ML052440440
| ML052440440 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Salem, Hope Creek  |
| Issue date: | 04/29/2003 |
| From: | Monroe K NRC/OI |
| To: | |
| References | |
| 1-2003-010, FOIA/PA-2004-0191 | |
| Download: ML052440440 (34) | |
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/
EXHIBIT 17 Information in this record was deleted in accordance with 1jl Freedom of Inforbtionf Act, exemptions
- IR I
Case No. 1-2003-010 Exhibit 17
1 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
+
OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS INTERVIEW
-x IN THE MATTER OF:
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 INTERVIEW OF ROBERT SETTLE (CLOSED)
Docket No.
1-2003-010
-x Tuesday, April 29, 2003 Office of Jeff Keenan Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 The above-entitled interview was conducted at 12:42 p.m.
BEFORE:
Special Agent Kristin Monroe 22 23 24 25
- I EXHB1T Jl e
PAGEJoF-3 PAGc l 2 0 0 3 -` O I O NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
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2 3
4 S
6 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 On Behalf of the Witness, Robert Settle:
JEFFRIE KEENAN, ESQ.
Assistant General Solicitor PSEG Corporation Nuclear-N21 P.O. Box 236 Hancocks, Bridge, NJ 08038 1/800/232-0244 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
3 1
P R O C E E D I N G S 2
12:42 p.m.
3 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Today is Tuesday, 4
April 29, 2003.
And the time is now approximately 5
12:42 p.m.
6 The interview this afternoon is with 7
Robert Settle who is employed with PSEG Corporation at 8
Salem Hope Creek on Artificial Island in New Jersey 9
and the location of the interview actually in the 10 office of Jeff Keenan who is representing Bob 11 personally for the purposes of this interview this 12 afternoon.
13 My name is Kristin Monroe. I'm a Special 14 Agent with the NRC Office of Investigations in King of 15 Prussia, Pennsylvania, Region 1.
16 Also present, as I indicated earlier is 17 Jeff
- Keenan, Assistant General Solicitor, PSEG 18 Corporation.
19 The subject of the interview concerns an 20 allegation tha a senior engineer at Hope 21 Creek Generating Station was discriminated against for 22 raising a safety concern on ia PSEG's 23 corrective action program.
And 6 aised the issue 24 regarding procedural noncompliance with Transient 25 Assessment Response Plan which we'll refer to as TARP.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 4H Junn1 for ALIn AI=
MWAI
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And as a result of raising the concern, 2
believes that X as relieved of duty, suspended and 3
removed from plant access from to August 19, 4
2002.
5 In additiond alleges that 6
received threats of poor performance appraisal and 7
termination on August 19, 2002.
This is a potential 8
violation of 10 CFR 50.5 deliberate misconduct and 10 9
CFR 50.7 employee protection and I showed you my 10 identification before we went on the record.
11 MR. SETTLE:
Yes, you did.
12 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
- Also, as I
13 explained, the interview will be conducted under oath.
14 Do you have any objection to being 15 interviewed under oath?
16 MR. SETTLE:
No, I do not.
17 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Will you raise your 18 right hand?
19 Do you solemnly swear that the information 20 you're about to provide is true and complete to the 21 best of your knowledge and beliefs, so help you God?
22 MR. SETTLE:
Yes, I do.
- 23 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
And would 24 you please state your full name and spell your last?
25 MR. SETTLE: Robert Jeffrey Settle, S-E-T-NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRMSCRIBERS 4'6" UJC I0I ALIln AgIe L
AI
1 T-L-E.
2 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And how did you 3
happen to select Jeff to represent you for today's 4
interview?
5 MR. SETTLE: Jeff had helped me coordinate 6
to make sure I didn't forget this meeting and he's a 7
company attorney and he offered --
I came over because 8
I have not been involved in any of these interviews 9
before. He came over to make sure I knew what I was 10 getting involved in.
11 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
- Okay, so you 12 understand the process?
