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NRC NEWS
U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION II
101 Marietta St., Suite 2900, Atlanta, GA 30323 | | CONTACT: |
Ken Clark (Phone: 404-331-5503, E-mail: kmc2@nrc.gov ) |
| Roger Hannah (Phone 404-331-7878, E-mail: rdh1@nrc.gov ) |
No. II-96-48 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Ken Clark 404-331-5503 (Friday, May 31, 1996)
Roger Hannah 404-331-7878
NRC STAFF ISSUES NOTICES OF VIOLATION TO GEORGIA POWER COMPANY
FOLLOWING PERSONNEL DISCRIMINATION RULINGS BY SECRETARY OF LABOR
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has cited Georgia Power Company for two
violations of NRC requirements for discrimination against employees engaged in protected
activities related to safety concerns at nuclear power plants.
NRC officials said the violations, cited following decisions by the Secretary of Labor in
favor of two former company employees, were each determined to be Severity Level 1, the most
serious of four NRC violation levels for which enforcement actions are taken. However, no
monetary civil penalty is proposed in either case because the five-year Statute of Limitations for
such action expired while the employees were pursuing complaints and appeals at the Department
of Labor. The NRC's policy is to base enforcement action on DOL decisions when the NRC has
no independent investigatory findings.
In one case, the Secretary of Labor issued a Decision and Remand Order on August 4,
1995, which overturned an Administrative Law Judge's finding of November 8, 1991, that
company actions taken against Mr. Marvin B. Hobby were not motivated by his engaging in
protected activity. Specifically involved was the raising of safety concerns in 1989 in the operation
of the Vogtle nuclear power plant near Waynesboro, Georgia. Mr. Hobby expressed concerns
that the organizational structure governing the company's operation of its nuclear facilities
violated NRC requirements.
In the other case, the Secretary of Labor issued a Decision and Remand Order on
November 20, 1995, reversing an Administrative Law Judge's finding of October 30, 1992, that
the company did not discriminate against Mr. Allen L. Mosbaugh for engaging in protected
activities. The Labor Secretary concluded that Mr. Mosbaugh was engaged in protected activity
"by making lawful tape recordings that constituted evidence gathering in support of a nuclear
complaint" and that other employees' potential unwillingness to communiate with him was not a
legitimate reason to discharge him.
The NRC adopted the Secretary of Labor's determination that the firings were acts of
discrimination because the two were engaged in protected activities.
NRC officials said employees who raise real or percieved safety concerns
may not be discrimined against for raising such concerns and that holders of an NRC operating
license must provide an environment in which all employees may freely raise safety issues.
The company has 30 days from May 30 to respond.
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