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NRC NEWS
U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV
1450 Maria Lane, Walnut Creek, CA 94596 |
| CONTACT: |
Mark Hammond (510) 975-0254/E-mail: mfh2@nrc.gov |
CONTACT: Mark Hammond June 7, 1996
Office: (510) 975-0254 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Home: (415) 674-1024 RIV-3896
Pager: (800) 916-4952
NRC STAFF PROPOSES $50,000 FINE
IN RECORDS CASE AT TROJAN NUCLEAR PLANT
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a $50,000 fine against the
Portland General Electric Co. (PGE) for violation of NRC requirements at the Trojan nuclear
power plant near Rainier, Ore.
The fine is for the submission of inaccurate and misleading information to the NRC in June
and October 1991. The NRC has also cited PGE for another violation involving the apparent
falsification of records. The latter violation, however, does not involve a monetary fine because it
occurred more than five years ago, a period that exceeds the statute of limitations for fines.
This enforcement action is the result of investigations conducted by a law firm retained by
PGE and the NRC's Office of Investigations. The violations occurred before Trojan ceased
operations in October 1992. The NRC has approved PGE's decommissioning plan for the Trojan
plant.
PGE hired the law firm, Stier, Anderson & Malone, in 1991 to investigate allegations
concerning PGE's responses to problems involving certain plant equipment. The firm conducted
two lengthy inquiries into both cases, and documented management failures and a pattern of
misinforming the NRC about equipment problems.
The law firm's first investigation report, provided to the NRC in June 1992, concluded that
Trojan's former environmental qualification supervisor, in July and October 1990, had knowingly
falsified documents that justified the operation of certain electrical splices before necessary tests
had been conducted. A separate inquiry by the NRC's Office of Investigations, completed in
March 1994, reached the same conclusion.
The law firm's second investigation report, provided to the NRC in February this year,
determined that PGE documentation to the NRC in December 1991 on the integrity of electrical
penetration assembly seals was incomplete, inaccurate and misleading. Electrical penetration
assemblies are large, cylindrical plugs that carry cables through the containment building, which
houses the nuclear reactor.
In a letter informing PGE of the fine, L. Joe Callan, Regional Administrator of NRC
Region IV in Arlington, Texas, said, ``The NRC recognizes that these violations were discovered
largely as a result of efforts undertaken by current Trojan management and do not reflect the
performance of current management.''
Nevertheless, Mr. Callan said, they are significant because they concerned equipment
important to the safe operation of the Trojan plant and, in the case of the electrical splices,
records were found to have been apparently falsified.
``...[T]he violations are the result of significant management failures to address the
underlying technical issues as well as to establish an appropriate climate for being candid with the
NRC with regard to these issues,'' Mr. Callan said. ``The NRC notes that if it were not for the fact
that Trojan has a new management team, that the plant has permanently ceased operations, and
the current efforts to keep the NRC staff informed of onsite activities, the NRC would have
considered a civil penalty up to the statutory limit of $100,000.''
PGE replaced the electrical splices and electrical penetration assembly seals in question in
1991. The individuals who were the primary focus of the investigations are no longer employed by
PGE.
Both violations were classified Severity Level III in the NRC's four-level classification
system. Level I is the most serious. PGE has 30 days to respond to the NRC's citation, during
which time it may pay the fine or protest it. If the protest is denied, the utility may ask for a
hearing.
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