NRC finds “chilled work environment” at Palisades

Employees in the supply chain and quality assurance departments at the Palisades nuclear plant may be hesitant to raise safety concerns using the avenues at their disposal for fear of retaliation, a report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has concluded.

The findings in the report published Tuesday stem from a July inspection of the Covert, Mich., plant, which is trying to become the first U.S. nuclear power plant to restart after being shut down. Inspectors said they found "possible concerns with the safety-conscious work environment (SCWE)" at the plant. The NRC sent its follow-up letter and report to Fadi Diya, Holtec's senior vice president and chief nuclear officer, on October 13.

"This inspection did not identify any violations of NRC requirements or other significant plant safety issues. Our inspection team also determined that Palisades maintained a SCWE where most personnel felt free to raise nuclear safety concerns without fear of retaliation," the letter said. The letter and findings can be found on the NRC website.

"However, the NRC concluded that a Chilled Work Environment exists in two specific departments: supply chain and quality assurance," the letter added. The NRC describes a "chilled work environment" as a situation where the "willingness of a group of employees to report safety or regulatory concerns is inhibited."

According to the letter, the NRC is requesting a copy of plant operator/owner Holtec's plans to address these findings within 30 days, with the expectation the company will meet with the NRC approximately two weeks later.

In response to NRC's letter and findings, Holtec issued the following statement to Nuclear News:

"We take the issues identified in the NRC inspection report seriously. We are taking actions to address these issues and will continue our work to maintain and strengthen a healthy safety-conscious work environment at Palisades. A strong safety-conscious work environment is fundamental to our culture. Speaking up and raising concerns are essential to nuclear safety, and leaders at every level have a responsibility to support that environment and ensure concerns are appropriately evaluated and addressed."

What is in the report: According to the report's findings, some people were hesitant to raise concerns because of a perception that management emphasized production and would not hear safety-related concerns unless they impacted restart work directly. Furthermore, these people were hesitant to raise concerns about issues "directed or controlled beyond the site's immediate control."

Inspectors noted that most line staff had no issues reporting concerns to their immediate supervisors and typically did not have to raise concerns beyond that level. However, some of those interviewed expressed hesitation to elevate concerns beyond their immediate supervisors, because "turnover and organizational changes have left them uncertain about who to approach at higher levels," the report said.

The inspection ultimately led them to the supply chain and quality assurance departments, where inspectors detected "the presence of a chilled work environment." According to the report, inspectors found that some employees in these departments were hesitant to raise concerns through available channels, including raising concerns through the NRC.

"This reluctance was driven largely by a perceived fear of retaliation, including the possibility of termination," the report said. "The current environment has also negatively affected, for these two departments, the use of established processes for raising safety issues, such as the corrective action program (CAP) and the employee concerns program (ECP). Information obtained during the inspection further indicated that managers at multiple levels may not always be receptive to employees' safety concerns, heightening the NRC's concern."

According to the report, employees identified areas where they felt they couldn't raise concerns or where concerns weren't being adequately addressed, such as work processes related to procuring or qualifying equipment and procedures or quality assurance's ability to operate independently.

The report also noted some additional observations from the inspection team, such as employees saying work planning, coordination, and communication remained challenges, as schedule planning and adherence had not completely transitioned from the system that had been used during the plant's decommissioning and early-restart days.

"This has resulted in unpredictable schedule changes and, in some cases, inadequate organizational support for work activities as scheduled," the report said. "This is causing concern and frustration for those directly involved with planning and executing work in the field."

Despite the findings, inspectors identified no violations, the report said. The NRC determined that Palisades overall maintained a safety-conscious work environment where most personnel felt free to report any safety issues without any fears that could lead to retaliation, intimidation, harassment, or discrimination. NRC staff also wrote that they remain confident in Holtec's ability to restart Palisades and these "isolated SCWE issues" will not impact the restart efforts.

"It is important for Holtec and Palisades to assess the culture for these work departments, address the causes that created and sustained the chilled work environment within these work groups, and take steps to ensure that all staff at Holtec and Palisades are willing to openly raise safety concerns at all levels," NRC staff wrote in the letter.