall
develop initial and refresher training for
members of the nuclear safety culture
monitoring panel. The initial and
refresher training shall be developed by
an independent third-party familiar
with nuclear safety culture, and include
behavioral indicators of a declining
safety culture, as well as actions to
address a declining safety culture.
f. Other
(1) TVA’s RCA identified a
contributing cause (CC–03) of the
violation to involve a deficiency in its
holistic framework for managing COs.
To preclude recurrence of the violation
related to this contributing cause, TVA
agrees to the following corrective
actions:
(a) Within four months of issuance of
the CO, TVA shall conduct a review of
all previously issued COs.
(i) The review shall entail:
(1) an assessment of the safety impact
of CC–03 on the nuclear fleet;
(2) an evaluation of compliance with
previously issued COs,
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35831
(3) identification of periods of time
when TVA was not in compliance with
previously issued COs,
(4) corrective actions taken and
planned and timeline to restore
compliance, and corrective actions
taken and planned to preclude
recurrence.
(ii) TVA shall submit the results of the
review to the NRC within one month of
completion of the review.
(b) Within six months of issuance of
the CO, TVA shall revise corporate and
site procedures, as appropriate, to
ensure that current and future CO
requirements continue to be met.
(c) Three years after issuance of the
CO (+/¥ 3 months), TVA will perform
an assessment of the effectiveness of
corrective actions taken in response to
CC–03. Any identified violations or
other deficiencies will be incorporated
into the Corrective Action Program
(CAP). This assessment will be made
available for NRC review.
4. Upon completion of the terms of
items of the CO, TVA will provide the
NRC with a letter discussing its basis for
concluding that the Order has been
satisfied.
5. The NRC considers the corrective
actions and enhancements discussed in
Items III.2 and III.3 above to be
appropriately prompt and
comprehensive to address the causes
which gave rise to the incident
discussed in the NRC’s IR of March 10,
2017.
6. The NRC and TVA agree that the
above elements will be incorporated
into issuance of a CO.
7. In consideration of the
commitments delineated above, the
NRC agrees to refrain from proposing a
civil penalty or issuing a Notice of
Violation, for all matters discussed in
the NRC’s IR to TVA dated March 10,
2017 (EA–17–022).
8. This agreement is binding upon
successors and assigns of TVA.
On July 21, 2017, TVA consented to
issuance of this Order with the
commitments, as described in Section V
below. TVA further agreed that this
Order is to be effective upon issuance
and that it has waived its right to a
hearing.
IV
Because TVA has agreed to take
additional actions to address NRC
concerns, as set forth in Section III
above, the NRC has concluded that its
concerns can be resolved through
issuance of this CO.
I find that TVA’s commitments as set
forth in Section V are acceptable and
necessary and conclude that with these
commitments, the public health and
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safety are reasonably assured. In view of
the foregoing, I have determined that
public health and safety require that
TVA’s commitments be confirmed by
this Order. Based on the above and
TVA’s consent, this CO is effective upon
issuance.
V
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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,
THAT LICENSE NOS. NPF–90, NPF–96,
DPR–33, DPR–52, DPR–68, DPR–77,
AND DPR–79 IS MODIFIED FOLLOWS:
1. TVA agrees to implement the
following corrective actions and
enhancements:
a. Communication
(1) By no later than three months after
issuance of the CO, the TVA CNO shall:
(a) Inform all working status TVA
nuclear first line supervisory employees
and above, as of the date of this CO,
about employee protections and the
need to maintain an environment free
from even the appearance of retaliation
or discrimination.
(b) As a follow up to the written
communication issued by the CNO on
June 6, 2017, conduct a video briefing
by the CNO for all working status TVA
nuclear employees and contractors who
perform NRC regulated activities,
describing the following: (1) reason why
TVA’s implementation of the Adverse
Employment Action process as required
by the 2009 CO had not been fully
effective, (2) a brief summary regarding
the background and reason the Adverse
Employment Action Process exists, (3)
summary of the NRC’s concerns
expressed in the March 2017 Inspection
Report, (4) the corrective actions both
taken and planned to restore TVA’s
compliance, and (5) informing
employees of the possible avenues
(including to the NRC) that they have to
raise concerns as outlined in TVA–SPP–
11.8.4, Expressing Concerns and
Differing Views. TVA shall make this
video briefing available to the NRC.
(c) Document that all working status
TVA nuclear employees and contractors
who perform NRC regulated activities
(i.e. individuals who work on safetyrelated structures, systems, and
components) as of the date of this CO
have received the one time video
briefing, which will also require
responses to one or more questions to
document employee understanding in
order to receive credit for the training.
(d) Each site Vice President shall
conduct an All Hands meeting at each
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TVA nuclear site. During the meeting
employees will be allowed the
opportunity to provide feedback and ask
questions of management related to the
communications listed above.
(2) By no later than four months after
issuance of the CO, TVA shall ensure
that its nuclear safety culture and safety
conscious work environment policies
and guidance (e.g., procedures), are in
place, updated, and consistent with: 1)
the NRC’s March 2011 Safety Culture
Policy Statement and associated traits,
described within; and 2) the NRC’s May
1996 Safety Conscious Work
Environment Policy Statement; and are
informed by: 1) the NRC’s Regulatory
Issue Summary 2005–18, ‘‘Guidance for
Establishing and Maintaining a Safety
Conscious Work Environment’’; and 2)
the industry’s common language
initiative (i.e. , INPO 12- 012, Revision
1, April 2013).
(a) TVA shall make updated policies
and guidance available to the NRC, and
(b) TVA will make updated policies
and guidance available to employees,
and inform employees where related
materials are located.
(3) By no later than six months after
issuance of the CO, a Senior TVA
manager shall share the company’s
experiences and insights with respect to
the importance of properly
implementing an Adverse Employment
Action process, including lessons
learned and actions taken by TVA, in a
presentation to other nuclear utilities at
an industry meeting.
b. Training
(1) By no later than three months after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall
acquire an independent third party who
is experienced with NRC employee
protection regulations (10 CFR 50.7,
Section 211 of the Energy
Reorganization Act, as amended), and
nuclear safety culture and safety
conscious work environment policies to
assist TVA in development of initial and
refresher training on employee
protection and safety conscious work
environment.
(a) Training shall include:
(i) case study examples of
discriminatory practices as well as
examples related to the adverse action
process implementation.
(ii) the definition of key terms
included in employee protection
regulations, nuclear safety culture and
safety conscious work environment
policy statements, and be informed by
the industry’s common language
initiative (e.g., nuclear safety issue,
protected activity, adverse action,
nuclear safety culture traits).
