NRC ORDER – ORDER

On April 6, 2016, the NRC issued a Confirmatory Order (CO) to Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy) to formalize commitments made as a result of an alternative dispute resolution mediation session held on February 19, 2016. The commitments were made by Entergy as part of a settlement agreement between Entergy and the NRC regarding the deliberate violations of 10 CFR 50.9, “Complete and accuracy of information,” 10 CFR 50.48, “Fire protection,” and 10 CFR 73.56(f)(3), “Personnel access authorization requirements for nuclear power plants,” requirements. The violations involved seven individuals at Waterford who deliberately failed to conduct compensatory hourly fire watch inspections and falsified their fire watch tour logs, a licensee supervisor who deliberately failed to identify and take corrective actions when provided with information of suspected wrongdoing by fire watch individuals, and a licensee manager who deliberately provided incomplete and inaccurate information to an access authorization reviewing official regarding the trustworthiness and reliability of a contract fire watch individual. Entergy agreed to a number corrective actions including, but not limited to: (1) conducting an Entergy Nuclear Fleet common causes evaluation, and, if general industry insights are identified, sharing them at an industry forum, (2) revising or issuing fleet-wide procedures to enhance Entergy’s management and oversight of supplemental workers, (3) provide the common requirements for fire watch programs, and (4) provide a process to address requests for the reinstatement of unescorted access authorization (UAA) for workers whose UAA has been temporarily suspended. In consideration of the commitments outlined in the CO, the NRC agreed to not issue a civil penalty nor a Notice of Violation.