March 2, 2006

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NRC Plans Inquiry into TMI Security
Agency will focus on reports of sleeping, fatigue, excessive hours
By Garry Lenton
The Patriot-News, PA
February 28, 2006

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to investigate the management of the security force at Three Mile Island, focusing on fitness-for-duty issues such as fatigue and sleeping on the job.

The probe, announced in a certified letter delivered to a Patriot-News reporter, was prompted by a story published Jan. 29.

The story reported on a memo in which John Young, head of the Wackenhut security, scolded security supervisors for failing to note that veteran officers were telling new hires safe places to sleep undetected while on duty. Wackenhut is a private security firm hired by plant owner Exelon Nuclear to guard the nuclear station.

The memo also said officers were telling new hires ways to short-cut patrol duties.

Of additional concern to the NRC were reports that security officers were being allowed to work excessive hours. The newspaper documented one person who worked more than 150 hours during a 14-day period, and averaged more than 54 hours a week for more than 10 months.

Since March 2004, AmerGen Energy, the operator of TMI, investigated and disciplined five workers for "inattentiveness to duty." The phrase is used by the industry and regulators to cover an array of conditions, including sleeping. Three of those workers were security officers.

Guards, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said fatigue from long hours and boredom were to blame for the inattentiveness.

Guards work 12-hour shifts at TMI. Federal regulations limit those hours to 16 out of 24; 26 hours out of 48; and 72 out of seven days.

The agency said it will not announce the findings of the probe.

"Due to the nature of the security-related issues ... we are not providing you with further information on this matter," wrote David J. Vito, senior allegation coordinator for the NRC.

The secrecy reflects a change in policy since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Rick Urban, an allegations coordinator with the NRC.

"It's a sad commentary on where the NRC is as an agency when they acknowledge a problem but refuse to say how they are going to address it," said Eric Epstein, chairman of the watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert.

David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he was not surprised that the agency planned to keep the results of the probe secret. The agency has been in a security blackout since 9/11, he said.

Still, he said he is encouraged by the agency's decision to investigate.

"I think it's a positive step," Lochbaum said.

AmerGen spokesman Ralph DeSantis said yesterday that he was not aware of the NRC probe, but said the company would cooperate with the agency.

DeSantis said the company conducted its own investigation of Young's memo and concluded that the concerns were unfounded. The company also brought in an outside investigator to look into two allegations of inattentiveness at the plant last December.

GARRY LENTON: 255-8264 or glenton@patriot-news.com