Oct 31 - The Miami Herald

Security guards at Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point nuclear power plant slept on the job, or covered for snoozing colleagues, on a number of occasions from 2004 to 2006, federal regulators said Tuesday.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in letters sent to FPL and Wackenhut Nuclear Services, said its investigators had "substantiated that security officers were willfully inattentive to duty or served as look-outs such that other security officers could be inattentive while on duty."

The naps have been classified as "apparent violations" until FPL and Wackenhut, which provides security for FPL's nuclear plants at Turkey Point in Miami-Dade County and in St. Lucie County, can formally respond to the investigation.

Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the NRC's regional office in Atlanta, said the agency takes security concerns "very seriously."

Dozing guards have become a hot-button issue for the industry in recent months. Turkey Point is the third case the NRC has made public since a whistle-blowing guard earlier this year caught fellow Wackenhut officers on videotape sleeping at a Pennsylvania nuclear plant.

But, Hannah stressed, "we don't have a problem with security now at Turkey Point. This is something that appears to have been addressed by the licensee."

FPL, which last month announced it intends to add two new reactors to Turkey Point by 2025, defended security at the plant along Biscayne Bay near Homestead.

All six Wackenhut guards involved have been denied access to the facility, said April Schilpp, FPL's senior manager for nuclear communications. The utility also stepped up company oversight there.

"FPL's position is that nothing is more important to our nuclear power plant operations than protecting the health and safety of the public," Schilpp said. "We don't tolerate inappropriate behavior from security officers or anyone who has unescorted access to our plants."

Wackenhut Nuclear Services, which guards nearly half the nation's nuclear plants, did not return a call to corporate offices in Palm Beach Gardens on Tuesday.

The NRC, citing security concerns, did not provide details or a specific number of incidents, but said the problems involved multiple guards who were "willfully inattentive to duty [sleeping] at times" from 2004 to 2006.

Investigators said five officers admitted to sleeping on separate occasions and one was observed by other guards sleeping several times. Two others admitted to playing look-out at least once for fellow guards. One officer in a "vital area" also was caught "inattentive" on duty in April 2006 by an NRC inspector.

The NRC defines "inattentive" as sleeping, just closing one's eyes or simply not paying attention, Hannah said. The agency's letter said the incidents created the potential for security breaches, because officers were not able to maintain continuous communication in each manned station.

Under NRC protocol, the companies have 30 days to contest findings, explain corrective steps or ask for outside mediation. Companies also can face fines if violations are upheld.

The NRC and utilities have stepped up security at the nation's nuclear power plants since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Sparked by rising oil prices and concern over global warming gases from fossil fuels, the nuclear industry is proposing to build 32 new reactors across the nation in coming decades. The anticipated expansion has heightened critics' concerns about reactor security and growing nuclear waste stockpiles.

It isn't the first time that the performance of Wackenhut employees, which work at 30 of the nation's 64 nuclear facilities, has been questioned.

In March, tests on a Turkey Point reactor shut down for refueling revealed a small hole that had been mysteriously drilled in a cooling system. Despite a $100,000 reward and hundreds of interviews, the FBI has not identified a suspect.

A former Wackenhut security guard was charged last year with stealing a semiautomatic rifle and a thermal sight from the St. Lucie plant. In April 2004, FPL also barred six guards from St. Lucie after an audit found they took shortcuts during fire inspections.

Last month, The New York Times and other media reported that the Exelon Corp., which operates the Peach Bottom plant in Pennsylvania, where some dozen guards were videotaped sleeping, intends to fire Wackenhut. In August, an NRC inspector also caught a guard sleeping at the entrance of a nuclear power plant in Indian Point, N.Y.

Schilpp said Turkey Point's elaborate security measures can't be compromised by a few negligent guards. But, she said, "given recent issues" FPL "was looking closely at its relationship with the company."

"We have really high standards and expectations of performance for our security guards," Schilpp said. "We expect world-class services from all of our contractors, and Wackenhut is no exception."

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