[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 59 (Thursday, March 27, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17195-17197]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-06786]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[IA-13-033; NRC-2014-0061]
In the Matter of George Geisser, III
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Order; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an
order prohibiting Mr. Geisser, III from involvement in NRC-licensed
activities for a period of 3 years. The order also requires Mr.
Geisser, III to notify the NRC of any current involvement in NRC-
licensed activities and for a period of 1 year after the 3-year period
of prohibition has expired, that he provide a written notice for his
first employment offer involving NRC-licensed activities.
DATES: Effective Date: See attachment.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0061 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may access publicly-available information related to this action by the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0061. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected].
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC
Library at http://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 [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number
for each document referenced in this document (if that document is
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is
referenced.
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: Thomas Marenchin, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-
2979, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the Order is attached.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of March 2014.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Roy P. Zimmerman,
Director, Office of Enforcement.
Attachment--Order Prohibiting Involvement in NRC Licensed Activities
In the Matter of George Geisser, III; Order Prohibiting Involvement in
NRC Licensed Activities
I.
George Geisser, III is President of Geisser Engineering Corporation
(GEC) located in Riverside, Rhode Island. GEC does not possess a
license issued by the NRC pursuant to Part 30 of Title 10 of the Code
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR). However, GEC is the holder of a State
of Rhode Island materials license, which authorizes the possession and
use of portable moisture/density gauges containing sealed sources of
radioactive material within the State of Rhode Island. The holder of a
State license may perform work authorized by the license in other State
or Federal jurisdictions provided the State licensee files for
reciprocity with the appropriate regulatory authority.
II.
On May 9, 2012, the NRC conducted an inspection at GEC facilities,
with continued in-office review through August 15, 2013. The inspection
was an examination of activities conducted under the general license
pursuant to 10 CFR 150.20 as it relates to safety and security,
compliance with the Commission's rules and regulations, and with the
conditions of the GEC State of Rhode Island Radioactive Materials
License RI-3L-050-01. During the inspection, an apparent violation of
10 CFR 150.20 was identified. The apparent violation involved GEC's
failure to file for reciprocity on multiple occasions between October
21, 2009, and June 23, 2011. Specifically, GEC used portable gauges on
22 occasions in the State of Connecticut and at Newport Naval Station
in Newport, Rhode Island, an area of exclusive Federal jurisdiction
within the Agreement State of Rhode Island, without filing for
reciprocity with the NRC.
Additionally, an investigation was conducted by the NRC's Office of
Investigations (OI) to determine whether Mr. Geisser, the President/
Owner of GEC, deliberately engaged in the use of licensed material in
areas of NRC jurisdiction without filing for reciprocity. Based on the
evidence gathered during the investigation, which was completed on
April 26, 2013, the NRC concluded that Mr. Geisser acted deliberately.
In a letter dated August 16, 2013, the NRC informed Mr. Geisser
that the NRC was considering escalated enforcement action against him
for an apparent violation of the NRC's deliberate misconduct rule, 10
CFR 30.10. Specifically, the NRC concluded that Mr. Geisser apparently
deliberately conducted and directed employees of GEC to use licensed
material in areas of NRC jurisdiction on 22 occasions between October
21, 2009, and June 23, 2011, without filing for reciprocity with the
NRC, which caused GEC to be in violation of 10 CFR 150.20.
In a separate letter dated August 16, 2013, the NRC informed Mr.
Geisser that
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the NRC was also considering escalated enforcement action against his
company for multiple violations of 10 CFR 150.20. In those letters, the
NRC offered GEC and Mr. Geisser a choice to attend a Predecisional
Enforcement Conference (PEC) or to request Alternative Dispute
Resolution (ADR) with the NRC in an attempt to resolve issues
associated with the apparent violation. During a conference call with
NRC staff, Mr. Geisser indicated that he would like to participate in a
PEC. A PEC was conducted on November 20, 2013.
