[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 52 (Thursday, March 18, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13451-13453]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6587]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-275 and 50-323]


Pacific Gas and Electric Company (Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power 
Plant, Units 1 and 2); Issuance of Director's Decision Under 2.206

    Notice is hereby given that the director, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation has issued a director's decision with regard to a petition 
dated November 24, 1998, filed by Mr. David Lochbaum on behalf of the 
Union of Concerned Scientists, hereafter referred to as the 
``petitioner.'' The petition pertains to the Diablo Canyon Nuclear 
Power Plant (DCNPP), Units 1 and 2.
    The petition requests that the Commission modify the operating 
licenses for Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant to require the plant's 
owners to have an independent contractor evaluate the facility's safety 
culture. The petition also requests that the independent contractor 
monitor the safety culture until the United States Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) concurs that a safety conscious work environment has 
been established and maintained. The petition also requests an informal 
hearing to examine the concerns raised by the petition.
    The director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation has 
determined that the request should be denied for the reasons stated in 
the ``Director's Decision Under 10 CFR 2.206'' (DD-99-05), the complete 
text of which follows this notice and which is available for public 
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room, Gelman Building, 
2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC 20555-0001, and at the local Public 
Document Room located at 2 California Polytechnic State University, 
Robert E. Kennedy Library, Government Documents and Maps Department, 
San Luis Obispo, California 93407.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of March, 1999.


[[Page 13452]]


    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Roy P. Zimmerman,
Acting Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

Director's Decision Under 10 CFR Sec. 2.206

I. Introduction

    By letter dated November 24, 1998, David A. Lochbaum (petitioner) 
requested that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) take action with 
regard to Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant (DCNPP) regarding his 
concerns about the work environment. Specifically, the petitioner 
stated that the work environment at DCNPP was not conducive to an 
employee raising safety issues freely without fear of retaliation. The 
petitioner requested that the NRC modify the operating licenses for 
DCNPP Units 1 and 2 to require that the plant's owner have an 
independent contractor evaluate the facility's safety culture. The 
petitioner further requested that the independent contractor monitor 
the safety culture until the NRC concurs that a safety-conscious work 
environment has been established and maintained. The petitioner also 
requested that an informal hearing be held near DCNPP to present new 
information on the safety culture at Diablo Canyon. On December 30, 
1997, the NRC staff acknowledged receipt of the request for a petition 
pursuant to Section 2.206 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR 2.206) and informed the petitioner that his request 
to modify the license would be granted formal petition status. This 
reply also explained that the petitioner's request for an informal 
public hearing would not be granted because the request did not satisfy 
the requirements as stated in NRC Management Directive 8.11 regarding 
granting of an informal public hearing and because a public meeting was 
planned to discuss the results of DCNPP's safety culture survey at 
which the public would be able to make statements. Notice of the 
receipt of the petition indicating that a final decision with respect 
to the requested action would be forthcoming within a reasonable time 
was published in the Federal Register on January 6, 1999 (64 FR 917).
    My decision in this matter follows.

II. Discussion

Request To Modify Operating Licenses for DCNPP Units 1 and 2 to Have an 
Independent Contractor Evaluate the Facility's Safety Culture and 
Monitor the Safety Culture Until the NRC Concurs That a Safety-
Conscious Work Environment Has Been Established and Maintained.