13 MR. SETTLE:
Yes.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Jeff, a brief 15 explanation of your --
16 MR. KEENAN:
An outstanding reminder. I 17 am (Inaudible) PSGE Services, and today I represent 18 PSGE Nuclear (Inaudible) capacity.
19 I have reviewed the ECP file and I'm not 20 aware of any conflict of interest at this time.
21 Should a conflict arise, we'll take a break and figure 22 out how best to handle it.
23 We would also like the opportunity to 24 review the transcript at NRC's convenience.
25 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
We can work that NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 13t3 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
1 out.
2 MR. KEENAN: Can we take a break from the 3
record, just quickly?
4 (Off the record.)
5 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
We were off the 6
record briefly to disconnect the telephone so it 7
wouldn't keep ringing in the background.
8 And Bob, you understand that Jeff is 9
representing both you and the company?
10 MR. SETTLE:
Yes, I do.
11 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Will his presence 12 hinder your testimony in any way?
13 MR.
SETTLE:
No, it will not.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And you do 15 understand if you chose to meet with me privately, you 16 have the option to do that?
17 MR. SETTLE:
Yes, I do.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Let's move on.
19 Bob, what's your date and place of birth?
20 MR. SETTLE:
21 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: What's your Social 22 Security Number?
23 MR. SETTLE:
L 24 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: What' s your current 25 home address?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
,4V2) oUnnt=l t amon a%/=
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7 1MR.
SETTLE 2
3 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Zip Code?
4 MR. SETTLE:
5 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And your home 6
telephone number?
7 MR. SETTLE:
8 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And what's your 9
educational background?
10 MR. SETTLE:
I have a B.S.M.E. from the 11 Lehigh University.
12 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
13 MR. SETTLE:
Yes.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Do you hold any 15 licenses or certifications?
16 MR. SETTLE: I have a PE license from the 17 State of New Jersey.
And I used to have an SRO in 18 Federal Government.
19 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
So is your NRC or 20 SRO license expired?
21 MR.
SETTLE: They didn't expire. They're 22 just not current.
Once you let it go, it's gone.
23 There's not an expiration date.
24 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
25 MR. SETTLE:
You no longer use it.
- NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
8 1
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Do they send you a 2
letter saying it's terminated?
3 MR. SETTLE:
I don't remember getting a 4
letter. I went out of Operations, so I don't keep it 5
any more.
6 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
7 MR. SETTLE:
So it's no longer.
8 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Do you have any 9
military service?
10 MR. SETTLE:
No, I do not.
11 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: What's your current 12 position?
13 MR.
SETTLE:
I'm an Engineering 14 Supervisor.
15 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And who do you
- 16.
report to?
17 MR. SETTLE: Dick Frigonese. F-R-I-G-O-N-18 E-S-E.
19 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And you're an 20 Engineering Supervisor.
And is there a specific 21 function or department?
22 MR. SETTLE:
It's actually spare parts.
23 When we can't get a part any more because somebody 24 doesn't make it.
It's oiir job to reconcile somehow to 25 do that, whether we do a change packet. It's obsolete NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 47no DUonc IMI Afn Az Pi w
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1 spare parts.
2 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Oh really.
How 3
long have you been in there?
4 MR. SETTLE:
Just two years.
I actually 5
came out of the station. I was inside the station for 6
20, almost 20 years and obsolete maintenance, they 7
brought me out to go back to engineering which I was 8
happy for.
9 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: So if you needed a 10 replacement part.
Let's say was this a
11 Westinghouse plant or a G.E.?
12 MR. SETTLE:
There's Westinghouse and a 13 G.E. plant.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
15 MR. SETTLE:
So let's say we went to 16 ONASCO (Phonetic) as to make (Inaudible).
We'd look 17 at the specs we could use.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: So you had someone 19 else fabricate it or do you use a different part?
20 MR.
SETTLE:
Our job is to get a 21 replacement.
I can't get this valve any more.
22 Whoever it is doesn't make it any more. Especially in 23 electronics, so what are we going to do?
We go out 24 and we compare the specs and say this is what you used 25 to use.
