NRC STAFF PROPOSES $65,000 CIVIL PENALTY AT HARRIS NUCLEAR PLANT;
ISSUES VIOLATION NOTICES TO SECURITY CONTRACTOR AND SUPERVISORS
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a $65,000 civil penalty against Progress Energy for a 2005 violation in which contract security officers were provided answers by three contract security supervisors during required re-qualification tests at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant, operated by the company near Raleigh, N. C.

The NRC also announced enforcement actions in the form of notices of violation against the security contractor, Securitas Security Services, USA, Inc., and against the contract security supervisors.

NRC officials said the enforcement action followed the agency’s completion of its review of security concerns at the Harris plant. Those concerns were provided to the NRC in December 2005 by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network (NC WARN).

In a letter dated March 22, 2006 to UCS and NC WARN, Victor M. McCree, then Director of the NRC’s Division of Reactor Safety in the agency’s Region II office in Atlanta, advised of the results of the agency’s review of 16 of the 19 discrete issues that were identified in UCS’ and NC WARN’s December 2005 letter. In that letter, the agency confirmed the validity of a number of the issues raised.

In an Aug. 30 , 2007 letter to UCS and NC WARN, Joseph W. Shea, Director of the NRC’s Division of Reactor Safety in the agency’s Region II office in Atlanta, advised of the results of the agency’s review of the remaining three concerns. Shea said the NRC was able to establish the validity of one of the remaining three concerns resulting in enforcement action being taken against Progress Energy, Securitas Security Services and three individuals. Shea stated that the other two concerns were not substantiated and that all 19 concerns are now considered closed.

The letter further stated that “unless the NRC receives additional information that suggests our conclusions should be altered,” the NRC plans “no further action on the concerns.”

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EDITORS: Interested parties may obtain a summary of the NRC’s previous review of security issues at the Harris plant at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/for-the-record/2006. A summary of the NRC’s latest review of Harris security issues may be obtained at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/for-the-record/2007. Copies of the enforcement letters and violation notices to the utility and the contractor will be available on the NRC web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html . The ML numbers are: ML072420240, ML072420251 and ML072240255. Information on letters to the three individuals will not be publicly available until the NRC has confirmed their receipt by the individuals involved. Information can also be obtained via email or facsimile by calling the NRC Region II Public Affairs office at (404) 562-4416 or 4417 or by email at OPA2@nrc.gov.

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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Friday, November 28, 2008