ML20149M243

Forwards Article from Hartford Courant Published by M Mcintire on 961028 Re Millstone Nuclear Plant

ML20149M243
Person / Time
Site:	Millstone, Vogtle
Issue date:	10/28/1996
From:	Blanch P AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	NRC
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NUDOCS 9612130174
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i From: PAUL M. BLANCH <PMBLANCH91x.netcom.com>

To: WND2.WNP3(jaz,jnh),WNDI.WNP2(hjm),TWD1.TWP4(gam,wj...

Date: 10/28/96 11:54am

Subject:

Today's Front Page Headline Acts of sabotage raise doubts about security at nuclear plants.

By MIVE McINTIRE This story ran in the Courant October 28, 1996

The Millstone nuclear plant is fortified against commando raids, car bombs

and terrorist infiltrators.

But it wasn't prepared for the temp from Manpower Inc.

j! On the morning of Aug. 5, a part-time clerk from the temporary employment j agency breached Mi11 stone's elaborate security system, managed by an outside 4

firm that is paid $8.5 million a year by Northeast Utilities. Her clearance i having recently expired, she persuaded a friend on the inside to sneak her 3

past an electronic hand-print scanner, metal detectors and an 8-foot-high

steel turnstile.

Once inside, she worked an eight-hour shift before the plant's paramilitary guards discovered what had happened and detained her for questioning.

While innocent enough, the tenacious temp's adventures earned NU a rebuke from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission - and shed light on a heightened concern about security lapses, and outright sabotage, at nuclear power plants in the United States. Far from an insignificant incident, regulators say it offers important lessons for an industry whose security threats are more likely to come from inside its own ranks than from external forces.

The concern is fueled by an increase in unhappy employe_s at plants enduring regulatory crackdowns and downsizing, and by the legions of outside workers brought in to help troubled plants like Millstone get back on their feet.

NU says it has tightened security at Millstone since the incident in- August ,

and stepped up employee assistance efforts at all of its four Connecticut nuclear power plants. Overall, the plants' security systems have received good grades from regulators.

The security threat is more than theoretical. In recent months, there has been a string of incidents around the country, some involving confirmed or suspected sabotage. The incidents have rattled regulators and plant operators nationwide.

For example:

• The FBI was called in to investigate after someone glued shut three backup reactor safety switches and tampered with door locks at the St. Lucie nuclear plant in Florida in August. Plant owners declared a state of emergency and posted a $10,000 reward for information on the saboteur.

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• That same month, classified blueprints and diagrams of security systems )

I 9612130174 961210  :

PDR ORG NRRA i _ , ._

were reported stolen from an Illinois nuclear plant, prompting an investigation. The NRC two weeks ago issued NU a notice of violation because Millstone workers twice left similar sensitive documents lying around

, unattended.

• In what operators of the Crystal River plant in Florida suspect was sabotage, someone last month deliberately disabled an emergency power generator. The NRC recently verified a whistle-blower's allegation that plant security guards were caught sleeping or reading when they were supposed to be on patrol.

• Someone two weeks ago removed several bolts holding together a radiation-monitoring device at a New Jersey nuclear plant, in what the utility there

, called possible tampering or prank activities.'

• In the past 45 days, eight workers at five nuclear power plants -

including Millstone - had access privileges revoked because of drugs or alcohol, or were detained after trying to bring weapons into the plant.

Jay Cunningham, chief of the NRC's reactor safeguards division, sr.id the agency will soon issue a bulletin to all U.S. nuclear power plant operators about security, prompted by the St. Lucie sabotage incident.

They should be made aware of what has happened, so they can take the necessary precautions, he said.

Cunningham said the NRC has found no overall upward trend in security-related incidents. But he acknowledged that the kinds of labor tensions at Millstone and other nuclear plants that have been well publicized this year can breed internal threats.

When you have disputes or walk-outs or layoffs, and so forth, sometimes you get minor malicious acts," Cunningham said. The best way for licensees to avoid these situations is to treat employees who have concerns with honor and respect.

It is difficult to measure - and even to discuss - the impact of workplace turmoil on power plant security.

Because the NRC and nuclear plant operators have become so sensitized to the industry's problems coping with whistle- blowers, regulators say they fear that painting all the employees as potential saboteurs could further discourage workers from coming forward with legitimate complaints. One NRC regional inspector, who has spent time at both Hillstone and the Connecticut Yankee plant in Haddam, said agency staff have been cautioned about talking publicly about the security implications of work force strife.

It's a delicate area, said the inspector, who did not want to be identified. On the one hand, you don't want to gloss over a potentially serious issue. But you also don't want to cast aspersions on these people and contribute to a chilling effect.

Nuclear industry critics, who staunchly defend whistle-blowers, say it makes sense that the management and regulatory problems afflicting many nuclear

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i power plant workplaces are behind some of the security incidents occurring around the country.

It seems to be tied to layoffs, corporate downsizing," said James Riccio of the Critical Mass Energy Project, a Washington- based watchdog group that tracks and maintains a database of incidents at nuclear plants.

It's scattered, so no one's really following it, Riccio said. But the anecdotal evidence is there.

By far, the most disturbing event recently has been the sabotaging of safety switches at the St. Lucie plant. The Florida Power & Light Co., operator of the plant, has experienced regulatory and personnel problems strikingly similar to those at Millstone.

Like NU, which has paid stiff fines in recent years, the Florida utility was fined $100,000 in July after the NRC determined it had harassed and fired a whistle-blower who refused to submit to a psychological exam. The federal Labor Department has adjudicated at least 10 whistle-blower complaints from FPL in the past five years, and an internal corporate review concluded that poor management had led to declining operations and employee morale.

No arrest has been made in the case, and the utility said none is expected.

We think we have some very good suspicions about who did it, said Bill ,

Swank, a St. Lucie spokesman. But there are no witnesses, so short of a J confession, we don't expect to be able to press charges.

Paul M. Blanch Energy Consultant 135 Hyde Rd.

West Hartford CT 06117 Voice 860-236-0326

. Fax- 860-232-9350

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