This. is equivalent because this is better NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
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2 3
4 5
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10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 than, because --
that's --
we do all that.
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: That' s interesting.
I've never run into that before.
Were you in the same position in August of 2002?
MR. SETTLE:
Yes, I was.
v I C SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And what is.
ekSs title? I don't think I asked you that.
MR.
SETTLE:
Manager of Desi Engineering, I think it is.
VS-l SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Who does fli-ekr-report to?
MR. SETTLE: John Carlin, Vice President of Engineering.
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay, and how long have you been employed by PSEG?
MR. SETTLE:
Twenty-one years.
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
is the subject of the interview this afternoon.
Could you describe the nature of your association with Do you knoj as a friend?
MR. SETTLE: I know robably about 10 to 12 years.
We've worked in different departments together.
I don't socialize wit I have a decent working relationship with I mean I talk NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS lvr Pwr= tmt ANf AV N W.
1 to nd you know, I've never been out socializing 2
with 3
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay, fine, thanks.
4 What's the TARP, what is it? Who's on it? How does 5
it--
6 MR. SETTLE: TARP is several years ago we 7
decided that when an event would happen it was in the 8
station.
We didn't want the on duty ship personnel 9
being distracted running this investigation.
So we 10 call in various management
- people, there's 11 engineering.
There's work managemext.
There's a 12 maintenance operations, non-sip peogle coming in and 13 saying investigate.
14 We just had this -- whatever this is --
we 15 just had this motor burn up.
We want you guys to 16 figure out what we need to do.
What's our immediate 17 response to this? Do we need to go stop all the other 18 motors? Do we need to do this? And you come in and 19 there's usually, I don't know --
but it's basically 20 designed so that the shift guys would run the control 21 room.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Have you ever been 23 a member of TARP?
X 24 MR. SETTLE: I have never e-en a member oE 25 TARP.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
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SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
How long have you 2
been on?
3 MR. SETTLE:
I just got reassigned last 4
July or June, whenever we reassign people.
5 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: So the discussions, 6
I guess you're realigning the TARP, combining Hope 7
Creek and Salem around June of 2002?
8 MR. SETTLE:
No, we weren't doing that.
9 What we were doing is we were just trying to give 10 people a break.
11 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
A break?
12 MR. SETTLE:
Yes, you haven't been on in 13 a while? You're going on.
14 We also did something that said hey, why 15 don't we put somebody senior?
We have senior 16 engineers.
I'm the lead on alpha team.
So there's 17 me, Tom Valcheck and there's another, a senior 18 engineer, Luis Gonzalez. And all the teams they have, 19 a senior -- they have two supervisors. That's me and 20 Tom.
And a senior.
I don't know what they all are, 21 but --
so I don't even know. But that's all the teams 22 who came out of the TARP.
23 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And how does it, 24 being on the TARP impact your life outside of the 25 office? Is it is a (Inaudible)? Can you quantify it?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 4-a D122 Inc leiAln aI=
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MR. SETTLE:
Yes, it is.
It's a pain in 2
the backside.
It's once every four weeks.
You're 3
supposed to be within --
well, I'm an EP guy too.
4 Emergence (Inaudible).
It falls right on top of that.
5 Which is EP is a little more restrictive.
It's
.6 basically the same thing. You've got to stay within 7
a reporting distance and you've got to stay fit for 8
duty.
So I already had that during EP, so it wasn't 9
that much --
that wasn't a big deal.
10 The big deal is when you get called out 11 for TARP a lot because when you have a response on a 12 Saturday morning or Monday night, things like that.
13 I don't know what team --
I'm the lead for alpha team.
14 We haven't had that many this year.
15 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
Xwas 16 assigned.
as supposed to be on delta team.
17 MR.
SETTLE: I don't pay attention to the 18 team. You know what I mean? If it's not me -- I just 19 went off today, so the next 7 days I'm on.
20 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
Does that 21 run concurrently with your --
22 MR. SETTLE:
Yes.
