[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 228 (Monday, November 30, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62609-62610]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-28510]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0517; Docket Nos. 50-250 and 50-251; License Nos. DPR-31 and 
DPR-41]


Florida Power and Light Company; Receipt of Request for Action 
Under 10 CFR 2.206

    Notice is hereby given that by petition dated January 11, 2009, Mr. 
Thomas Saporito (petitioner) has requested that the NRC take action 
with regard to Florida Power & Light Company's Turkey Point Nuclear 
Generating Units 3 and 4. The petitioner requests that the NRC take 
enforcement action against Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) by 
issuing a Notice of Violation and Imposition of Civil Penalty in the

[[Page 62610]]

amount of $1,000,000 and further issue a Confirmatory Order modifying 
FPL's operating licenses DPR-31 and DPR-41 for the Turkey Point Nuclear 
Generating Units 3 and 4, Docket Nos. 50-250 and 50-251. The Order 
would include requiring an independent assessment of FPL's Employee 
Concerns Program and management implementation of the program in 
addition to providing training on the program and advertisement of the 
program to the employees.
    As the basis for this request, the petitioner restates the concerns 
identified in FPL's self-assessment of their Employee Concerns Program 
(ECP):

    Management attention to the ECP did not meet expectations and 
management's awareness of the ECP was superficial and program values 
had not been emphasized with employees.
    The ECP facility was of low quality and did not give the 
impression of being important to management.
    There is a perception problem with the ECP in the areas of 
confidentiality and potential retribution. The perception remains as 
evidenced by surveys, interviews and the high percentage of 
anonymous concerns. Previous surveys and assessments identified this 
perception, but little or no progress has been made in reversing 
this perception.
    The ECP was most frequently thought to be a mechanism to use in 
addition to discussing concerns with the NRC and not as the first 
alternative to the Correction Action Program ``CAP.''
    While meeting most of the program requirements and having a 
technically qualified individual in the ECP coordinator position, 
the overall effectiveness of the program was marginal.
    The ECP representative has very low visibility or recognition in 
the plant and has not been integrated into the management team or 
plant activities.
    The large percentage of concerns submitted anonymously hampers 
feedback to concerned individuals. The written feedback process to 
non-anonymous individuals is impersonal and lacks feedback 
mechanisms for the ECP coordinator to judge the program's 
effectiveness.
    The ECP process also does not provide assurance that conditions 
adverse to quality identified in the ECP review process would get 
entered into CAP, creating potential to miss correction and trending 
opportunities.

    The request is being treated pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 2.206 of the Commission's 
regulations. The request has been referred to the Director of the 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. As provided by Section 2.206, 
appropriate action will be taken on this petition within a reasonable 
time. The petitioner met with the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 
petition review board on March 19 and May 7, 2009, to discuss the 
petition. The results of that discussion were considered in the board's 
determination regarding the schedule for the review of the petition. A 
copy of the petition is available for inspection at the Commission's 
Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public 
File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, 
Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible from the 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public 
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have access to 
ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in 
ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-
397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of November 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eric J. Leeds,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E9-28510 Filed 11-27-09; 8:45 am]
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