The plant is located in Covert, Mich., five miles south of South Haven. The Order stems from a settlement that was reached under the NRC’s Alternative Dispute Resolution process, requested by plant-owner Entergy to address the December 2012 incident. The violation occurred when a security manager assigned a security supervisor to perform security duties without verifying the supervisor’s qualifications. The supervisor also failed to ensure he was qualified to perform his assigned security duties.
The NRC evaluated the security significance of the matter and determined it was of very low significance. The NRC’s ADR process includes mediation facilitated by a neutral third party, with no decision-making authority, who assists the NRC and a licensee in reaching an agreement when there are differences regarding an enforcement action. A mediation session between the NRC staff and Entergy was held on May 15 and a settlement was reached.
A confirmatory order, issued on July 22, outlines the corrective actions and steps Entergy has agreed to take to address the violation. Those steps include actions such as ensuring proper verification of training credentials for staff and management across the Entergy fleet; taking a wide range of actions to strengthen safety culture; making presentations on this event to the reactor community; creating specific requirements for selection and development of security managers; and conducting an effectiveness review of the corrective actions. "Using the ADR process allowed us to achieve not only compliance with NRC requirements, but a wide range of corrective actions that go beyond those the agency may get through the traditional enforcement process," said NRC Region III Administrator Cynthia Pederson.
"The company will be reporting to the NRC as it implements the corrective actions and is required to provide us with a letter discussing the basis for concluding that the company has fully met the conditions of the order."