They're the same.
23 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
So it just depends 24 on what events come up?
25 MR. SETTLE: Yes, if you're lucky -- we've NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 4ass DWnI=IA AsinJva N w.
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been pretty lucky, alpha team this year.
We've had 2
very few. But you say hey, we just -- I don't know --
3 it's Oak Creek, we had a transformer blow up. We need 4
to talk to you, come in and see what we need to do, 5
whether we should shut down all the other transformers 6
or whether we need to, you know, whether we need to 7
undertake readings.
8 Usually, you get in, you're in there for 9
about 4 to 6 hours6.944444e-5 days <br />0.00167 hours <br />9.920635e-6 weeks <br />2.283e-6 months <br /> and you're out.
10 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
11 MR.
SETTLE:
You come in, you say do we
.12 need to do anything?
Is there a philosophy for it?
13 Whatever. You come in and you make recommendations to 14 the operations department, maintenance department, 15 whoever it is.
Say, tomorrow morning, you guys need 16 to start looking at your backlog.
You need to start 17 doing whatever.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: You indicated you 19 make recommendations. Do you do that as an individual 20 or do you do that--
21 MR. SETTLE:
You do that as a team.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
- Okay, so no 23 individuals are on the spot for making specific --
24 MR. SETTLE:
No, and you're not expected 25 to be --
I'm the engineering lead on the alpha team NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1vz Rw nnFl Il.I Atn AVF: N W.
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and I don't know everything about engineering.
So if 2
I need help, I call the right people in.
So you're 3
not there to answer everything. You're there to bring 4
like your background there and come in and say well, 5
what do you think we should do? I think I need to get 6
reactor engineers in here.
I need to get electrical 7
engineers in here. Whatever I need to do, I can call 8
in.
9 I don't remember ever --
I may have called 10 people in.
I don't remember anybody offhand calling 11 people, but if I get stuck where I call them on the 12 phone and say hey --
but generally, it's an issue do 13 we have an issue?
Should we go in here? Do we need 14 to shut the plant down tonight? No, we don't need to 15 shut the plant down tonight.
And there are some 16 things like that.
17 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
You indicated at 18 least your second round on the TARP, when were you on 19 it previously?
20 MR. SETTLE: -I don't know exactly how many 21 years ago.
I used to be inside the plant in the 22 planning and scheduling department and I was on with 23 that.
So maybe 3, 4, 5 years ago.
I don't know 24 exactly.
25 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
One of the issues NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
16 1
that t
raised wasinfound that some aspects of the 2
procedure weren't being followed.
Have you ever, in 3
your experience, observed or noticed that there were 4
aspects of the procedure that weren't complied with?
5 MR. SETTLE: 1 brought that up at the 6
meeting, but never brought any specifics and I 7
don't know what was --
I don't know what was 8
talking about.
9 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
10 MR.
SETTLE:
It's a fairly thick 11 procedure.
It's a fairly generic procedure.
So I 12 don't know what says here's where you put 13 your report. Here's where you do your thing. There's 14 no particulars about you turn the switch and then you 15 do that.
So I don't know what --
16 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
It's more of a 17 process type of procedure?
18 MR. SETTLE:
Yes.
19 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And it's a
20 reference use procedure, I guess?
21 MR. SETTLE:
Yes.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Did you ever feel 23 you weren't qualified to be a TARP member?
Did you 24 have any concerns that --
25 MR. SETTLE:
I had some feelings when I NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
1 7 1
was --
I mentioned I recently came out of the station.
2 I was in engineering for almost 20 years. I was doing 3
other things, operations and maintenance.
And when 4
you don't do engineering, you don't do engineering.
5 So I had a --
I was back in engineering 6
for about a year.
And I had already done an outage.
7 I found out it's not -- you're not doing engineering.
8 You're not asking me to redesign what changes, so he 9
said you're basically a point of contact and we're 10 getting the right guys and making sure the engineering 11 point of view is represented.