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(iii) behavioral expectations for
demonstrating support for raising
nuclear safety and quality concerns
without fear of retaliation, and available
avenues for raising concerns.
(iv) how to properly implement the
adverse employment action process
including at a minimum discussion on
the following:
(1) Disciplinary action is not taken as
a result of an employee’s engagement in
activities protected by the employee
protection regulations of 10 CFR 50.7;
(2) Determination if the action could
be perceived as negatively impacting
any individual or organizational aspect
of Safety Conscious Work Environment,
cause a potential chilling effect or be
perceived as retaliatory, independent of
discipline legitimacy.
(b) The training material shall be
available to the NRC upon request.
(c) Training records shall be retained
consistent with applicable TVA record
retention policies and be made available
to the NRC upon request.
(2) The training will be provided
within one year and on an annual basis
thereafter, to, at a minimum, all working
status nuclear business group
supervisory employees, contractor
supervisory employees involved in
nuclear related work activities, human
resource staff involved in the adverse
employment action process, employee
concerns program staff, contract
technical stewards for nuclear related
work activities, and the personnel in the
TVA Office of General Counsel who are
engaged in nuclear related work
activities.
(3) New supervisory employees shall
complete initial training through inperson or computer based training
within three months of their hire or
promotion effective date. The training
shall require, at a minimum, a
discussion of the training material with
personnel in the TVA Office of General
Counsel who are engaged in nuclear
related work activities.
(4) The initial training for personnel
specified in V.1.b.2 who work at Watts
Bar and personnel in the TVA Office of
General Counsel who are engaged in
nuclear related work activities shall be
conducted in-person by the
independent third-party. Initial training
for the other employees specified in
V.1.b.2 and subsequent refresher
training shall be conducted by
personnel in the TVA Office of General
Counsel who are engaged in nuclear
related work activities.
c. Work Processes
(1) By no later than six months after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall
maintain a uniform process to ensure
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independent management review of all
proposed adverse actions in accordance
with the procedure. This process shall
be executed by an ERB chaired by a
TVA Vice President or above. The ERB
shall, at a minimum, review proposed
adverse employment actions to include
suspensions (one or more days off
without pay), terminations for cause,
involuntary reduction in force, and nofault terminations of employment.
(2) By no later than three months after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall revise
the Adverse Employment Action
procedure to require all adverse
employment actions, as described in
V.1.c.1), to be reviewed for potential
effects on the safety conscious work
environment, regardless of whether the
employee engaged in a protected
activity.
(3) By no later than three years after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall
perform in-person benchmarking of at
least two external organizations in the
nuclear industry with developed
adverse employment action processes,
specifically including ERBs.
(4) Develop individual performance
appraisal assessment criteria for nuclear
vice presidents and plant managers, to
evaluate if these individuals are meeting
expectations with regard to employee
protection, nuclear safety culture, and
safety conscious work environment for
their respective organizations. The
assessment criteria and results of the
evaluation shall be documented in their
performance appraisals for the 2017,
2018, and 2019 performance review
cycles.
(5) Within six months following
issuance of the CO, TVA shall revise
Nuclear Safety Culture Monitoring
guidance to incorporate a requirement
for the Senior Leadership Team to
conduct a review of Adverse
Employment Actions to identify
potential trends that could impact an
organization’s nuclear safety culture.
(6) By no later than three months after
issuance of the CO, TVA shall reinforce
through a written fleet communication
that personnel who may have engaged
in work associated with NRC-regulated
activities departing the company have
the opportunity to participate in an
Employee Concerns Program Exit
Interview/Survey to facilitate
identification of nuclear safety issues
and identifying resulting trends and
conclusions as part of the TVA
Employee Checkout process.
(7) By no later than six months after
issuance of the CO, TVA shall establish
procedural guidance for a safety culture
peer team outlining additional oversight
specifically focused on fleet wide safety
culture performance and safety
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conscious work environment at all TVA
nuclear locations.
(a) The peer team will assess, at least
twice a year, the nuclear safety culture
trends in process inputs that could be
early indications of a nuclear safety
culture weakness.
(b) The peer team guidance shall be
informed by guidance in NEI’s 09–07,
Fostering a Healthy Nuclear Safety
Culture, Rev. 1.
(c) The initial implementation of the
peer team will be advised by an external
consultant with extensive nuclear
experience.
d. Independent Oversight
(1) Beginning in 2017, an independent
third-party shall perform quarterly
audits for the first year after the date of
issuance of the CO, and semi-annually
for the next two years, of the adverse
employment action process to evaluate
whether TVA is in compliance with the
Adverse Employment Action Process.
The independent person/group shall be
experienced with NRC employee
protection regulations (10 CFR 50.7,
Section 211 of the Energy
Reorganization Act, as amended),
nuclear safety culture and safety
conscious work environment, and ERBs.
The third-party chosen to audit the
adverse action process must be
independent of TVA, and must have
had no direct, previous involvement
with implementation of the adverse
employment action process at TVA. The
audit shall include reviewing all
adverse employment actions,
periodically attending ERBs, reviewing
chilling effect mitigation plans, and
providing recommendations as
appropriate. The audit shall evaluate
whether the process is effective at
determining whether adverse
employment actions comport with
employee protection regulations,
whether adverse employment actions
could negatively impact the SCWE, and
developing plans to mitigate the
potential chilling effects of adverse
employment actions. The third-party
shall report all findings and
recommendations from the audits to the
CNO. The audits shall be available for
NRC review. This shall remain in effect
for three years after issuance of the CO.
(2) By no later than three months after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall
modify its process for conducting
pulsing surveys such that it is informed
by the adverse action process. Pulsing
surveys shall be conducted, as
appropriate, shortly after a SCWE
mitigation plan has been implemented
to assess whether additional mitigation
actions are necessary.
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e. Assess and Monitor Nuclear Safety
Culture and Safety Conscious Work
Environment
(1) An independent nuclear safety
culture (NSC) assessment, consistent
with industry practices, shall be
conducted at WBN in 2017. Within one
year of issuance of the CO, TVA shall
perform an independent NSC
assessment consistent with industry
practices, at Browns Ferry Nuclear
Plant, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, and
Corporate Nuclear. One additional NSC
assessment shall be performed at each
site, within approximately two years of
the first assessment at that site. TVA
shall compare the result of the
assessment with prior years’ survey
results in an effort to identify trends.
TVA shall evaluate the results and
develop, implement, and track to
completion corrective actions to address
weaknesses identified through the
assessments. TVA shall make the results
of each survey and the planned
corrective actions available for NRC
review after the development of the
planned corrective actions.
