[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 168 (Friday, August 28, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53423-53426]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-18928]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. IA-20-008; NRC-2020-0195]


In the Matter of Joseph Shea, Tennessee Valley Authority, 
Chattanooga, TN

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Order; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an 
Order prohibiting involvement in NRC-licensed activities to Mr. Joseph 
Shea, Vice President Nuclear Technology Innovation at Tennessee Valley 
Authority (TVA), for 5 years. The NRC has determined that Mr. Joseph 
Shea engaged in deliberate misconduct when he played a significant role 
in the decisionmaking process to place a former employee on paid 
administrative leave on October 15, 2018 and terminate the former 
employee on January 14, 2019, in part, for engaging in protected 
activity. The Order is effective on the date of issuance.

DATES: The Order was issued on August 24, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0195 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 Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0075. Address 
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; 
telephone: 301-287-9127; email: [email protected]. 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 ``Begin Web-based ADAMS 
Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public 
Document Room reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by 
email to [email protected]. Order IA-20-008, issued to Mr. Joseph 
Shea on August 24, 2020, is available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML20219A676.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ian Gifford, Office of Enforcement, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555-0001; 
telephone: 301-287-9216, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the Order is attached.

    Dated: August 24, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
George A. Wilson,
Director, Office of Enforcement.

Attachment--Order Prohibiting Involvement in NRC-Licensed Activities

United States of America Nuclear Regulatory Commission

In the Matter of Joseph Shea
IA-20-008

Order Prohibiting Involvement in NRC-Licensed Activities Immediately 
Effective

I.

    Mr. Joseph Shea is employed as Vice President Nuclear Technology 
Innovation at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). TVA holds Browns 
Ferry Units 1, 2 and 3 License Nos. DPR-33, DPR-52, and DPR-68 issued 
by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) pursuant to 
Part 50 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), on 
December 20, 1973, June 28, 1974 and July 2, 1976, respectively. The 
units are located on the Licensee's site in Athens, Alabama. TVA holds 
Sequoyah Units 1 and 2 License Nos. DPR-77 and DPR-79 issued by the NRC 
pursuant to 10 CFR part 50, on September 17, 1980 and September 15, 
1981, respectively. The units are located on the Licensee's site in 
Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee. TVA holds Watts Bar Units 1 and 2 License Nos.

[[Page 53424]]

NPF-90 and NPF-96 issued by the NRC pursuant to 10 CFR part 50, on 
February 7, 1996 and October 22, 2015, respectively. The units are 
located on the Licensee's site in Spring City, Tennessee. The licenses 
authorize the operation of these facilities in accordance with the 
conditions specified therein.

II.

    On January 21, 2020, an investigation was completed by the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Office of Investigations (OI) 
related to TVA (OI Report No. 2-2019-015). The purpose of the 
investigation was to determine whether a former corporate employee was 
the subject of employment discrimination for engaging in a protected 
activity in violation of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR) 50.7, ``Employee Protection.''
    Based on the evidence developed during the investigation and 
subsequent staff analysis, it appeared that Mr. Joseph Shea, as the 
Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at TVA, engaged in deliberate 
misconduct, in violation of 10 CFR 50.5, ``Deliberate Misconduct,'' 
that caused an NRC licensee to be in violation of 10 CFR 50.7, 
``Employee Protection.'' Specifically, the NRC determined that a former 
corporate employee was placed on paid administrative leave on October 
15, 2018, and terminated on January 14, 2019, by Mr. Joseph Shea, in 
part, for engaging in protected activity, including raising concerns 
about a chilled work environment. The former employee engaged in 
protected activity when expressing concerns to Mr. Joseph Shea 
regarding the chilled work environment that the former Director of 
Corporate Nuclear Licensing (CNL) was creating. Further, Mr. Joseph 
Shea received a copy of the TVA Office of General Counsel (OGC) draft 
report prepared by the TVA OGC attorney that identified the concerns of 
the former employee. Additionally, in a (internal TVA) complaint that 
the former Director of CNL provided to Mr. Joseph Shea on or about 
March 9, 2018, the former Director of CNL identified the former 
employee as the source of a chilled work environment complaint made to 
the NRC.
    The former employee suffered an adverse action when Mr. Joseph Shea 
played a significant role in the decisionmaking process to place the 
former employee on administrative leave and terminate the former 
employee. There is a nexus between the former employee's protected 
activity of raising concerns about a chilled work environment and the 
termination of the former employee. Mr. Joseph Shea stated during the 
predecisional enforcement conference that Mr. Joseph Shea terminated 
the former employee for being ``disrespectful'' to the former Director 
of CNL. However, the examples used in the TVA OGC report as evidence 
that the former employee was ``disrespectful'' to the former Director 
of CNL were: 1) raising concerns about a chilled work environment in a 
TVA OGC interview; and 2) raising concerns about reprisal from the 
former Director of CNL directly to Mr. Joseph Shea. Mr. Joseph Shea 
admitted that he did not counsel the former employee about the asserted 
disrespectful behavior.
    The NRC has determined that Mr. Joseph Shea played a significant 
role in the decisionmaking process to place the former employee on paid 
administrative leave on October 15, 2018 and terminate her on January 
14, 2019, in part, for engaging in protected activities. Accordingly, 
the NRC has determined that Mr. Joseph Shea's actions were deliberate 
and violated the requirements in 10 CFR 50.5, ``Deliberate 
Misconduct.'' The NRC considers deliberate violations of 10 CFR 50.7, 
``Employee Protection,'' significant because of the potential that 
individuals might not raise safety issues for fear of retaliation.