12 So I really never had that with TARP.
I 13 was very comfortable with TARP. I mean, like I said, 14 once you get --
the issue was to explain what's my 15 role in TARP.
Here's what you're supposed to do.
16 And I had actually done it before.
17 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Is that right?
18 MR. SETTLE: So I had actually (Inaudible.
19 I had TARP experience.
The biggest thing it is an 20 imposition on you.
21 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay. All right.
22 Were you aware that in June 2002 when people were 23 being rotated in and out on the TARP team that that 24 was one of the individuals who was 25 selected to be a senior engineer?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS vWn onnf : m IcAn Avr-m W
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MR. SETTLE:
I don't know.
No.
I --
2 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: When did you first 3
become aware of this whole issue with backfilling,*
4 wasn't qualified --
5 MR. SETTLE:
A day or two before, right 6
around then, _
asked me would I mind being a second 7
supervisor, sitting in an personnel issue. And I said 8
fine.
And that was basically up until when M 9
walked in the door, I didn't do any more than that.
10 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
- Okay, so the 11 meeting we're talking about is on August 19.
It's a 12 Monday.
13 MR. SETTLE:
Yes.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And so a couple 15 days prior, you would have been asked?
.16 MR. SETTLE:. It was either that morning or 17 the Friday before, say hey, would you be available on 18 Monday and I said yeah, sure.
19 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
How didl f
come 20 to select you to sit in on this?
21 MR. SETTLE:
I don't know that.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
You don't know.
23 Did give you any background information on what 24 this personnel issue was going to be or were you to be 25 just a second party observer?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE..N.W.
1 MR. SETTLE:
I don't remenbe giving 2
me any background on it at all.
I be iev just 3
said we need you to become the.second guy and the note 4
taker and that's basically --
I don't believe I spoke 5
in the meeting at all.
6 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
7 MR. SETTLE:
I just tried to maintain as 8
a --
I don't believe I did, at least.
9 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Is that normal? Is 10 it the process to have a personnel issue, if you can ii answer it, to have a second individual there to 12 witness it?
13 MR. SETTLE:
I haven't been in two many 14 management, management ones. The union --
most of my 15 experience is dealing with the IBEW. And that's the 16 way we would do with the IBEW. And I would tell you 17 that's probably the way we would do it with --
I can't 18 tell you the usual way we'd do it, but I would tell 19 you the way --
if I have the real issue when I have a 20 real problem with someone, I meet with my subordinates 21 all the time and roll out expectations and problems 22 and we don't --
we don't have a two on one.
23 We don't have the --
if I said I was 24 having real problems with someone, if I was in the 25 same situation where I would just --
the guy is going NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 2...wnA Imi AWn A M
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 20 back from two weeks of havin a access terminated, I'd probably want somebody in there too just to say hey did you hear what I said?
So is it normal?
I would think it's normal in this case, yes.
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
The notes we're looking at are typed. Did you take handwritten notes?
MR. SETTLE:
Yes, I did.
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Did you keep those notes or destroy them after you --
MR.
SETTLE:
I probably have them somewhere, but there's a copy --
I probably have them somewhere.
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: The type one would represent your --
MR.'SETTLE:
Um --
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Everything that would have been in the handwritten notes would have transitioned to --
MR..SETTLE: It's just some of my stuff is a little bit of gibberish. You know, what does that mean?
What happened is several days afterwards, Tom Lake, the police concerns guy called up and said hey, would you come out and talk to me, so I went out and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS anon DOUAt~
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I happened to have my friend (Ii-audile) at the time 2
and I said yeah, I still have the notes in there.
I 3
gave
- a copy of the notes and I had gone back and 4
when I got back to my desk originally, after the 5
meeting with 6
I said I realize things hadn't gone as 7
well as I had hoped they would, so I kind of sat down 8
and typed up my own notes because I tried to -- and I 9
just left them in my computer.
10 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
11 MR. SETTLE: So when Xcame back and said 12 I can send you the notes and I said yeah, so I sent 13 m41 over the notes too.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: We're looking back.