(2) TVA shall maintain a nuclear
safety culture monitoring panel,
informed by the guidance in NEI’s 09–
07, Revision 1, Fostering a Healthy
Nuclear Safety Culture.
(3) By no later than three months after
the issuance of the CO, TVA shall
develop initial and refresher training for
members of the nuclear safety culture
monitoring panel. The initial and
refresher training shall be developed by
an independent third-party familiar
with nuclear safety culture, and include
behavioral indicators of a declining
safety culture, as well as actions to
address a declining safety culture.
f. Other
(1) TVA’s RCA identified a
contributing cause (CC–03) of the
violation to involve a deficiency in its
holistic framework for managing COs.
To preclude recurrence of the violation
related to this contributing cause, TVA
agrees to the following corrective
actions:
(a) Within four months of issuance of
the CO, TVA shall conduct a review of
all previously issued COs. TVA shall
submit the results of the review to the
NRC within one month of completion of
the review. The review shall entail:
(i) an assessment of the safety impact
of CC–03 on the nuclear fleet;
(ii) an evaluation of compliance with
previously issued COs,
(iii) periods of time when TVA was
not in compliance with previously
issued COs,
(iv) corrective actions taken and
planned and timeline to restore
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compliance, and corrective actions
taken and planned to preclude
recurrence.
(b) Within six months of issuance of
the CO, TVA shall revise corporate and
site procedures, as appropriate, to
ensure that current and future CO
requirements continue to be met.
(c) Three years after issuance of the
CO (+/¥ 3 months), TVA will perform
an assessment of the effectiveness of
corrective actions taken in response to
CC–03. Any identified violations or
other deficiencies will be incorporated
into the CAP. This assessment will be
made available for NRC review.
(2) Upon completion of the terms of
items of the CO, TVA will provide the
NRC with a letter discussing its basis for
concluding that the Order has been
satisfied.
(3) 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.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.202 and
10 CFR 2.309, any person adversely
affected by this CO, other than TVA,
may request a hearing within 30
calendar days of the date of issuance of
this CO. 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, as
amended at 77 FR 46562, August 3,
2012). 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 e-mail at
hearing.docket@nrc.gov, or by telephone
at (301) 415–1677, to request (1) a
digital identification (ID) certificate,
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which allows the participant (or its
counsel or representative) to digitally
sign documents and access the ESubmittal 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 NRCissued 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/
getting-started.html. System
requirements for accessing the ESubmittal 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
Electronic Filing 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 System (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/esubmittals.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 through the EIE
System. 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/esubmittals.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
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the submitter an e-mail 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 Electronic Filing
Help Desk through the ‘‘Contact Us’’
link located on the NRC Web site at
https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/esubmittals.html, by e-mail at
MSHD.Resource@nrc.gov, or by a tollfree call at (866) 672–7640. The NRC
Electronic Filing Help Desk is available
between 9 a.m. and 6 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 stating why there is good cause for
not filing electronically and 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 firstclass 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.
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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 TVA) requests
a hearing, that person shall set forth
with particularity the manner in which
his interest is adversely affected by this
CO 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 CO 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 30 days
from the date of this CO 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.
Dated at Atlanta, Georgia, this 27th day of
July, 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Leonard D. Wert,
Deputy Regional Administrator for
Operations.
[FR Doc. 2017–16178 Filed 7–31–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
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[NRC–2017–0169]
Biweekly Notice; Applications and
Amendments to Facility Operating
Licenses and Combined Licenses
Involving No Significant Hazards
Considerations
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
AGENCY:
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ACTION:
Biweekly notice.
Pursuant to Section 189a. (2)
of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as
amended (the Act), the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) is
publishing this regular biweekly notice.
The Act requires the Commission to
publish notice of any amendments
issued, or proposed to be issued, and
grants the Commission the authority to
issue and make immediately effective
any amendment to an operating license
or combined license, as applicable,
upon a determination by the
Commission that such amendment
involves no significant hazards
consideration, notwithstanding the
pendency before the Commission of a
request for a hearing from any person.
This biweekly notice includes all
notices of amendments issued, or
proposed to be issued, from July 4, 2017
to July 17, 2017. The last biweekly
notice was published on July 18, 2017.
DATES: Comments must be filed by
August 31, 2017. A request for a hearing
must be filed by October 2, 2017.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
by any of the following methods (unless
this document describes a different
method for submitting comments on a
specific subject):
• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2017–0169. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol
Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463;
email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For
technical questions, contact the
individual listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this
document.
• Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey,
Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN–8–D36M, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001.
For additional direction on obtaining
information and submitting comments,
see ‘‘Obtaining Information and
Submitting Comments’’ in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of
this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Paula Blechman, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415–
2242, email: Paula.Blechman@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
I. Obtaining Information and
Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2017–
0169, facility name, unit number(s),
plant docket number, application date,
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35835
and subject, when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for
this action. You may obtain publiclyavailable information related to this
action by any of the following methods:
• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2017–0169.
• NRC’s Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html. To begin the search, select
‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then
select ‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS
Search.’’ For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC’s Public
Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737, or by
email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The
ADAMS accession number for each
document referenced (if it is available in
ADAMS) is provided the first time that
it is mentioned in this document.
• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and
purchase copies of public documents at
the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC–2017–
0169, facility name, unit number(s),
plant docket number, application date,
and subject in your comment
submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include
identifying or contact information that
you do not want to be publicly
disclosed in your comment submission.
The NRC posts all comment
submissions at https://
www.regulations.gov as well as entering
the comment submissions into ADAMS.
The NRC does not routinely edit
comment submissions to remove
identifying or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating
comments from other persons for
submission to the NRC, then you should
inform those persons not to include
identifying or contact information that
they do not want to be publicly
disclosed in their comment submission.
Your request should state that the NRC
does not routinely edit comment
submissions to remove such information
before making the comment
submissions available to the public or
entering the comment submissions into
ADAMS.
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 146 (Tuesday, August 1, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35828-35835]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-16178]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-390; 50-391; 50-259; 50-260; 50-296; 50-327; 50-328;
License Nos. NPF-90; NPF-96; DPR-33; DPR-52; DPR-68; DPR-77; DPR-79;
EA-17-022; NRC-2017-0172]
U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant; Browns
Ferry Nuclear Plant; and Sequoyah Nuclear Plant
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Confirmatory order; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a
confirmatory order (Order) to U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority (the
licensee), confirming the agreement reached in an Alternative Dispute
Resolution mediation session held on June 9, 2017. This Order will
ensure the licensee restores compliance with NRC's regulations.
