NRC ORDER – ORDER

On December 22, 2009, a Confirmatory Order (effective immediately) was issued to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to confirm commitments made as a result of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mediation session held on December 4, 2009. At issue were two apparent violations of the NRC's employee protection regulation (10CFR50.7) identified during two separate investigations conducted by the NRC Office of Investigations at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN). The NRC acknowledged that TVA, prior to the ADR session, had taken numerous actions which address the issues underlying the apparent violations. As part of the agreement, TVA agreed to take a number of additional actions. These actions include, implementing a process to review proposed adverse employment actions before they are taken to ensure compliance with 10CFR50.7 and to ensure the action could not negatively impact the Safety Conscious Work Environment (SCWE), issuing a fleet-wide written communication from TVA's executive management communicating TVA's policy and management expectations regarding the employee's right to raise concerns without fear of retaliation, performing two additional independent safety culture surveys before the end of calendar year 2013, and modifying contractor in-process training and new supervisor training to improve awareness of TVA's policy on SCWE. In recognition of these commitments, and the other actions already completed by TVA, the NRC agreed to refrain from issuing a civil penalty or Notice of Violation for these apparent violations.