15 How did X
start the meeting?
I mean how did the 16 whole thing --
17 MR.
SETTLE: cm was very deadpan.
It 18 was almost --
and is very, if you talk tor_
19 today you'll find ou very -- very moderate.
20 said the issue here i you have an assignment to 21 TARP and you refused the assignment and basically I'm 22 here to see if you will accept this TARP assignment or 23 we need to pursue this any further.
24 And said well --
and that's when we 25 started to get into it. And kept A-- was -
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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3 4
5 6
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 k.
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 22 would keep bringing it back.
uwould kind of go off and say I have this cross cutting issues and we never really got to what the issues were.
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: *didn't elaborate what they were?
MR. SETTLE:
No, 1
never really --
I couldn't say.
X nentioned something about procedural guidance and kind of brought up lots and lots of things, but nothing that what is really the issue.
Actually and I talked afterwards and I said you really need to go back and kind of pound There are two --
in my mind, there were two things.
One, TARP assignments; and two is what's bothering you? Like I said, we'd get'in there and we brought up -Cin brought up lots of --
you know, ever time we'd get back to the initial one, bring up lots of --
I've got -- ^said these are cross cutting issues.
as taking a stand for safety.
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
(Inaudible).
MR.
SETTLE:
brought up the fact it's a personal --
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Hardship.
MR. SETTLE: And it is a personal -- it's personal on all the guys.
All of us.
You're right, it is.
It's not safety.
It is a pain in the neck, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
23 1
you know.
You're right.
He is right on that.
2 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: You're concern. I 3
forgot to ask you earlier.
Do you consider your 4
membership on top to be a developmental assignment or 5
do you look at it as something kind of to enhance your 6
career or just another job assignment?
7 MR.
SETTLE:
I don't consider it a 8
developmental assignment. We had done -- we wanted to 9
put some of the seniors on there as a developmental 10 assignment.
11 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
I see, okay.
The 12 senior engineers.
13 MR. SETTLE: Right, so what we tried to do 14 is we said some of these things. We thought there was 15 a heavy load for the supervisors.
Some of these 16 things we're saying we have senior engineers and we 17 could actually spread some of the load out of some of 18 these things like that and so that's one of the things 19 we did.
20 I wasn't involved in that part of the 21 decision.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Sure.
23 MR. SETTLE:
I agreed with it.
I agreed 24 with it, that part of it.
But it wasn't until after 25 it came out, I said yeah, I thought that was a good NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 47)2 Dowfn ICI Amn AI:
N W
24 I
idea.
2 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay. I'm looking 3
at your notes which probably are the best recollection 4
of the conversation and it indicated that said 5
TARP was not doing what was required by procedure.
6 Did elaborate what that was?
7
- MR. SETTLE:
No,0 didn't.
As far as I 8
- remember, didn't. "
said we would touch things 9
and then we would never really go down any further.
10 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Was that becauseC 11 was trying to get J back on track to discuss 12 TARP membership or is it just --
13 MR. SETTLE: It was a little of both. In 14 my opinion, it was kind of like a rambling. Whe 15 would get on-I-]ould hey, Xwould be very upset, 16 hey, an 1 would say this is TARP.
You're assigned 17 TARP and a refusal to accept this assignment could 18 lead to discipline up to and including termination.
19 And the would get -- would be talking like 20 this and you're talking about that andix says okay.
21 TARP, we need to get back on this issue.
22 If you have any real issues we can explore 23 those too.
If you need to talk to somebody else, we 24 can explore some of those other ramifications.
25 We never really got to --
I felt we never NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS i323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
25 1
really got to --
I don't know what the issues were.
2 I mean I don't know what the issues were.
3 How long was your meeting?
Can you 4
recall?
5 MR. SETTLE:
I would say less than an 6
hour.
I'd say about 45 minutes.
7 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And again 8
was taking a stand for safety andx had protection 9
under QA Federal law.
What context was that?
Just 10 becaus e has a procedural question?