DATES: The Order was issued on July 27, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0172 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0172. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; e-mail: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in this
document.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Sparks, Region II, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-1257; telephone: 404-997-
4422; e-mail: Scott.Sparks@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the Order is attached.
Dated at Atlanta, Georgia, this 27th day of July 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Leonard D. Wert,
Deputy Regional Administrator for Operations.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-390; 50-391; 50-259; 50-260; 50-296; 50-327; 50-328;
License Nos. NPF-90; NPF-96; DPR-33; DPR-52; DPR-68; DPR-77; DPR-79;
EA-17-022; NRC-2017-0172]
In the Matter of U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority, Watts Bar Nuclear
Plant; Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant; and Sequoyah Nuclear Plant
CONFIRMATORY ORDER
(EFFECTIVE UPON ISSUANCE)
I
U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA or Licensee) is the holder of
Operating License Nos. NPF-90; and NPF-96; DPR-33; DPR-52; DPR-68; DPR-
77; and DPR-79; issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC
or Commission) pursuant to part 50 of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR). The licenses authorize the operation of the Watts
Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN) Units 1 and 2, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant,
Units 1, 2 and 3, and Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, in
accordance with conditions specified therein. These facilities are
located in Spring City, Tennessee, Athens, Alabama, and Soddy Daisy,
Tennessee, respectively.
This Confirmatory Order (CO) is the result of an agreement reached
during an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mediation session
conducted on June 9, 2017.
II
On December 1, 2016, the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
completed a Problem Identification and Resolution inspection at TVA's
Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN), Units 1 and 2 (Inspection Report
05000390/2016013, 05000391/2016013, ML17069A133). The results of the
inspection were transmitted to TVA by letter dated March 10, 2017, and
included the identification of one Apparent Violation (AV) of a
previously issued CO, (EA-09-009,203, dated December 22, 2009,
ML093510993). The AV involved the following:
Confirmatory Order Modifying License, (EA-09-009,203) dated
December 22, 2009, (ML093510993) states, in part, that by no later than
ninety (90) calendar days after the issuance of this Confirmatory
Order, TVA shall implement a process to review proposed licensee
adverse employment actions at TVA's nuclear plant sites before actions
are taken to determine whether the proposed action comports with
employee protection regulations, and whether the proposed actions could
negatively impact the Safety Conscious Work Environment (SCWE). Such a
process should consider actions to mitigate a potential chilling effect
if the employment action, despite its legitimacy, could be perceived as
retaliatory by the workforce.
Additionally, by no later than one hundred twenty (120) calendar
days after the issuance of the Confirmatory Order, TVA shall implement
a process to review proposed significant adverse employment actions by
contractors performing services at TVA's nuclear plant sites before the
actions are taken to determine whether the proposed action comports
with employee protection regulations, and whether the proposed action
could negatively impact the SCWE. Such a process will likewise consider
actions to mitigate a potential chilling effect if the employment
action, despite its legitimacy, could be perceived as retaliatory by
the workforce.
TVA implements the above process through procedure NPG-SPP-11.10,
Adverse Employment Action. NPG-SPP-11.10, Section 3.2.2, entitled
``Review Process--Personnel Actions Impacting TVA Employees,''
paragraph D, states that the ``Vice President (or designee) will
complete section 3, Vice President Record of Action of form 41175''
(attachment 2 to NPG-SPP-11.10). Form 41175, entitled ``TVA
[[Page 35829]]
41175 Adverse Employment Action Review'', states that ``the purpose of
the review is to ensure that proposed actions: (1) are warranted; (2)
do not occur because an individual has engaged in a protected activity;
and (3) do not create the perception that persons were retaliated
against because they engaged in a protected activity.''
Additional actions are delineated in NPG-SPP-11.10 Sections 3.2.2,
subsections A, B, C, E, F, G, related to the positions of the Vice
President, Line Manager and the Human Resource Representative, and in
Section 3.2.3, entitled ``Review Process--Personnel Actions Impacting
Contractors.''
Contrary to the above, from November 2014 to August 2016, TVA
failed to comply with Confirmatory Order (EA-09-009,203), in that WBN:
(1) failed to implement a process to review proposed licensee adverse
employment actions at WBN before actions were taken to determine
whether the proposed action comports with employee protection
regulations, and whether the proposed actions could negatively impact
the SCWE; and (2) failed to implement a process to review proposed
significant adverse employment actions by contractors performing
services at TVA's nuclear plant sites before the actions were taken to
determine whether the proposed action comports with employee protection
regulations, and whether the proposed action could negatively impact
the SCWE. WBN failed to comply with the CO because the site failed to
implement procedure NPG-SPP-11.10, ``Adverse Employment Action.''
Specifically, the Vice President (or designee) failed to complete Form
41175, entitled ``TVA 41175 Adverse Employment Action Review'' as
required by Section 3.2.3.D, for multiple adverse employment actions
taken against TVA and contractor personnel during this time period.
Additionally, the Vice President, Line Management, and HR
Representatives did not perform procedural steps that were required by
procedure NPG-SPP-11.10, subsection 3.2.2.A, B, C, E, F, and G, and in
Section 3.2.3.
In response to the NRC's inspection report of March 10, 2017, TVA
advised of its desire to participate in the Agency's ADR program to
resolve the enforcement aspects of this matter.
III
On June 9, 2017, 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 CO 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 the issue described above represents
a violation of regulatory requirements. The NRC and TVA agree that the
violation is a significant matter.
2. Based on a review of the incident, TVA completed a number of
corrective actions and enhancements to preclude recurrence of the
violation including, but not limited to, the following:
a. Performance of a Level I Root Cause Analysis (RCA), COC
condition report (CR) 1271309, WBN Failure to Implement Adverse
Employment Action Process, dated May 26, 2017, which identified direct,
root, and contributing causes of the violation. The RCA also included
an extent of condition review, an extent of cause review, and
identified specific corrective actions that were entered into TVA's
Corrective Action Program. TVA concluded that the causes and corrective
actions are applicable to all TVA nuclear sites.
b. TVA took immediate actions to reinforce the requirements in the
Adverse Employment Action process to TVA Nuclear Suppliers and
Contractors and to TVA Contract Technical Stewards (CTS).
c. Establishment of an Executive Review Board (ERB) process to
review procedurally specified personnel actions to ensure that actions
do not constitute retaliation based on employee personal participation
in protected activities. The ERB process and procedure was informed by
benchmarking other organizations in the nuclear industry. The ERB may
be advised by representatives from human resources, legal and ECP as
appropriate, so that ERB is informed if the subject employee has
engaged in any known relevant protected activity.
d. TVA communicated the following to nuclear employees, via a
written Fleet Focus memo from the Chief Nuclear Officer, entitled ``Key
Revisions to Adverse Employment Action Procedure,'' dated June 6, 2017:
a summary of the AV, the results of TVA's root cause analysis, purpose
of the Adverse Action process, planned actions to correct the process,
and expectations for managers to consider the impact of an adverse
action on the organizational SCWE and need to communicate effectively
to employees.
e. TVA hired an experienced Executive Safety Culture Advisor, to
review and observe activities at TVA through December 31, 2017. This
consultant is contracted to conduct leadership observations and provide
insights to TVA executives regarding leadership behaviors to continue
to improve TVA's nuclear safety culture and SCWE.
f. TVA hired a third-party, independent consultant to perform a
comprehensive nuclear safety culture assessment at Watts Bar Nuclear
Plant in order to assess the Nuclear Safety Culture and Safety
Conscious Work Environment programs.