During the PEC, Mr. Geisser indicated that, as President of GEC, he
did, in fact, engage in the use of licensed material in NRC
jurisdiction without filing for reciprocity with the NRC. However, he
disagreed that his actions were deliberate. Mr. Geisser stated that he
deliberately performed licensed activities in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts (MA) without filing for reciprocity with MA, but did not
act deliberately to violate NRC's requirements when he conducted the
same licensed activities in the State of Connecticut or at the Newport
Naval Station in Rhode Island without filing for reciprocity with the
NRC. Mr. Geisser further stated that he thought his Rhode Island
license covered licensed activities for all locations within Rhode
Island.
Based on the results of the inspection and the OI investigation,
and information provided during the PEC, the NRC concluded that Mr.
Geisser engaged in deliberate misconduct in violation of 10 CFR
30.10(a)(1).
III.
Mr. Geisser, the President of GEC, has engaged in deliberate
misconduct, in violation of 10 CFR 30.10(a)(1), which has caused GEC to
be in violation of 10 CFR 150.20(b)(1). GEC, as the holder of an
Agreement State license, was required under 10 CFR 150.20(b)(1) to file
NRC Form 241, ``Report of Proposed Activities in Non-Agreement States,
Areas of Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction, or Offshore Waters,'' a copy
of its Agreement State specific license, and the appropriate fee, with
the Regional Administrator of the appropriate NRC regional office 3
days prior to engaging in licensed activities in areas of NRC
jurisdiction. The NRC must be able to rely on GEC and its employees to
act with integrity and comply with all applicable NRC's requirements.
As President of GEC, Mr. Geisser's actions in causing GEC to violate 10
CFR 150.20(b)(1) raised serious doubt as to whether he can be relied
upon to comply with NRC's requirements.
Consequently, I lack the requisite reasonable assurance that
licensed activities can be conducted in compliance with the
Commission's requirements and that the health and safety of the public
will be protected if Mr. Geisser were permitted at this time to be
involved in NRC-licensed activities. Therefore, the public health,
safety and interest require that Mr. Geisser be prohibited from any
involvement in NRC-licensed activities for a period of 3 years from the
effective date of this Order. Additionally, Mr. Geisser is required to
notify the NRC of his acceptance of his first employment offer
involving NRC-licensed activities or his first becoming involved in
NRC-licensed activities for a period of 1 year after the 3-year period
of prohibition has expired.
IV.
Accordingly, pursuant to sections 81, 161b, 161i, 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 30.10, it is hereby ordered
that:
1. George Geisser, III is prohibited for 3 years from the effective
date of this Order from engaging in, supervising, directing, or in any
other way conducting NRC-licensed activities. NRC-licensed activities
are those activities that are conducted pursuant to a specific or
general license issued by the NRC, including, but not limited to, those
activities of Agreement State licensees conducted pursuant to the
authority granted by 10 CFR 150.20.
2. If George Geisser, III is currently involved in NRC-licensed
activities as defined in Paragraph IV.1 above, other than as the
President of GEC, he must cease those activities no later than the
effective date of this Order, and within 15 days of the effective date
of this Order, he must: (a) Provide written notice to the Director,
Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001, of a description of those activities, and the name,
address, and telephone number of the entity where he is involved in the
NRC-licensed activities, and (b) provide a copy of this to those
entities.
3. For a period of 1 year after the 3-year period of prohibition
has expired, George Geisser, III shall, within 20 days following
acceptance of his first employment offer involving NRC-licensed
activities, as defined in Paragraph IV.1 above, provide written notice
to the Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, of the name, address, and
telephone number of the entity where he is, or will be, involved in the
NRC-licensed activities, and a description of the type of activities.
In the notification, George Geisser, III shall include a statement of
his commitment to compliance with regulatory requirements and the basis
why the Commission should have confidence that he will now comply with
applicable NRC's requirements.
The Director, Office of Enforcement, or designee, may, in writing,
relax or rescind any of the above conditions upon demonstration by
George Geisser, III of good cause.