11 MR.
SETTLE:
said that allowed to 12 refuse this thing under QA -- that's basically, 13 said it.
I've taken a'stand for safety and 14 refusing this TARP assignment and --
15 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay, how was 16 demeanor?
You said that was deadpan.
17 Kind of steady.
How would you describ 18 MR. SETTLE: 3?wasn't belligerent.
19 was just a little excited. I think what in fact i 20 was surprised, I thought.
This is --
}
21 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Your opinion.
22 MR. SETTLE:
This is my opinion now.
So 23 I mean, I think was surprised tha x
got 24 suspended.
And the fact that --
and you're talking 25 about losing Wjob. When in fact losing my jobi NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1w22 wnAn;: iI Al 1n AVF N W
26 1
just was excited.
I mean asn't --
I don't think 2
Aw was --
I don't thin s belligerent or anything 3
like that.
just was --
4 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Would you describe 5
A behavior or demeanor as being insubordinate in any 6
way?
7 MR. SETTLE:
No, no.
The only time we 8
brought up something in the fact that this was very 9
late in the meeting after we talked tofpor a while, 10 was the --
and this is not verbatim, but it was in 11 effect.
It was like they said do you accept the 12 assignment?
And talked for a while and 0
13 finally said, an aid something like do you accept 14
-TX said do you what you got to do.
Which 15 interpreted as I'm not taking it, you do what you got 16 to do. And Whsaid okay, I'm going to suspend you for 17 insubordination.
18 I didn't say that.
I said that you do 19 what you got to do and I'll do what you tell me to do.
20 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay, that's what 21 meant.
22 MR.
SETTLE: Yes. i#said okay. That was 23 basically, that was one of the last conversations at 24 the meeting.
25 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay.
It did seem NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1.V33 RHOhr-I5LANn AVE.. N.W.
27 1
that it went round and round.
And asked several 2
times to meet withh is that right? Do you 3
remember that?
4 MR. SETTLE:
Yes.
5 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And then there's 6
the statement said<Wwould talk to the senior 7
NRC rep and that this meeting had a chilling effect on 8 $
Did elaborate on what that chilling effect 9
was or--
10 MR. SETTLE: Not that I remember.
I mean 11 said *
--ctually said you guys are having a 12 chilling effect on me.
13 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
14 MR. SETTLE: I guess -- I don't know -- I 15 said I don't know what initial concern was t
16 brought up in June.
17 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
18 MR.
SETTLE:
I still don't know what it 19 is.
20 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Well, what I-got 21 out of it was h initially didn't think f was 22 qualified to be a TARP member.
- review of the 23 procedure andy interpretation of the procedur 4*
24 went to who suggested or directe to 25 write a notification to put into the corrective action NEAL.R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
28 1
process.
2 Evidently, that was reviewed by Ken Moore.
3 It was determined there wasn't any problem withv 4
qualification or procedural compliance.
5 MR. SETTLE:
Uh-huh.
6 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: It came back tog 7
as a result of the review, you're okay to be on the 8
TARP and it kept going around and around, I guess.
9 That's again, just so far I've interviewed 10 a couple of people, but my information is coming 11 directly from That's N perception andw_
12 reality.
13 MR.
SETTLE:. Uh-huh.
14 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
That's why you go 15 out and interview everybody else to get the middle 16 ground.
17 MR. SETTLE:
Uh-huh.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay, you said that 19 said tha and I were intimidating(
You 20 indicated that you were silent there, just taking 21 notes.
22 MR. SETTLE: As far as I remember, I don't 23 think I said anything. I mean I just came in and said 24 I'm just going to be the note taker and I was just 25 scribbling away as fast as I could.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
2 9 1
SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Did you make any 2
body movement or facial expression or anything tha 3
could interpret to be --
4 MR. SETTLE:
Not that I'm aware of.
I 5
can't specifically say I didn't scowl my --
I tried 6
not to be -- I was a little confuse sometimes, because 7
some of the things said, I just didn't see the --
8 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
The context?