3. Based on TVA's review of the incident and NRC's concerns with
respect to precluding recurrence of the violation, TVA agrees to
implement the following corrective actions and enhancements:
a. Communication
1) By no later than three months after issuance of the CO, the TVA
Chief Nuclear Executive Officer (CNO) shall:
a) Inform all working status TVA nuclear first line supervisory
employees and above, as of the date of this CO, about employee
protections and the need to maintain an environment free from even the
appearance of retaliation or discrimination.
b) As a followup to the written communication issued by the CNO on
June 6, 2017, conduct a video briefing by the CNO for all working
status TVA nuclear employees and contractors who perform NRC regulated
activities, describing the following: 1) reason why TVA's
implementation of the Adverse Employment Action process as required by
the 2009 CO had not been fully effective, 2) a brief summary regarding
the background and reason the Adverse Employment Action Process exists,
3) summary of the NRC's concerns expressed in the March 2017 Inspection
Report, 4) the corrective actions both taken and planned to restore
TVA's compliance, and 5) informing employees of the possible avenues
(including to the NRC) that they have to raise concerns as outlined in
TVA-SPP-11.8.4, Expressing Concerns and Differing Views. TVA shall make
this video briefing available to the NRC.
c) Document that all working status TVA nuclear employees and
contractors who perform NRC regulated activities (i.e. individuals who
work on safety-related structures, systems, and components) as of the
date of this CO have received the one time video briefing, which will
also require responses to one or more questions to document employee
understanding in order to receive credit for the training.
d) Each site Vice President shall conduct an All Hands meeting at
each
[[Page 35830]]
TVA nuclear site. During the meeting employees will be allowed the
opportunity to provide feedback and ask questions of management related
to the communications listed above.
2) By no later than four months after issuance of the CO, TVA shall
ensure that its nuclear safety culture and safety conscious work
environment policies and guidance (e.g., procedures), are in place,
updated, and consistent with: 1) the NRC's March 2011 Safety Culture
Policy Statement and associated traits described within; and 2) the
NRC's May 1996 Safety Conscious Work Environment Policy Statement; and
are informed by: 1) the NRC's Regulatory Issue Summary 2005-18,
``Guidance for Establishing and Maintaining a Safety Conscious Work
Environment''; and 2) the industry's common language initiative (i.e. ,
INPO 12-012, Revision 1, April 2013).
a) TVA shall make updated policies and guidance available to the
NRC, and
b) TVA will make updated policies and guidance available to
employees, and inform employees where related materials are located.
3) By no later than six months after issuance of the CO, a Senior
TVA manager shall share the company's experiences and insights with
respect to the importance of properly implementing an Adverse
Employment Action process, including lessons learned and actions taken
by TVA, in a presentation to other nuclear utilities at an industry
meeting.
b. Training
1) By no later than three months after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall acquire an independent third party who is experienced with NRC
employee protection regulations (10 CFR 50.7, Section 211 of the Energy
Reorganization Act, as amended), and nuclear safety culture and safety
conscious work environment policies to assist TVA in development of
initial and refresher training on employee protection and safety
conscious work environment.
a) Training shall include:
i) case study examples of discriminatory practices as well as
examples related to the adverse action process implementation.
ii) the definition of key terms included in employee protection
regulations, nuclear safety culture and safety conscious work
environment policy statements, and be informed by the industry's common
language initiative (e.g., nuclear safety issue, protected activity,
adverse action, nuclear safety culture traits).
iii) behavioral expectations for demonstrating support for raising
nuclear safety and quality concerns without fear of retaliation, and
available avenues for raising concerns.
iv) how to properly implement the adverse employment action process
including at a minimum discussion on the following:
(1) Disciplinary action is not taken as a result of an employee's
engagement in activities protected by the employee protection
regulations of 10 CFR 50.7;
(2) Determination if the action could be perceived as negatively
impacting any individual or organizational aspect of Safety Conscious
Work Environment, cause a potential chilling effect or be perceived as
retaliatory, independent of discipline legitimacy.
b) The training material shall be available to the NRC upon
request.
c) Training records shall be retained consistent with applicable
TVA record retention policies and be made available to the NRC upon
request.
2) The training will be provided within one year and on an annual
basis thereafter, to, at a minimum, all working status nuclear business
group supervisory employees, contractor supervisory employees involved
in nuclear related work activities, human resource staff involved in
the adverse employment action process, employee concerns program staff,
contract technical stewards for nuclear related work activities, and
the personnel in the TVA Office of General Counsel who are engaged in
nuclear related work activities.
(3) New supervisory employees shall complete initial training
through in-person or computer based training, within three months of
their hire or promotion effective date. The training shall require, at
a minimum, a discussion of the training material with personnel in the
TVA Office of General Counsel who are engaged in nuclear related work
activities.
(4) The initial training for personnel specified in III.3.b.2 who
work at WBN and personnel in the TVA Office of General Counsel who are
engaged in nuclear related work activities shall be conducted in-person
by the independent third-party. Initial training for the other
employees specified in III.3.b.2 and subsequent refresher training
shall be conducted by personnel in the TVA Office of General Counsel
who are engaged in nuclear related work activities.
c. Work Processes
(1) By no later than six months after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall maintain a uniform process to ensure independent management
review of all proposed adverse actions in accordance with the
procedure. This process shall be executed by an ERB chaired by a TVA
Vice President or above. The ERB shall, at a minimum, review proposed
adverse employment actions to include suspensions (one or more days off
without pay), terminations for cause, involuntary reduction in force,
and no-fault terminations of employment.
(2) By no later than three months after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall revise the Adverse Employment Action procedure to require all
adverse employment actions, as described in III.3.c.1), to be reviewed
for potential effects on the safety conscious work environment,
regardless of whether the employee engaged in a protected activity.
