NRC ORDER – ORDER

On January 25, 2012, an immediately effective Confirmatory Order was issued to Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy), to confirm commitments made as a result of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mediation session held on December 12, 2011. This enforcement action is based on a Technical Specification apparent violation. An at-the-controls reactor operator left the at-the-controls area of the Control Room without providing a turnover to a qualified individual and without obtaining permission from the Control Room Supervisor. Although the operator left the Control Room, another qualified individual resumed the at-the-controls responsibility. During the ADR session, Entergy agreed to take the following actions: 1) development of a case study as related to the events that gave rise to the Confirmatory Order and present it to Entergy licensed reactor operators fleet wide, 2) a senior Entergy nuclear executive will send a letter fleet wide to each Entergy licensed reactor operator re-emphasizing the responsibilities of their position and associated safety responsibilities and obligations to the public, 3) a presentation at the appropriate industry forum(s) based on the facts and lessons learned from this event, 4) a review of the three Entergy procedures that are applicable to this event and address any relevant observations, findings, or recommendations in their Corrective Action Program, 5) conduct a safety culture assessment of the Palisades Operations Department, 6) perform a review of the planning for the next refueling outage, focusing on stressful or complex work evolutions to ensure that they are properly planned, and 7) inform the NRC, in writing, their plan to monitor and manage the reactor operator associated with event. In consideration of these commitments, and other corrective actions already completed by Entergy, the NRC agreed to refrain from proposing a civil penalty and issuing a Notice of Violation.