Guards asleep on job at Pa. nuke plant -- and regulators snoozing, too

WCBS-TV in New York has aired a disturbing video shot undercover at Exelon's Peach Bottom nuclear power plant showing security guards asleep on the job in the facility, which is located in southeastern Pennsylvania about 100 miles from Hometown. In response to the video, an Exelon official reports that his company has taken action and is in the process of terminating its contract with security provider Wackenhut.

But that raises several concerns.

First, why does it take an undercover video for the company to correct such a serious problem? Why are Exelon (which also operates the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pa.) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission unable to provide appropriate oversight of employees providing a service as critical as guarding a commercial nuclear facility?

Second, the Exelon official doesn't say who the company plans to hire in Wackenhut's place. But if it opts to go with Securitas, Wackenhut's main competitor, I would not breathe a sigh of relief: My own award-winning investigation of conditions for Securitas guards at Progress Energy's Shearon Harris plant near Raleigh, N.C. revealed numerous problems with security at that plant, which houses one of the nation's largest stockpiles of spent fuel. Problems reported by whistle-blowing guards included chronically malfunctioning security doors to critical areas of the plant and supervisors forcing guards to cheat on tests. Guards also reported difficulties staying awake on the job because of the unreasonably long hours they were required to work. That and many of the other security problems at the plant were related to Progress' and Securitas' apparent unwillingness to spend the money to do the job right. Earlier this month, the NRC levied a $65,000 fine against Progress for the security problems it confirmed, but one wonders what sort of deterrent that is to a company with annual revenues exceeding $10 billion.

Furthermore, Shearon Harris is not the only nuke plant experiencing problems with Securitas guards. I was recently contacted by a former Securitas guard from First Energy's Beaver Valley nuclear plant in western Pennsylvania. Here's what she had to say about the state of nuclear security there:

"I worked at Beaver Valley Nuclear plant in Pa. for three years and have never seen any thing like it in my life. Talk about a complete snow job to the public. We always thought that we were clowns in a circus. We dressed up good, looked tuff, but no one knew what they were doing. It is really appalling. The Nuclear security industry is really the greatest show on earth..."

It's clear this nation has a systemic problem with security at commercial nuclear power plants that's putting the public at risk. It's also clear that the plant owners and NRC are unable or unwilling to take proactive steps to find and correct the problems, leaving far too much of that work up to whistle-blowers, independent watchdogs, and the media. This reality has also been documented in detail by the Project on Government Oversight in its groundbreaking report on post-9/11 security at commercial nuke plants titled Voices From Inside the Fences.

So what's the solution? The Securitas guards I interviewed for my Shearon Harris stories had a suggestion: Take the profit motive out of commercial nuclear security by federalizing the guard forces. It's more critical than ever for our government to consider this option as the nuclear industry pushes its expansion plans.