ATLANTA -- Feb 28 - Florida Times Union

Guards at the state's two nuclear power plants would be allowed to detain suspicious people and use lethal force if necessary to protect the sites, under a Senate bill introduced this week.

Sen. Jim Whitehead, R-Evans, sponsored Senate Bill 532, which is intended to increase the security powers of guards at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro and Plant Hatch near Baxley.

Whitehead said the existing law does not give the security guards power to hold someone until law enforcement officials arrive, which would change in his proposal.

"If they don't catch a person in a suspicious act -- they have to let the person off," he said.

The bill is now in a Senate Public Safety and Homeland Security committee.

Because of heightened concerns about terrorist attacks against American nuclear facilities, several other states have passed laws empowering the private security teams that watch the reactors.

Last year, Arizona lawmakers passed a similar law to the one being considered in Georgia allowing the contracted guards to use force while patrolling, including shooting to kill.

Whitehead said he introduced his bill at the request of the company running the two plants, Southern Nuclear Operating Co., a subsidiary of the regional electricity giant Southern Co.

"Our security forces -- while they're well trained -- don't have any other powers than just a general citizen," said Carol Boatwright, a spokeswoman for Georgia Power, another Southern Co. subsidiary that has part ownership of Plants Vogtle and Hatch. "This bill will provide them powers more like their standard law enforcement officers."

The private guards are not certified under state standards but do receive extensive training and must meet federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards.

They are already allowed to carry guns while working. Whitehead's bill would expand the protects those certified guards have in having weapons typically labeled as dangerous, such as assault weapons, while on a commercial nuclear plant site.

It would also allow guards to search people at the plant. The bill would not give the guards the power to arrest, keeping that in the hands of law enforcement authorities.

"It is designed to give our security officers the authority to meet our nuclear security plans for the plants that are required and ordered by the NRC," Boatwright said about the bill. "So, this is something that we're having to do as a result of NRC guidance as a result of homeland security issues."vicky.eckenrode@morris.com, (404) 681-1701