    The licensee, in August 1998, retained Synergy Consulting Services 
(Synergy) to perform a comprehensive assessment of the DCNPP safety 
culture. The licensee commissioned Synergy in response to its own 
concerns regarding the safety culture at DCNPP to determine whether a 
``chilling'' effect exists or had been created by actions that had been 
taken at DCNPP including removal of a control room operator from 
licensed duties. Synergy distributed its survey at DCNPP in October and 
November 1998. Nearly one thousand employees and contractors responded. 
This represented 62 percent of the workforce. The survey document 
consisted of 37 multiple-choice questions with 204 subparts. There were 
also 45 employees interviewed as part of the survey. The survey was 
commissioned to re-baseline the organizational culture, including the 
environment for addressing employee concerns. The survey also covered 
an assessment of ``facilitative leadership'' principles and the 
effectiveness of certain recent organizational changes.
    The results of the survey were presented in a public meeting held 
on January 15, 1999, at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obispo, 
California. Synergy rated the safety culture at DCNPP as ``adequate to 
good'' and discussed the full scope of its findings at the meeting. 
Synergy concluded that DCNPP personnel are very willing to identify 
potential nuclear safety issues or concerns, but that deliberate 
actions are required to further improve the safety culture. Synergy 
ranked DCNPP at the 51st percentile with respect to the safety culture. 
The Synergy survey indicated that the Nuclear Generation organization 
ranked the lowest at the 38th percentile. The survey indicated that 
DCNPP can improve the work environment by generally treating all 
employees with more dignity and greater trust and respect, and by 
having managers deal in a straightforward, honest, and truthful manner. 
These perceptions are related to employee comfort level in voicing 
general opinions and ideas and the way in which the management has 
dealt with employees and their issues and concerns. Synergy also made 
several recommendations on ways to improve the safety culture at DCNPP. 
Some of these improvements dealt with trust of the management at DCNPP, 
effective management of change at DCNPP, employee concerns regarding 
the future of DCNPP, management and supervisory practices, and the 
employee concerns program. The licensee made a presentation on the 
corrective actions that have taken place and the plan for future 
corrective actions to address the recommendations made by Synergy.
    Following the licensee's presentation at the January 15, 1999, 
public meeting, the NRC opened the meeting for public statements. A 
copy of the meeting summary, licensee presentation slides, executive 
summary from the Synergy survey, and a set of complete meeting minutes 
was sent to the petitioner. The regional office is reviewing the entire 
meeting transcript and will identify issues for follow up as 
appropriate.
    Regarding the petitioner's request that the independent contractor 
monitor the safety culture until the NRC concurs that a safety-
conscious work environment has been established and maintained, it is 
not typical NRC practice to become involved in the manner that was 
suggested by the petitioner unless there is a set of egregious 
circumstances related to a site's safety culture as would be evidenced 
by complaints that were investigated and determined to be valid by the 
NRC. In the particular case of Diablo Canyon, the licensee has 
proactively taken actions to address safety culture issues, thereby 
avoiding degradation of the safety culture environment to a level where 
NRC involvement would be needed. In addition, the licensee stated that 
it would perform another survey in December 2001 to determine the 
effects of the changes. The NRC will monitor these corrective actions 
as part of the routine inspection process. Also, the NRC does respond 
to individuals with such concerns and maintains an allegation process, 
inspection staff, and Office of Investigations staff to follow up on 
issues as necessary. In this particular instance at DCNPP, the NRC has 
expended and will continue to expend resources to address concerns 
related to the work environment.
    As evidenced in the above discussion, the petitioner's request to 
modify the licenses at DCNPP, Units 1 and 2 to require that the 
licensee enter into contract with an independent contractor to evaluate 
the safety culture at DCNPP and for the NRC to concur that a safety-
conscious work environment has been established and maintained has, in 
effect, been accomplished. As a result, the action requested in the 
petitioner's

[[Page 13453]]

request is not necessary and no proceeding will be instituted in whole 
or in part, with respect to the request.

III. Conclusion

    The NRC has determined, for the reasons given in the preceding 
discussion, that the intent of the petition has been met. It is also 
concluded that a follow-up survey by DCNPP to measure the success of 
corrective actions is scheduled to be performed in 2001 and should 
track progress. Additionally, NRC resources will continue to be applied 
as appropriate to address work environment concerns.
    As provided for in 10 CFR 2.206(c), a copy of this decision will be 
filed with the Secretary of the Commission for the Commission's review. 
This decision will constitute the final action of the Commission 25 
days after issuance unless the Commission, on its own motion, 
institutes review of the decision at that time.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 12th day of March, 1999.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Roy P. Zimmerman,
Acting Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 99-6587 Filed 3-17-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P