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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. 96-154 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Thursday, October 24, 1996)
NRC ISSUES REPORT ON MILLSTONE ALLEGATIONS; REQUIRES
THIRD-PARTY OVERSIGHT OF EMPLOYEE CONCERNS
An independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission review has concluded that the
work environment and failures of licensee management are primary reasons for
continuing employee concerns problems in the employee concerns program at the
Millstone nuclear station in Connecticut.
Concurrent with issuing the NRC team's report, the NRC has issued an order that
directs Northeast Utilities (NU) to devise and implement a comprehensive plan for
handling safety concerns raised by Millstone employees and for assuring an
environment free from retaliation and discrimination.
The NRC also ordered NU to contract for an independent third party to oversee
its corrective action plan for the employee concerns program. The independent third-party must have expertise necessary to audit reviews of employee concerns, monitor
corrective actions, recognize weaknesses in approaches, audit investigations into
discrimination complaints, and conduct employee surveys.
Further, the members of the independent third-party organization must not have
had any direct previous involvement with activities at the Millstone Station, and the
team members' technical qualifications must be approved by the NRC, along with its
oversight plan.
Findings and recommendations of the third-party organization will be reported in
parallel to the licensee and to the NRC.
Oversight by the third-party group will continue until the licensee demonstrates,
by performance, that the conditions leading to the NRC order have been corrected.
When developed, both NU's and third-party oversight plans will be available for
examination at the local Public Document Rooms for Millstone: the Three Rivers
Community Technical College, Thames Valley Campus, 574 New London Turnpike,
Norwich, CT; the Waterford (CT) Public Library; and at the NRC's Public Document
Room, 2120 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. The plans will also be discussed in one
or more public meetings to allow members of the public to review and comment on the
plans before implementation.
The basis for today's order is that, notwithstanding the NRC regulatory actions
over the past several years, the licensee has not been effective in 1) its review and
dispositioning of safety issues raised by its employees, and 2) ensuring that employees
who bring safety concerns to its management can do so without fear of retaliation.
The NRC review found that for several years dissenting views were not tolerated
or welcomed at Millstone. "This poor environment has resulted in repeated instances of
discrimination and ineffective handling of employee concerns, and contributed to
Millstone being placed on the NRC's Watch List," the team reported. It added: "None
of the findings of this team are new. Every problem identified during this review had
been previously identified to NU management. . . yet the same problems were allowed
to continue."
Recent licensee internal reviews have made similar findings for which corrective
action has not yet been effectively implemented.
The NRC review also criticized the NRC's own process for handling allegations
at Millstone. Six main problem areas were cited: inadequate sensitivity and
responsiveness, inadequate discrimination follow up, unclear enforcement, ineffective
inspection techniques and performance measures, cumbersome NRC/Department of
Labor interactions and ineffective implementation of an allegation program.
Recommendations to improve NRC processes are being evaluated in a separate
paper and will be publicly released following Commission review.
Any person adversely affected by the order to Northeast Utilities may request a
hearing within 20 days of its issuance. The request should be submitted to the Director,
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
D.C. 20555.
The text of the order has been posted on the Internet at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/reports.
An executive summary of the NRC review group report is attached. News media
may obtain a copy of the report by contacting the NRC's Office of Public Affairs.
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Attachment:
As stated
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Since the late 1980's Millstone Nuclear Power Station (Millstone Units 1, 2, and
3) has been the source of a high volume of employee concerns and allegations related to
safety of plant operations and harassment and intimidation (H&I) of employees. NRC
has conducted numerous inspections and investigations which have substantiated many
of the employee concerns and allegations. The licensee has been cited for violations
and escalated enforcement has been taken. Notwithstanding these NRC actions, the
licensee has not been effective in handling many employee concerns or in implementing
effective corrective action for problems that have been identified by concerned
employees.
On December 12, 1995, the NRC Executive Director for Operations (EDO)
established a review group to conduct an independent evaluation of the history of the
licensee's and the staff's handling of employee concerns and allegations related to
licensed activities at Millstone Station. A copy of the Millstone Independent Review
Group's (MIRG's) charter is attached as Appendix 9.1. The charter directed the MIRG
to critically evaluate both the licensee's and NRC staff's effectiveness in addressing
Millstone-related employee concerns and allegations. The MIRG was requested to
identify root causes, common patterns between cases, and lessons learned and
recommend both plant-specific and programmatic corrective actions.
