By Angeljean Chiaramida
SEABROOK — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a Severity Level IV violation to the owners of the Seabrook nuclear power plant because a contract employee deliberately failed to report an arrest to his employer, violating the plant's physical security plan requirements.
According to NRC Public Affairs Officer Neil Sheehan, the individual in question was a painter with unescorted access privileges at the plant while working for Williams Plant Services, which is under contract with NextEra Energy Seabrook nuclear power plant. Williams is a general labor contractor, Sheehan said, providing the plant with craftsmen, such as painters, carpenters, pipe fitters, electricians, crane operators and scaffolding builders.
Sheehan said the employee in question was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.
The NRC Enforcement Policy describes a Severity Level IV violation as one that involves noncompliance with NRC requirements that are not considered significant based on risk, Sheehan said. The NRC's violation scale goes from Level I through IV, with IV being the lowest level, Sheehan added.
The NRC considers the event one of low significance since the employee was not a supervisor, the violation appears to be an isolated incident, was not caused by a lack of management oversight, and that the only monetary advantage was to the contract employee and not to the power plant owners, Sheehan said.
"This didn't compromise plant security," Sheehan said. "But NextEra bears ultimate responsibility for the operation of its plant and all employees there, whether they're contracted or directly employed by NextEra. That's why we issued the violation."
According to the NRC's Oct. 20 letter to Gene St. Pierre, vice president of Seabrook nuclear power plant, the issuance of the violation comes after an NRC investigation of the incident that concluded at the end of July.
"As a result of the investigation," the letter to St. Pierre states, "the NRC confirmed that the contract employee, who had unescorted access to vital areas of the plant, deliberately failed to report an arrest during his employment for Williams at Seabrook. The contract employee's actions caused NextEra Energy Seabrook . . . to be in violation of NRC requirements, specifically . . . the Seabrook Physical Security Plan, which, in part, requires individuals with unescorted access to report any arrests, criminal charges, convictions, or proceedings that may have impact upon the trustworthiness or reliability of the individual. The NRC determined that the contract employee's failure to report the arrest may have had an impact on his trustworthiness or reliability, thereby causing Seabrook to be in violation of its Security Plan."
Sheehan said, "we found this individual deliberately misled the company, didn't report the incident, and that's where the violation comes from."
According to the NRC's letter, the plant's owners need not respond, unless they want to contest it.
The NRC's letter concerning the violation becomes part of NextEra Seabrook's record, and no other formal disciplinary actions will be taken, Sheehan said.
Alan Griffith, spokesman for the nuclear plant said, "Safety is always the number one priority for Seabrook, and we expect all plant workers, including contractors, to adhere to all security reporting requirements. In this case, we believe it is very important for the public to understand that the actions of the contract employee in question were not acceptable, NextEra took prompt action upon learning of the arrest, the individual is no longer working at Seabrook Station, and his work has been reviewed to ensure that there are no safety concerns."
