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Document | Notice of Violation from Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Document | Wackenhut Confirmatory Order Letter

BY JOHN DORSCHNER

Nuclear regulators have proposed fining Florida Power & Light $130,000 because Wackenhut contract guards fell asleep at its Turkey Point nuclear power plant.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ''concluded that on multiple occasions during 2004-2006, security officers at Turkey Point were willfully inattentive to duty, or served as lookouts such that other security officers could be inattentive to duty,'' the commission said in a letter to FPL dated Tuesday.

While the guards were employees of Wackenhut, the NRC letter said, ``FPL failed to thoroughly evaluate and address the root and contributing causes of security force inattentiveness and the complicity and facilitation by other security personnel of behavior while on duty.

''In addition, FPL provided insufficient detail as to specific corrective actions that have been taken or planned to address recurring problems with its lack of managerial oversight,'' the letter stated.

The allegations about the sleeping guards were initially reported in October.

Dick Winn, FPL's nuclear spokesman, said, ''We are not ever going to tolerate this behavior. Safety and security are very important to us.'' He said the six Wackenhut employees identified in the report have not worked at Turkey Point since FPL learned about the accusations.

Winn said the utility is asking the NRC for details because ''we don't have enough information now'' about whether FPL should accept the fine or not.

The sleeping guards incident is separate from a January report involving Wackenhut guards at Turkey Point who had removed firing pins from their weapons. In that case, FPL agreed to pay a $208,000 fine.

Daniel Hershman, corporate counsel for Wackenhut, disputed an NRC press release that an investigator had caught a Wackenhut guard sleeping. He said the company had already signed a settlement agreement with the NRC, acknowledging that in some of the cases guards had been inattentive, but not all six that the NRC had listed in its complaint.

Hershman said the company had taken remedial actions to advise guards of ways they could stay alert during their shifts.

Roger Hannah, NRC spokesman in Atlanta, said recent inspections of Turkey Point had not found similar problems. ``We do not have any current security concerns regarding inattentiveness of guards there