(3) By no later than three years after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall perform in-person benchmarking of at least two external
organizations in the nuclear industry with developed adverse employment
action processes, specifically including ERBs.
(4) Develop individual performance appraisal assessment criteria
for nuclear vice presidents and plant managers, to evaluate if these
individuals are meeting expectations with regard to employee
protection, nuclear safety culture, and safety conscious work
environment for their respective organizations. The assessment criteria
and results of the evaluation shall be documented in their performance
appraisals for the 2017, 2018, and 2019 performance review cycles.
(5) Within six months following issuance of the CO, TVA shall
revise Nuclear Safety Culture Monitoring guidance to incorporate a
requirement for the Senior Leadership Team to conduct a review of
Adverse Employment Actions to identify potential trends that could
impact an organization's nuclear safety culture.
(6) By no later than three months after issuance of the CO, TVA
shall reinforce through a written fleet communication that personnel
who may have engaged in work associated with NRC-regulated activities
departing the company have the opportunity to participate in an
Employee Concerns Program Exit Interview/Survey to facilitate
identification of nuclear safety issues and identifying resulting
trends and conclusions as part of the TVA Employee Checkout process.
(7) By no later than six months after issuance of the CO, TVA shall
establish procedural guidance for a safety culture peer team outlining
additional oversight specifically focused on fleet wide safety
[[Page 35831]]
culture performance and safety conscious work environment at all TVA
nuclear locations.
(a) The peer team will assess, at least twice a year, the nuclear
safety culture trends in process inputs that could be early indications
of a nuclear safety culture weakness.
(b) The peer team guidance shall be informed by guidance in NEI's
09-07, Revision 1, Fostering a Healthy Nuclear Safety Culture.
(c) The initial implementation of the peer team will be advised by
an external consultant with extensive nuclear experience.
d. Independent Oversight
(1) Beginning in 2017, an independent third-party shall perform
quarterly audits for the first year after the date of issuance of the
CO, and semi-annually for the next two years, of the adverse employment
action process to evaluate whether TVA is in compliance with the
Adverse Employment Action Process. The independent person/group shall
be experienced with NRC employee protection regulations (10 CFR 50.7,
Section 211 of the Energy Reorganization Act, as amended), nuclear
safety culture and safety conscious work environment, and ERBs. The
third-party chosen to audit the adverse action process must be
independent of TVA, and must have had no direct, previous involvement
with implementation of the adverse employment action process at TVA.
The audit shall include reviewing all adverse employment actions,
periodically attending ERBs, reviewing chilling effect mitigation
plans, and providing recommendations as appropriate. The audit shall
evaluate whether the process is effective at determining whether
adverse employment actions comport with employee protection
regulations, whether adverse employment actions could negatively impact
the SCWE, and developing plans to mitigate the potential chilling
effects of adverse employment actions. The third-party shall report all
findings and recommendations from the audits to the CNO. The audits
shall be available for NRC review. This shall remain in effect for
three years after issuance of the CO.
(2) By no later than three months after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall modify its process for conducting pulsing surveys such that it is
informed by the adverse action process. Pulsing surveys shall be
conducted, as appropriate, shortly after a SCWE mitigation plan has
been implemented to assess whether additional mitigation actions are
necessary.
e. Assess and Monitor Nuclear Safety Culture and Safety Conscious Work
Environment
(1) An independent nuclear safety culture (NSC) assessment,
consistent with industry practices, shall be conducted at WBN in 2017.
Within one year of issuance of the CO, TVA shall perform an independent
NSC assessment consistent with industry practices, at Browns Ferry
Nuclear Plant, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant and Corporate Nuclear. One
additional independent NSC assessment shall be performed at each site,
within approximately two years of the first assessment at that site.
TVA shall compare the result of the assessment with prior years' survey
results in an effort to identify trends. TVA shall evaluate the results
and develop, implement, and track to completion corrective actions to
address weaknesses identified through the assessments. TVA shall make
the results of each survey and the planned corrective actions available
for NRC review after the development of the planned corrective actions.
(2) TVA shall maintain a nuclear safety culture monitoring panel,
informed by the guidance in NEI's 09-07, Revision 1, Fostering a
Healthy Nuclear Safety Culture.
(3) By no later than three months after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall develop initial and refresher training for members of the nuclear
safety culture monitoring panel. The initial and refresher training
shall be developed by an independent third-party familiar with nuclear
safety culture, and include behavioral indicators of a declining safety
culture, as well as actions to address a declining safety culture.
f. Other
(1) TVA's RCA identified a contributing cause (CC-03) of the
violation to involve a deficiency in its holistic framework for
managing COs. To preclude recurrence of the violation related to this
contributing cause, TVA agrees to the following corrective actions:
(a) Within four months of issuance of the CO, TVA shall conduct a
review of all previously issued COs.
(i) The review shall entail:
(1) an assessment of the safety impact of CC-03 on the nuclear
fleet;
(2) an evaluation of compliance with previously issued COs,
(3) identification of periods of time when TVA was not in
compliance with previously issued COs,
(4) corrective actions taken and planned and timeline to restore
compliance, and corrective actions taken and planned to preclude
recurrence.
(ii) TVA shall submit the results of the review to the NRC within
one month of completion of the review.
(b) Within six months of issuance of the CO, TVA shall revise
corporate and site procedures, as appropriate, to ensure that current
and future CO requirements continue to be met.
(c) Three years after issuance of the CO (+/- 3 months), TVA will
perform an assessment of the effectiveness of corrective actions taken
in response to CC-03. Any identified violations or other deficiencies
will be incorporated into the Corrective Action Program (CAP). This
assessment will be made available for NRC review.
4. Upon completion of the terms of items of the CO, TVA will
provide the NRC with a letter discussing its basis for concluding that
the Order has been satisfied.
5. The NRC considers the corrective actions and enhancements
discussed in Items III.2 and III.3 above to be appropriately prompt and
comprehensive to address the causes which gave rise to the incident
discussed in the NRC's IR of March 10, 2017.
6. The NRC and TVA agree that the above elements will be
incorporated into issuance of a CO.
7. In consideration of the commitments delineated above, the NRC
agrees to refrain from proposing a civil penalty or issuing a Notice of
Violation, for all matters discussed in the NRC's IR to TVA dated March
10, 2017 (EA-17-022).
8. This agreement is binding upon successors and assigns of TVA.
On July 21, 2017, TVA consented to issuance of this Order with the
commitments, as described in Section V below. TVA further agreed that
this Order is to be effective upon issuance and that it has waived its
right to a hearing.
IV
Because TVA has agreed to take additional actions to address NRC
concerns, as set forth in Section III above, the NRC has concluded that
its concerns can be resolved through issuance of this CO.