9 MR. SETTLE: I was waiting for to say 10 the safety issue is --
11 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Right.
12 MR. SETTLE: c ever really got to that, 13 you know. AmWas mentioning it to a d y 14 really, should go back and try and pin down on that 15 because
- kind of left that up in the air.
But I 16 said, I didn't -- we kept going to something, but we 17 never really -
ever said I got a problem. What's 18 your problem? Well, I need to go somewhere else.
19 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Right.
20 MR.
SETTLE: We never really killed that 21 issue.
22 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
indicate t
23 was going to go to the senior NRC representative. Did 24 make that in a threatening way or was it just a 25 matter of fact statement?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
3 0 1
MR. SETTLE: Well, it wasn't a threat, but 2
it was an excited --
I'm going to go to the NRC after 3
this. And said that's within your right, you know?
4 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Okay.
5 MR.
SETTLE:
I said I think was 6
pretty much, didn't raise voice or owe 7
voice.
So just kind of sat there and say 8
that when you talk to very deadpan.
9 got a very deadpan way about 10 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
11 MR. SETTLE:
Even when t
robably gets 12 excited.
13 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: And it's said the 14 TARP assignment is not a condition of employment.
Is 15 it part of the performance appraisal or your 16 performance --
is the target, the goals?
17 MR. SETTLE:
Partnership.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Partnership.
19 MR. SETTLE:
It depends what your boss 20 makes it.
I mean it's not --
everybody on site is not 21 on TARP, so it's not a uniformly --
I mean I don't --
22 as a member of management, my opinion, getting into my 23 opinion and I don't know the right to refuse 24 assignments.
25 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Right.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS vmn Awnnfl IMI ANn AVE_ N.W.
31 1
MR. SETTLE:
I thought as I get rid of a 2
lot of the ones I have -- I have a lot of -- the 3
outage and the environmental --
EP.
I mean the TARP.
4 A lot of extra hours.
5 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Uh-huh.
6 MR. SETTLE: And conditions of employment, 7
you're assigned to the jobs we need you to work and 8
that's what you work.
9 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: Right. And if you 10 have the skill and experience to do it.
11 MR. SETTLE: And I didn't realize we had 12 an option to say I really don't want to do that.
13 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Okay.
What I'm 14 going to do, Bob.
I'm going to make this one page 15 document an attachment to the transcript.
Because 16 that way the reader can go back and forth on --
do you 17 all need a moment to --
18 MR. KEENAN: We can talk for a second and 19 come back on the record.
20 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: That will give me 21 a minute to see if I have anything to follow up on.
22 We'll go off the record at --
23 MR. KEENAN:
1:09.
24 (Off the record.)
25 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
It's around 1:11 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISiANn AVE.. N.W.
32 1
p.m.
Just after a brief break.
2 Is there anything else, Bob, that -you'd 3
like to add with respect to the meeting that you 4
witnessed between and on 5
August 19th of last year?
6 MR. SETTLE:
No.
7 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And again, three 8
questions I'm required to ask you.
9 Did you provide your information 10 voluntarily?
11 MR. SETTLE: Yes, I did.
12 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
Have I or anyone 13 from the NRC offered you a reward for your testimony?
14 MR. SETTLE:
No, you haven't.
15 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE:
And were you 16 threatened for your testimony today?
17 MR. SETTLE:
No, I wasn't.
18 SPECIAL AGENT MONROE: All right, we'll go 19 off the record.
Thanks.
20 (Whereupon, the interview was concluded.)
21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE.. N.W.
CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of:
Name of Proceeding: Interview of Robert Settle Docket Number:
1-2003-010 Location:
Hancocks Bridge, NJ were held as herein appears, and that this is the.
original transcript thereof for the file of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission taken by me and, thereafter reduced to typewriting by me or under the direction of the court reporting company, and that the transcript is a true and accurate record of the foregoing proceedings as recorded on tape(s) provided by the NRC.
Frances8zook Official Transcriber Neal R. Gross & Co., Inc.
NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.