The MIRG determined that in general, an unhealthy work environment, which
did not tolerate dissenting views, and did not welcome or promote a questioning
attitude, has existed at Millstone for at least several years. This poor environment has
resulted in repeated instances of discrimination and ineffective handling of employee
concerns. The vast majority of employee concerns and allegations that were submitted
at Millstone represented little safety significance; however, many involved potentially
important procedural, tagging, or quality assurance (QA) problems, and a few were
ultimately determined to have safety significance. The unhealthy work environment
combined with the significance of substantiated allegations contributed to Millstone
being placed on the NRC's watch list in January 1996.
Many of the cultural issues that lie at the root of the company's problems had
been recognized by NU management as early as August 12, 1991. An NU Allegations
Root Cause Task Group issued a report on that date which highlighted the lack of
respect and trust between employees and their management, and indicated insufficient
management sensitivity to routine employee concerns. Subsequently, an Independent
Third Party Evaluation contracted by NU, issued a report on May 1, 1995.
The report revealed that the old culture of the 1980's had not been completely
replaced by a culture encouraging the identification of problems and a questioning
attitude, and attitudes impeding effective problem identification and resolution
persisted. Most recently NU's Millstone Employees Concerns Assessment Report dated
January 29, 1996 reiterated many of the same problems. The report highlighted an
"arrogant" management style which had further eroded Millstone employee trust and
confidence and which had contributed to NU's repeated failure to correct clearly
identified problems.
The MIRG identified seven principal root causes for continued employee
concern problems at Millstone. Specific root causes included: ineffective problem
resolution and performance measures, insensitivity to employee needs, reluctance to
admit mistakes, inappropriate management style and support for concerned employees,
poor communications and teamwork, lack of accountability, and ineffective NSCP
implementation.
The team concluded that these root causes underscored a common theme of top
management failure to provide the dynamic and visible leadership needed to bring about
required, basic attitude changes. None of the findings of this team are new. Every
problem identified during this review had been previously identified to NU
management, often by its own self-assessments, yet the same problems continue. This
single failure is viewed as being at the core of Millstone's continuing employee
concerns.
The team noted an increased management awareness of the need for
improvement in some of these areas, and was impressed with the level of employee
commitment to making significant positive changes in the Millstone work environment,
as evidenced by many of the individuals interviewed.
The MIRG also identified six principal problem areas associated with NRC
processes for the past handling of allegations at Millstone. Specific process problem
areas included inadequate sensitivity and responsiveness, inadequate discrimination
follow-up, unclear enforcement, ineffective inspection techniques and performance
measures, cumbersome NRC - Department of Labor (DOL) interface, and ineffective
allegation program implementation. Each of these problems appeared to involve one or
more of the following elements: an inappropriate attitude that allegations were a
necessary burden which detracted from more important responsibilities, an under-reaction to discrimination claims, ineffective methods for assessing licensee
environments for raising safety concerns, and insufficient appreciation of the potential
for a chilling effect at Millstone. The MIRG concluded that the process problem areas
identified with the past handling of allegations at Millstone have the potential to apply
agency-wide.
The team noted that many initiatives had been taken by NRC to improve the
process for handling allegations. Examples included policy changes, improvements in
enforcement guidance, and other initiatives by OI and the Agency Allegation Advisor.
The team's preliminary findings were discussed in a private meeting with
representatives from the alleger community on the morning of August 7, 1996.
Following this meeting the team's findings were discussed in a public exit meeting at the
Millstone site with NU officials in the afternoon of August 7, 1996, and duplicated in an
evening session held at the Hilton Inn in Mystic, Connecticut on August 8, 1996 to
accommodate individuals who could not or did not attend the afternoon session. These
meetings solicited comments and were transcribed to facilitate consideration of
comments before completing the report.
The MIRG will send its recommendations for corrective action to the EDO by
separate correspondence for both NU root causes and the potential agency-wide NRC
process problems. It is the team's understanding that the staff will consider this material
in evaluating the adequacy of NU recovery activities and future improvements in the
NRC process.
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