I find that TVA's commitments as set forth in Section V are
acceptable and necessary and conclude that with these commitments, the
public health and
[[Page 35832]]
safety are reasonably assured. In view of the foregoing, I have
determined that public health and safety require that TVA's commitments
be confirmed by this Order. Based on the above and TVA's consent, this
CO is 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, THAT LICENSE NOS. NPF-90, NPF-96, DPR-33, DPR-52, DPR-
68, DPR-77, AND DPR-79 IS MODIFIED FOLLOWS:
1. TVA agrees to implement the following corrective actions and
enhancements:
a. Communication
(1) By no later than three months after issuance of the CO, the TVA
CNO shall:
(a) Inform all working status TVA nuclear first line supervisory
employees and above, as of the date of this CO, about employee
protections and the need to maintain an environment free from even the
appearance of retaliation or discrimination.
(b) As a follow up to the written communication issued by the CNO
on June 6, 2017, conduct a video briefing by the CNO for all working
status TVA nuclear employees and contractors who perform NRC regulated
activities, describing the following: (1) reason why TVA's
implementation of the Adverse Employment Action process as required by
the 2009 CO had not been fully effective, (2) a brief summary regarding
the background and reason the Adverse Employment Action Process exists,
(3) summary of the NRC's concerns expressed in the March 2017
Inspection Report, (4) the corrective actions both taken and planned to
restore TVA's compliance, and (5) informing employees of the possible
avenues (including to the NRC) that they have to raise concerns as
outlined in TVA-SPP-11.8.4, Expressing Concerns and Differing Views.
TVA shall make this video briefing available to the NRC.
(c) Document that all working status TVA nuclear employees and
contractors who perform NRC regulated activities (i.e. individuals who
work on safety-related structures, systems, and components) as of the
date of this CO have received the one time video briefing, which will
also require responses to one or more questions to document employee
understanding in order to receive credit for the training.
(d) Each site Vice President shall conduct an All Hands meeting at
each TVA nuclear site. During the meeting employees will be allowed the
opportunity to provide feedback and ask questions of management related
to the communications listed above.
(2) By no later than four months after issuance of the CO, TVA
shall ensure that its nuclear safety culture and safety conscious work
environment policies and guidance (e.g., procedures), are in place,
updated, and consistent with: 1) the NRC's March 2011 Safety Culture
Policy Statement and associated traits, described within; and 2) the
NRC's May 1996 Safety Conscious Work Environment Policy Statement; and
are informed by: 1) the NRC's Regulatory Issue Summary 2005-18,
``Guidance for Establishing and Maintaining a Safety Conscious Work
Environment''; and 2) the industry's common language initiative (i.e. ,
INPO 12- 012, Revision 1, April 2013).
(a) TVA shall make updated policies and guidance available to the
NRC, and
(b) TVA will make updated policies and guidance available to
employees, and inform employees where related materials are located.
(3) By no later than six months after issuance of the CO, a Senior
TVA manager shall share the company's experiences and insights with
respect to the importance of properly implementing an Adverse
Employment Action process, including lessons learned and actions taken
by TVA, in a presentation to other nuclear utilities at an industry
meeting.
b. Training
(1) By no later than three months after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall acquire an independent third party who is experienced with NRC
employee protection regulations (10 CFR 50.7, Section 211 of the Energy
Reorganization Act, as amended), and nuclear safety culture and safety
conscious work environment policies to assist TVA in development of
initial and refresher training on employee protection and safety
conscious work environment.
(a) Training shall include:
(i) case study examples of discriminatory practices as well as
examples related to the adverse action process implementation.
(ii) the definition of key terms included in employee protection
regulations, nuclear safety culture and safety conscious work
environment policy statements, and be informed by the industry's common
language initiative (e.g., nuclear safety issue, protected activity,
adverse action, nuclear safety culture traits).
(iii) behavioral expectations for demonstrating support for raising
nuclear safety and quality concerns without fear of retaliation, and
available avenues for raising concerns.
(iv) how to properly implement the adverse employment action
process including at a minimum discussion on the following:
(1) Disciplinary action is not taken as a result of an employee's
engagement in activities protected by the employee protection
regulations of 10 CFR 50.7;
(2) Determination if the action could be perceived as negatively
impacting any individual or organizational aspect of Safety Conscious
Work Environment, cause a potential chilling effect or be perceived as
retaliatory, independent of discipline legitimacy.
(b) The training material shall be available to the NRC upon
request.
(c) Training records shall be retained consistent with applicable
TVA record retention policies and be made available to the NRC upon
request.
(2) The training will be provided within one year and on an annual
basis thereafter, to, at a minimum, all working status nuclear business
group supervisory employees, contractor supervisory employees involved
in nuclear related work activities, human resource staff involved in
the adverse employment action process, employee concerns program staff,
contract technical stewards for nuclear related work activities, and
the personnel in the TVA Office of General Counsel who are engaged in
nuclear related work activities.
(3) New supervisory employees shall complete initial training
through in-person or computer based training within three months of
their hire or promotion effective date. The training shall require, at
a minimum, a discussion of the training material with personnel in the
TVA Office of General Counsel who are engaged in nuclear related work
activities.
(4) The initial training for personnel specified in V.1.b.2 who
work at Watts Bar and personnel in the TVA Office of General Counsel
who are engaged in nuclear related work activities shall be conducted
in-person by the independent third-party. Initial training for the
other employees specified in V.1.b.2 and subsequent refresher training
shall be conducted by personnel in the TVA Office of General Counsel
who are engaged in nuclear related work activities.
c. Work Processes
(1) By no later than six months after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall maintain a uniform process to ensure
[[Page 35833]]
independent management review of all proposed adverse actions in
accordance with the procedure. This process shall be executed by an ERB
chaired by a TVA Vice President or above. The ERB shall, at a minimum,
review proposed adverse employment actions to include suspensions (one
or more days off without pay), terminations for cause, involuntary
reduction in force, and no-fault terminations of employment.
(2) By no later than three months after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall revise the Adverse Employment Action procedure to require all
adverse employment actions, as described in V.1.c.1), to be reviewed
for potential effects on the safety conscious work environment,
regardless of whether the employee engaged in a protected activity.
(3) By no later than three years after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall perform in-person benchmarking of at least two external
organizations in the nuclear industry with developed adverse employment
action processes, specifically including ERBs.
(4) Develop individual performance appraisal assessment criteria
for nuclear vice presidents and plant managers, to evaluate if these
individuals are meeting expectations with regard to employee
protection, nuclear safety culture, and safety conscious work
environment for their respective organizations. The assessment criteria
and results of the evaluation shall be documented in their performance
appraisals for the 2017, 2018, and 2019 performance review cycles.