V.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.202, George Geisser, III, must submit a
written answer to this Order under oath or affirmation within 20 days
of its issuance. The response shall admit or deny the charge made in
the Order. George Geisser, III's failure to respond to this Order could
result in additional enforcement action in accordance with the
Commission's Enforcement Policy. Any person adversely affected by this
Order may submit a written answer to this Order within 20 days of its
issuance. In addition, George Geisser, III and any other person
adversely affected by this Order may request a hearing on this Order
within 30 days of its issuance. Where good cause is shown,
consideration will be given to extending the time to answer or request
a hearing. A request for extension of time must be directed to the
Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001 and include a statement of good cause for the
extension.
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's E-Filing rule (72 FR 49139;
August 28, 2007). The E-Filing process requires participants to submit
and serve all adjudicatory documents over the Internet, or in some
cases to mail copies on electronic storage media. Participants may not
submit paper copies of their filings unless they seek an exemption in
accordance with the procedures described below.
To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least 10
days prior to the filing deadline, the participant should contact the
Office of
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the Secretary by email at [email protected], or by telephone at
301-415-1677, to (1) request 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 the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html. System requirements for accessing
the E-Submittal server are detailed in the NRC's ``Guidance for
Electronic Submission,'' which is available on the NRC's public Web
site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. Participants
may attempt to use other software not listed on the Web site, but
should note that the NRC's E-Filing system does not support unlisted
software, and the NRC Meta System Help Desk will not be able to offer
assistance in using unlisted software.
If a participant is electronically submitting a document to the NRC
in accordance with the E-Filing rule, the participant must file the
document using the NRC's online, Web-based submission form. In order to
serve documents through the Electronic Information Exchange System,
users will be required to install a Web browser plug-in from the NRC's
public 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 http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html.
Once a participant has obtained a digital ID certificate and a
docket has been created, the participant can then submit a request for
hearing or petition for leave to intervene. Submissions should be in
Portable Document Format (PDF) in accordance with NRC guidance
available on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. A filing is considered complete at the time the
documents are submitted through the NRC's E-Filing system. To be
timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the E-Filing system
no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Upon receipt of
a transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends
the submitter an email notice confirming receipt of the document. The
E-Filing system also distributes an email notice that provides access
to the document to the NRC's 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 or
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 NRC's adjudicatory E-
Filing system may seek assistance by contacting the NRC's Meta System
Help Desk through the ``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC's public
Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html, by email to
[email protected], or by a toll-free call to 1-866-672-7640. The
NRC Meta System Help Desk is available between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.,
Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, excluding government holidays.
Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not
submitting documents electronically must file an exemption request, in
accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing
requesting authorization to continue to submit documents in paper
format. Such filings must be submitted by: (1) First class mail
addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention:
Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; or (2) courier, express mail, or
expedited delivery service to the Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth
Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland
20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. Participants
filing a document in this manner are responsible for serving the
document on all other participants. Filing is considered complete by
first-class mail as of the time of deposit in the mail, or by courier,
express mail, or expedited delivery service upon depositing the
document with the provider of the service. A presiding officer, having
granted an exemption request from using E-Filing, may require a
participant or party to use E-Filing if the presiding officer
subsequently determines that the reason for granting the exemption from
use of E-Filing no longer exists.
Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in the
NRC electronic hearing docket, which is available to the public at
http://ehd1.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, participants are requested not to include
copyrighted materials in their submission, except for limited excerpts
that serve the purpose of the adjudicatory filings and constitute a
Fair Use application.
If a person other than Mr. Geisser requests a hearing, that person
shall set forth with particularity the manner in which his interest is
adversely affected by this Order and shall address the criteria set
forth in 10 CFR 2.309(d). If a hearing is requested by a licensee or a
person whose interest is adversely affected, the Commission will issue
an Order designating the time and place of any hearings. If a hearing
is held, the issue to be considered at such hearing shall be whether
this Order should be sustained. In the absence of any request for
hearing, or written approval of an extension of time in which to
request a hearing, the provisions specified in Section IV above shall
be final 30 days from issuance without further order or proceedings. If
an extension of time for requesting a hearing has been approved, the
provisions specified in Section IV shall be final when the extension
expires if a hearing request has not been received.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of March 2014.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Roy P. Zimmerman,
Director, Office of Enforcement.
[FR Doc. 2014-06786 Filed 3-26-14; 8:45 am]
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