Veteran guards responsible for training new hires to the security force that protects Three Mile Island were sharing a key piece of insider information -- the best places to take a nap, according to an internal memo.

"We have mentors and qualified officers informing new hires of all the locations that they can hide and catch a quick nap," wrote John Young, the head of security at TMI for Wackenhut, a private security force employed by the plant.

"It will stop immediately," he wrote.

The memo, sent to security supervisors at the nuclear power plant on Oct. 17, also maintained that new hires were being told of shortcuts for tasks and warned of the "horrors" of working for Wackenhut.

A copy of the memo was found off-site by a midstate resident and provided to The Patriot-News last week.

Sleeping on duty is a serious concern among nuclear plant operators, who have been forced to increase security against terrorist attacks since Sept. 11, 2001.

The allegations in the memo, which TMI officials said were grossly overstated in some cases and unfounded in others, angered and upset security force members, particularly supervisors, said sources inside the plant who requested anonymity.

Officials for AmerGen Energy, which operates TMI, said they wish the memo had never been written.

"He shouldn't have put it out," said Ralph DeSantis, a spokesman for AmerGen. But DeSantis said the memo demonstrated the company's intolerance of inattentiveness to duty. He called the memo well- intentioned but premature.

A two-week internal investigation found no evidence that officers were telling new hires that sleeping or taking shortcuts on patrols would be tolerated, DeSantis said.

Fighting fatigue

AmerGen has acknowledged five incidents of "inattentiveness" by employees since 2004, three involving security officers. "Inattentiveness" is a term used by the industry and federal regulators that usually means sleeping.

Sources inside TMI said the inattentiveness can be linked to two factors -- long hours and boredom.

Guards at TMI work 12-hour shifts, usually for two to three consecutive days, but sometimes longer. Documents provided to The Patriot-News show one officer worked more than 150 hours in a 14- day period, nearly the equivalent of two full-time jobs. The same officer averaged more than 54 hours a week for the first 10 months of 2005.

"Try going into your 10th or 11th hour after having been up for 13 hours already and see how attentive you are," one guard said.

Guards are rotated through various duties during their shifts, but the majority of the time is spent waiting, the guard said. "Boredom is a major issue."

DeSantis acknowledged that some guards work long hours, but most do so voluntarily in accordance with union rules. During refueling outages, workers are allowed to work up to 72 hours in a seven-day period.

To avoid fatigue, guards are rotated through various posts during their shifts.

"There are lots of safeguards in place to ensure that people are vigilant," DeSantis said.

A warning against long hours

The link between hours worked and fatigue is a growing concern among security officers and watchdog groups.

In 2002, the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group, issued a report warning that security forces guarding the nation's nuclear plants were underequipped, undermanned and underpaid.

One of its findings, based on interviews with 20 security guards at 13 plants, was that long hours and overtime were reducing guards' ability to do their job.

One security officer from a plant that was not identified in the report told the group that guards worked 12-hour shifts six days a week, the maximum time allowed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a seven-day period. By days five and six, "serious fatigue and alertness problems" occur, particularly on the night shift, the guard said.

After Sept. 11, 2001, the NRC upgraded its security requirements and warned that precautions were needed to ensure that guards were alert and not fatigued.

"Excessive work schedules can challenge the ability of security force personnel to remain vigilant and effectively perform their duties," the agency said in an order.

The NRC set restrictions on how many hours guards could work per week. Hours were limited to 16 hours per 24-hour period; 26 hours during a 48-hour period; or 72 hours over seven days.

"It's a complex issue," said David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists. Even if the NRC limited hours to 40 a week, many security workers would seek part- time jobs to earn more money, and fatigue would remain a danger.

Eric Epstein, the chairman of the watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert, said the hours worked by guards at TMI could be reduced by hiring more people.

"You want a nuclear plant staffed by alert and well-trained workers," he said. "It's a challenge to be alert and vigilant if you are working consecutive 75-hour weeks."

The ability of workers to perform well during a long workday depends on the work and the age and physical condition of the worker, said Melvin Blumberg, a professor of management at Penn State Harrisburg in Lower Swatara Twp. He specializes in job and work design.

Hours worked by airline pilots and truck drivers are strictly governed because the consequences of falling asleep can be terrible, he said. For the same reasons, Blumberg said, he would be leery of security workers on the job for 75 hours a week.

"I would sure be uncomfortable if my workers had to put in that kind of week on a routine basis," he said. l>GARRY LENTON: 255- 8264 or glenton@patriot-news.com