(5) Within six months following issuance of the CO, TVA shall
revise Nuclear Safety Culture Monitoring guidance to incorporate a
requirement for the Senior Leadership Team to conduct a review of
Adverse Employment Actions to identify potential trends that could
impact an organization's nuclear safety culture.
(6) By no later than three months after issuance of the CO, TVA
shall reinforce through a written fleet communication that personnel
who may have engaged in work associated with NRC-regulated activities
departing the company have the opportunity to participate in an
Employee Concerns Program Exit Interview/Survey to facilitate
identification of nuclear safety issues and identifying resulting
trends and conclusions as part of the TVA Employee Checkout process.
(7) By no later than six months after issuance of the CO, TVA shall
establish procedural guidance for a safety culture peer team outlining
additional oversight specifically focused on fleet wide safety culture
performance and safety conscious work environment at all TVA nuclear
locations.
(a) The peer team will assess, at least twice a year, the nuclear
safety culture trends in process inputs that could be early indications
of a nuclear safety culture weakness.
(b) The peer team guidance shall be informed by guidance in NEI's
09-07, Fostering a Healthy Nuclear Safety Culture, Rev. 1.
(c) The initial implementation of the peer team will be advised by
an external consultant with extensive nuclear experience.
d. Independent Oversight
(1) Beginning in 2017, an independent third-party shall perform
quarterly audits for the first year after the date of issuance of the
CO, and semi-annually for the next two years, of the adverse employment
action process to evaluate whether TVA is in compliance with the
Adverse Employment Action Process. The independent person/group shall
be experienced with NRC employee protection regulations (10 CFR 50.7,
Section 211 of the Energy Reorganization Act, as amended), nuclear
safety culture and safety conscious work environment, and ERBs. The
third-party chosen to audit the adverse action process must be
independent of TVA, and must have had no direct, previous involvement
with implementation of the adverse employment action process at TVA.
The audit shall include reviewing all adverse employment actions,
periodically attending ERBs, reviewing chilling effect mitigation
plans, and providing recommendations as appropriate. The audit shall
evaluate whether the process is effective at determining whether
adverse employment actions comport with employee protection
regulations, whether adverse employment actions could negatively impact
the SCWE, and developing plans to mitigate the potential chilling
effects of adverse employment actions. The third-party shall report all
findings and recommendations from the audits to the CNO. The audits
shall be available for NRC review. This shall remain in effect for
three years after issuance of the CO.
(2) By no later than three months after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall modify its process for conducting pulsing surveys such that it is
informed by the adverse action process. Pulsing surveys shall be
conducted, as appropriate, shortly after a SCWE mitigation plan has
been implemented to assess whether additional mitigation actions are
necessary.
e. Assess and Monitor Nuclear Safety Culture and Safety Conscious Work
Environment
(1) An independent nuclear safety culture (NSC) assessment,
consistent with industry practices, shall be conducted at WBN in 2017.
Within one year of issuance of the CO, TVA shall perform an independent
NSC assessment consistent with industry practices, at Browns Ferry
Nuclear Plant, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, and Corporate Nuclear. One
additional NSC assessment shall be performed at each site, within
approximately two years of the first assessment at that site. TVA shall
compare the result of the assessment with prior years' survey results
in an effort to identify trends. TVA shall evaluate the results and
develop, implement, and track to completion corrective actions to
address weaknesses identified through the assessments. TVA shall make
the results of each survey and the planned corrective actions available
for NRC review after the development of the planned corrective actions.
(2) TVA shall maintain a nuclear safety culture monitoring panel,
informed by the guidance in NEI's 09-07, Revision 1, Fostering a
Healthy Nuclear Safety Culture.
(3) By no later than three months after the issuance of the CO, TVA
shall develop initial and refresher training for members of the nuclear
safety culture monitoring panel. The initial and refresher training
shall be developed by an independent third-party familiar with nuclear
safety culture, and include behavioral indicators of a declining safety
culture, as well as actions to address a declining safety culture.
f. Other
(1) TVA's RCA identified a contributing cause (CC-03) of the
violation to involve a deficiency in its holistic framework for
managing COs. To preclude recurrence of the violation related to this
contributing cause, TVA agrees to the following corrective actions:
(a) Within four months of issuance of the CO, TVA shall conduct a
review of all previously issued COs. TVA shall submit the results of
the review to the NRC within one month of completion of the review. The
review shall entail:
(i) an assessment of the safety impact of CC-03 on the nuclear
fleet;
(ii) an evaluation of compliance with previously issued COs,
(iii) periods of time when TVA was not in compliance with
previously issued COs,
(iv) corrective actions taken and planned and timeline to restore
[[Page 35834]]
compliance, and corrective actions taken and planned to preclude
recurrence.
(b) Within six months of issuance of the CO, TVA shall revise
corporate and site procedures, as appropriate, to ensure that current
and future CO requirements continue to be met.
(c) Three years after issuance of the CO (+/- 3 months), TVA will
perform an assessment of the effectiveness of corrective actions taken
in response to CC-03. Any identified violations or other deficiencies
will be incorporated into the CAP. This assessment will be made
available for NRC review.
(2) Upon completion of the terms of items of the CO, TVA will
provide the NRC with a letter discussing its basis for concluding that
the Order has been satisfied.
(3) 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.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.202 and 10 CFR 2.309, any person
adversely affected by this CO, other than TVA, may request a hearing
within 30 calendar days of the date of issuance of this CO. 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, as amended at 77 FR 46562, August 3, 2012). 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 e-mail at
hearing.docket@nrc.gov, or by telephone at (301) 415-1677, to request
(1) a digital identification (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/getting-started.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 Electronic Filing 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[dash]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
System (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 through the EIE System.
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 e-mail notice confirming
receipt of the document. The E-Filing 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 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 Electronic
Filing Help Desk through the ``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC Web
site at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html, by e-mail at
MSHD.Resource@nrc.gov, or by a toll-free call at (866) 672-7640. The
NRC Electronic Filing Help Desk is available between 9 a.m. and 6 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
stating why there is good cause for not filing electronically and
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.
[[Page 35835]]
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 TVA) requests a hearing, that person shall
set forth with particularity the manner in which his interest is
adversely affected by this CO 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 CO 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 30 days from the date of
this CO 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.
Dated at Atlanta, Georgia, this 27th day of July, 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Leonard D. Wert,
Deputy Regional Administrator for Operations.
[FR Doc. 2017-16178 Filed 7-31-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
