Dec 4 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Sean Adkins York Daily Record, Pa.

A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission follow-up inspection has discovered a performance deficiency at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.

Previously, Exelon Nuclear failed to maintain the minimum number of alert security officers at the plant, said Dana Caron, an NRC security inspector who headed the follow-up inspection.

Between March and August, Kerry Beal of Lancaster videotaped his fellow Wackenhut Corp. security officers napping in the plant's ready room, a secure location within the power station.

Guards stationed in that room are allowed to read, study or relax but must remain ready to respond to a plant emergency.

The power station has since terminated its contract with Wackenhut and, on Nov. 1, put in place its own in-house security force, Exelon Nuclear Security.

In the course of the weeklong follow-up review that started Nov. 5, inspectors found that Wackenhut Corp. security officers had failed to report that they themselves or other guards had appeared fatigued while on the job.

Guard supervisors had discouraged officers from reporting inattentiveness, Caron said.

For now, the NRC has tagged the deficiency and its cross-cutting aspects as being potentially greater than of very low safety significance.

The commission will soon make its final determination of what level a violation it will levy on the plant, said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC.

NRC officials and representatives of Exelon Nuclear met Monday at a public meeting at the Peach Bottom Inn to discuss the findings of the follow-up inspection.

Robert Hall, a former plant operator at the power station, attended the meeting to, in part, voice his concern of how the 12-hour shifts employees must work might have contributed to the guards' inattentiveness.

"Your body is not designed to work 12 hours a day," he said. "The schedule is brutal. It's a killer."

Bernadette Lauer, a spokeswoman for the power station, said that, in June 2005, security officers at the plant overwhelmingly elected to work 12-hour shifts.

Regardless of the reason why guards had been napping while on duty, the commission has run at least two inspections to confirm the problem and to track how Exelon Nuclear is handling the issue.

In response to reports of inattentive guards, the NRC sent an augmented inspection team to Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in September to evaluate the plant's security program.

That initial inspection confirmed security guards had been sleeping on the job and that the ready room had been dimly lit, had poor ventilation and provided little to stimulate the officers.

The plant has since improved the temperature control in the room and has installed a computer officers can use.

On Nov. 5, the NRC sent a second team of inspectors to Peach Bottom to evaluate Exelon's corrective actions in response to the inattentive guards.

Among other issues, that team found that Exelon had failed to provide proper oversight of its then-Wackenhut Corp. security force and that communication between the officers had been weak, Caron said.

Lauer said the plant has since reinforced random radio checks with its security officers.

Dan DeBoer, security manager of Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, said the plant is in the process of ensuring that all workers are comfortable with bringing forward issues and that officers know what actions to take should they run across another guard who appears inattentive.

"The officers understand that inappropriate behavior has no place in our organization at any time," he said.