Sleeping On The Job At A Nuke Plant Costs You $65,000

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Federal regulators are proposing a $65,000 fine against the operator of a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant where security guards routinely napped on the job.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced the fine against Exelon Nuclear on Tuesday after completing an investigation of the Peach Bottom plant in south-central Pennsylvania.

Exelon Nuclear spokeswoman Beth Archer says the company will pay the fine.

Exelon ended its contract with an outside security company for Peach Bottom in 2007 after a videotape surfaced of guards sleeping in a "ready room" at the power plant.

Archer says Exelon's monitoring of security at the nuclear power plant has improved since the company established its own, in-house security force.

Comments

[whatevahs]

03:15 PM on 01/12/2009

And yet nobody says anything about Bill Clinton and his administration sleeping on the job when teh 9/11 terrorists came into our country and prepared for the attacks on 9/11.

[lmvd3]

12:25 PM on 01/11/2009

They don't want to pay a fine for sleeping on the job? No problem! It's much better to fire them, anyway.

[3dtrix]

01:21 PM on 01/09/2009

Nuclear power is NOT some Star-Trek clean source of endless energy - like some (those who stand to make the odd billion or twelve off it) would have you believe. Nuclear power is STEAM power - the fission is just a fancy (and extremely dangerous and extremely toxic and extremely polluting) way to boil the water that turns the generators that produce electricity.

Every step along the way, from prospecting for uranium to the power grid, has been subsidized by tax dollars. Tax dollars from generations unborn will continue to pay for processing and securing the radioactive waste - for THOUSANDS of years! It's a colossal, mind-boggling scam in which all participants are held free from liability by the government.

Do you drink coffee? Would you be so quick to make that first cup in the morning if you knew you'd have to look after the pot you boiled the water in for ten thousand years? Didn't think so...

[rollingdivision]

02:35 PM on 01/10/2009

Long half life = low hazard. Short half life = deadly.

[iPolitics]

12:41 AM on 01/09/2009

not good

[ChiProgressive]

06:17 PM on 01/08/2009

Security simply should never be outsourced through contracts in any high priority areas PERIOD. That was a move to save money and deny benefits to employees.

While I used to be a supporter of nuclear energy, it has become quite clear to me that its mismanagement in this country as well as unprofitability mute any advantages it may offer.

[Hunffingtongreen]

05:06 PM on 01/08/2009

Wow, big secret, people who do shift work tend to try and find a way to get some sleep on the job because they aren't getting it all at home.

I've worked in all sorts of industry and I don't know any company anywhere that has shift workers that don't take the occasional on shift nap.

Get off the Anti Nuke politically correct religion. This planet needs nuclear power, we need nuclear power.

[3dtrix]

01:24 PM on 01/09/2009

We need clean power - not filthy, toxic, polluting, never-to-be-profitable power, all of which nuclear is...

[Hunffingtongreen]

04:29 PM on 01/09/2009

Wrong.

[CaptServo]

04:35 PM on 01/09/2009

Would you be so kind as to tell us how to go about that?

[lmvd3]

12:26 PM on 01/11/2009

We need nuclear power, like we need a nuclear bomb.

[Pharos]

12:51 PM on 01/08/2009

I wonder how much these guards are paid as a percent of a football player's salary.

[jeffrey678]

12:27 AM on 01/08/2009

They work these guards 16 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week. The guards never know the time their shift ends on a daily basis. These plants have a 90% employee turnover a year. The employees are disposable in the nuclear industry. They consider all employees as temps. The companies change contractors every 3 to 4 years, some 3 months. My neighbor who works at a nuclear plant tells me that many employees fall asleep in the parking lot because their too exhausted to drive home. Several have died from falling asleep driving home. Refusal to work all these hours = termination.

[3dtrix]

01:06 PM on 01/09/2009

Gee - that's not what the public relations guy said... You must have some subversive axe to grind.

[lmvd3]

12:35 PM on 01/11/2009

Capitalism at its finest--cut corners, maximize profit, pay labor lowest amount possible! Is this what we want in the nuclear industry? I don't think so. This is the very reason why we should NOT have nuclear power in this country...it will not be safe. I ran a study on nuclear power plant accidents about ten years ago, and folks would be shocked at the high number of accidents in every state housing a nuclear power plant. Many states have multiple plants. Look at the thyroid rates east of Chernobyl after its accident--the rate of thyroid cancer around the world rose dramatically. These US plants are often being run on a shoestring, and until the day that the present plants are run properly, we should freeze the industry. And since they will never be run properly in my opinion, they should all be shut down, along with the industry itself. Onward and upward to renewable and far less destructive and threatening technology.

[GrayOwl]

07:52 PM on 01/07/2009

Who hired these goofballs, and what is the penalty for him/her?

[Semaj51]

07:11 PM on 01/07/2009

This is not new news. Guards have been sleeping on the watch since the first sentry was ever posted. The only way to combat this is by active supervision and leadership.

[sunnyokanagan]

10:49 AM on 01/10/2009

... But that would cost money!

[wadenelson1]

05:52 PM on 01/07/2009

How big is the fine for sleeping at the SEC while Madoff bilks the public for $50B, and the investment banks and financial houses gamble many, many times that -- and lose.

[Hunffingtongreen]

04:35 PM on 01/09/2009

How big is the fine for corrupt democratic party politicians like Barney Franks who used their power to force Fannie and Freddie to buy crap loans....all so Franks and others could pander for votes. Then when all these crap loans that bragged about forcing banks to make....fall apart....they blame Bush!

It wasn't a lack of regulation....it was the break down of our government, of our congress. It was using the banks as a welfare tool, as an extension of left wing policy. Then, after having used the court system and corrupt politicians like Franks to break down our nations normally tight lending standards....the left the radicalized left pretends its the "other party" that did it.

Both parties are corrupt. Both parties have failed us.