III.

    Based on the above, Mr. Joseph Shea, the Vice President Nuclear 
Technology Innovation at TVA, engaged in deliberate misconduct, in 
violation of 10 CFR 50.5, ``Deliberate Misconduct,'' that caused the 
Licensee to be in violation of 10 CFR 50.7, ``Employee Protection.'' 
The NRC must be able to rely on TVA and its employees to comply with 
NRC requirements, including the requirement prohibiting discrimination 
against an employee for engaging in protected activities.
    Consequently, given the significance of the underlying issues, Mr. 
Joseph Shea's position within TVA that has a very broad sphere of 
influence, and the deliberate nature of the actions, the NRC lacks 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. Joseph Shea 
were permitted at this time to be involved in NRC-licensed activities. 
Therefore, Mr. Joseph Shea is prohibited from any involvement in NRC-
licensed activities for a period of 5 years. Furthermore, pursuant to 
10 CFR 2.202, the significance of Mr. Joseph Shea's wrongdoing 
described above is such that this Order be immediately effective. Mr. 
Joseph Shea is required to notify the NRC of his first employment in 
NRC-licensed activities following the prohibition period.

IV.

    Accordingly, pursuant to sections 103, 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 50.5, it is hereby ordered, 
immediately effective upon the date of issuance, that:
    1. Mr. Joseph Shea is prohibited for 5 years 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.
    2. If Mr. Joseph Shea is currently involved with another licensee 
in other NRC-licensed activities, he must immediately cease those 
activities, and inform the NRC of the name, address, and telephone 
number of the employer, and provide a copy of this Order to the 
employer.
    3. For a period of 1 year after the 5-year period of prohibition 
has expired, Mr. Joseph Shea shall, within 20 days of acceptance of his 
first employment offer involving NRC-licensed activities, as defined in 
paragraph IV.1 above, provide notice to the Director, Office of 
Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, the name, address, and telephone number of the employer or the 
entity where he is, or will be, involved in the NRC-licensed 
activities. In the notification, Mr. Joseph Shea 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 requirements.
    The Director, Office of Enforcement, or designee, may, in writing, 
relax, rescind, or withdraw any of the above conditions upon 
demonstration by Mr. Joseph Shea of good cause.

V.

    In accordance with 10 CFR 2.202, Mr. Joseph Shea must submit a 
written answer to this Order under oath or affirmation within 30 
calendar days of its issuance. Mr. Joseph Shea's failure to respond to 
this Order could result in additional enforcement action in accordance 
with the Commission's Enforcement Policy. In addition, Mr. Joseph Shea 
and any other person adversely affected by this Order, may request a 
hearing on this Order within 30 calendar days of its issuance. Where 
good cause is shown, consideration will

[[Page 53425]]

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 
20555-001, and include a statement of good cause for the extension.
    All documents filed in NRC adjudicatory proceedings, including a 
request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene (petition), 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 that request to 
participate under 10 CFR 2.315(c), must be filed in accordance with the 
NRC's 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. Detailed 
guidance on making electronic submissions may be found in the Guidance 
for Electronic Submissions to the NRC and on the NRC website at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. 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 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 submissions and access the E-Filing 
system for any proceeding in which it is participating; and (2) advise 
the Secretary that the participant will be submitting a petition or 
other adjudicatory document (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 website at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/getting-started.html. Once a participant has obtained a 
digital ID certificate and a docket has been created, the participant 
can then submit adjudicatory documents. Submissions must be in Portable 
Document Format (PDF). Additional guidance on PDF submissions is 
available on the NRC's public website at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/electronic-sub-ref-mat.html. A filing is considered complete at the 
time the document is 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 
document on those participants separately. Therefore, applicants and 
other participants (or their counsel or representative) must apply for 
and receive a digital ID certificate before adjudicatory documents are 
filed so that they can obtain access to the documents 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 Electronic 
Filing Help Desk through the ``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC's 
public website at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html, by 
email to [email protected], or by a toll-free call at 1-866-672-
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, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, Attention: Rulemaking and 
Adjudications Staff. Participants filing adjudicatory documents 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'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. If you do not have an NRC-issued 
digital ID certificate as described above, click ``cancel'' when the 
link requests certificates and you will be automatically directed to 
the NRC's electronic hearing dockets where you will be able to access 
any publicly available documents in a particular hearing docket. 
Participants are requested not to include personal privacy information, 
such as social security numbers, home addresses, or personal phone 
numbers in their filings, unless an NRC regulation or other law 
requires submission of such information. For example, in some 
instances, individuals provide home addresses in order to demonstrate 
proximity to a facility or site. 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 Mr. Joseph Shea 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) and (f).
    If a hearing is requested by Mr. Joseph Shea 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. Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.202(c)(2)(i), Mr. Joseph Shea 
or any other person adversely affected by this Order, may, in addition 
to demanding a hearing, at the time the answer is filed or sooner, move 
the presiding officer to set aside the immediate effectiveness of the 
Order on the ground that the Order, including the need for immediate 
effectiveness, is not based on adequate evidence but on mere suspicion,

[[Page 53426]]

unfounded allegations, or error. 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 calendar days from the date this Order is issued 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. AN ANSWER OR A REQUEST FOR HEARING SHALL NOT STAY THE 
IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS ORDER.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

George A. Wilson,

Director, Office of Enforcement.

[FR Doc. 2020-18928 Filed 8-27-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P