NRC BARS FOUR INDIVIDUALS FROM NRC-REGULATED WORK
BECAUSE OF INACCURATE DAVIS-BESSE NUCLEAR PLANT INFORMATION
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In 2001 the NRC directed all holders of operating licenses for pressurized water reactors, including Davis-Besse, to inspect the tubes which penetrate the reactor vessel head for possible leakage by Dec. 31, 2001. FirstEnergy requested that it be permitted to operate an additional three months before shutting down for the inspection, and the NRC staff, based on information submitted by FirstEnergy, permitted the plant to operate until Feb. 16, 2002.

Subsequent examination of the reactor vessel head by FirstEnergy showed that leakage through the tubes had caused substantial corrosion damage to the head.

"The four individuals subject to the Orders, including three former utility managers, engaged in deliberate misconduct by providing inaccurate and incomplete information about the extent of reactor vessel head cleaning and inspection," said James Caldwell, NRC Regional Administrator. "Had the NRC known that the plant was being operated with leakage through the reactor vessel head, the agency would have taken immediate action to shut down the plant."

In April 2005 the NRC levied a $5.45 million civil penalty against FirstEnergy for violations associated with the damage and for providing incomplete and false information to the agency. (Reference: NRC News Release 05-070, issued April 21.) The civil penalty was paid by FirstEnergy on September 14, 2005.

NRC Orders were issued to four individuals no longer employed by FirstEnergy. Orders prohibiting involvement in NRC-regulated activities for a period of five years were issued to: David Geisen, who was Manager of Design Engineering; Dale Miller, who was Regulatory Affairs Compliance Supervisor; and Steven Moffitt, who was Technical Services Director. An Order, prohibiting involvement in NRC-regulated activities for a period of one year was issued to Prasoon Goyal, who was a Senior Design Engineer at Davis-Besse.

The Orders are effective immediately, and the individuals have 20 days in which to request a hearing.

The NRC previously issued an Order in April 2005 to Andrew Siemaszko, who was a system engineer at Davis-Besse, which, if sustained, would prohibit his involvement in NRC-regulated activities for a five-year period. A hearing on that action is ongoing. Siemaszko was responsible for ensuring that the reactor vessel head was cleaned and inspected during a refueling and maintenance outage in 2000.

In addition to these enforcement actions, the NRC has previously referred issues related to the Davis-Besse reactor vessel head damage to the Department of Justice.

The Davis-Besse plant remained shut down for two years to address equipment and staff performance issues. After extensive inspections by the NRC of improvements to safety systems and FirstEnergy’s efforts to raise safety consciousness in the plant’s management and staff, the NRC determined that Davis-Besse could be restarted and operated safely. The NRC also required that the utility undertake annual independent assessments of important plant activities for five years.

"Since the plant’s restart in March 2004, it has been operated safely and continues to be operated safely," Caldwell said. "FirstEnergy’s performance at Davis-Besse has been closely monitored by the NRC inspection staff, including NRC resident inspectors assigned to that site."

The Orders to the four individuals will be available from the Region III Office of Public Affairs and on the NRC’s web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/enforcement/current.html#individual.

NRC news releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site.

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Thursday, February 22, 2007