TMI spots guard issue

Exelon Nuclear has launched an investigation into what led to the inattentiveness of a security officer at Three Mile Island in Dauphin County.

[been there]

This is Stupid They sent the Man home!!! How is he going to make money for his family. If this i his first offence then I call Bullsh*t

[Conspiracy Theory]

Given the negative press from the last 'sleeping on duty' incident, it's not surprising.

[Dwayne]

I dont recall the story saying he was sent home. I thought it said he was placed on other duty where he didnt have to be too attentive?

[Charlie]

Why fire someone for sleeping on the job. Give him a break. After all, it is ONLY a nuclear plant. I remember of another person sleeping on the job, a ships Captain, Valdez, in Alaska, a few years ago. Now how is this guy going to provide for his family. And Congress has been sleeping on the job for decades...why punish this poor wretch.

[Dwayne]

Sure! Dont punish someone for poor job performance! Sounds like a Union job!

[Jeff Spangler]

Exelon's action of ecluding the sleeper from TMI is fully appropriate to maintain the "Defense in Depth" required at nuclear power plants. A nodding guard might as well be on another planet if needed and is an unacceptable reduction in that layered defense.

I worked litigation arising from the Peach Bottom "sleeping operators" shutdown, the TMI accident and the Exxon Valdez. All were serious and two were catastrophic breaches of quality assurance programs by personnel and organizations who disregarded known safety rules.

There is no such thing as "only" a nuclear plant. The old school of utility executives thought that a nuke was "just another teakettle" and had their heads handed to them at PECo after the shutdown.

Captain Hazelwood, by the way, was not asleep but in his quarters below when he should have been on the bridge as the only sailor aboard licensed to pilot in Prince William Sound.

[spiffy]

Wow Jeff you should get a job running a Nuclear plant. Seems like you have all the answers. Oops sorry maybe you don't have the answers. But you sure know whom to assign blame to, whether it is deserved or not. Nice way to collect a paycheck. By the way maybe you should learn how to recognize sarcasm.

[Joffan]

The knee-jerk use of "this is not acceptable" as a phrase (here by the NRC) is one of my pet hates. Aggressive and non-specific, highlighting problems not solutions.

This guy is a victim of this year's fashion in nuclear-bashing. Security people who are not at a front-line post - that is, they're part of the response, not the detection side - do not need to be fully alert for their entire shift and nor should they be, if they are going to be useful when called upon. They need to be fresh and alert, not dopey, and not frazzled, when the call comes, but that should be tested by a practice call, not a review of how they stay ready.

Hopefully the company concerned will quietly take only minimal action against him.

[Smurf]

WHO WILL EXELON BLAME NOW..........They fired Wackenhut and many VERY GOOD PEOPLE lost their jobs. Exelon refused to act on Wackenhuts advice to avoid the INATTENTIVENESS until it was aired on TV, then they took action, now they have restructured and things aren't ANY BETTER!!!!!!!!!! THE NRC SHOULD WAKE UP !!!!! But that wont work either.....REMEMBER EXELON AND NRC HAD KNOWLEDGE OF SLEEPING GUARDS AND BOTH DISMISSED IT !!! SEEMS LIKE THE ONLY TEAM WORK IS EXELON AND NRC COVERING UP TOGETHER....IS THERE ANY WHERE ELSE TO GET A JOB WHERE A PERSON CAN SLEEP?

[Joffan]

Hi Smurf, did you know that comments written all or mostly in capitals are not worth reading?

[Smurf]

JOFFAN..... I hope you live besidw a NUCLEAR PLANT

[Joffan]

Sounds good to me. Good infrastructure, solid industrial base, opportunity, good local tax base, no coal fumes, what's not to like?