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NRC NEWS
U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION |
| Office of Public Affairs |
Telephone: 301/415-8200 |
| Washington, DC 20555-001 |
E-mail: opa@nrc.gov |
No. 96-50 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Friday, March 8, 1996)
NRC STAFF PROPOSES $100,000 FINE FOR APS
IN PALO VERDE WHISTLEBLOWER CASE
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a
$100,000 fine against the Arizona Public Service Co. for a
violation of NRC requirements that protect employees who
raise safety concerns from discrimination. APS operates the
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station 50 miles west of
Phoenix.
A Department of Labor proceeding and a subsequent NRC
investigation determined that Thomas Saporito was unlawfully
discriminated against in December 1991 when an APS supervisor
did not select him to work on a Palo Verde Unit 1 refueling
outage. Mr. Saporito, an instrumentation and control
technician, worked for a contractor, The Atlantic Group.
Mr. Saporito alleged that the APS supervisor
discriminated against him because he had made nuclear
safety-related complaints in the past at Palo Verde and other
nuclear plants and filed a complaint with the U.S. Department
of Labor. In May 1993 a DOL administrative law judge issued
a decision that found APS had discriminated against Mr.
Saporito.
The supervisor was terminated by APS and later admitted
in U.S. District Court that he had discriminated against Mr.
Saporito. Last September, he was fined $50 and sentenced to a
year's probation for the wrongdoing. In 1993, APS and Mr.
Saporito reached a settlement of the case filed before the
Department of Labor.
L. Joe Callan, Regional Administrator of the NRC Region
IV office in Arlington, Texas, informed APS of the fine in a
letter on Thursday.
``...[T]his violation is significant because it went
undiscovered and uncorrected for more than 19 months, during
which time the overall environment at Palo Verde for raising
safety concerns was in need of substantial attention,'' Mr.
Callan said.
``In addition, while APS eventually reported this
violation to the NRC, the report came only after [the APS
supervisor] had
admitted to APS' attorneys that he provided false information
concerning his actions to the ALJ [administrative law
judge].''
The supervisor admitted to APS attorneys in August 1993
that he had discriminated against Mr. Saporito.
Mr. Callan indicated the NRC recognizes that APS has
taken corrective actions to assure an environment in which
employees and contractors may feel free to raise safety
concerns without fear of retaliation. He said the NRC does
not disagree with APS' assertion that the improved
environment is evidenced by statistics and employee surveys.
The NRC categorized the violation as a Severity Level
III. The NRC enforcement system uses four Severity Levels,
with Level I the most serious.
APS has 30 days to reply to the citation. During that
time, it may pay the fine or protest it. If a protest is
denied and the fine is imposed, the company may ask for a
hearing.
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