Complaints lodged on Shearon Harris

NRC evaluating safety allegations

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is evaluating complaints about alleged security lapses at Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant made by a Durham-based nuclear watchdog group, a spokesman of the federal agency said Tuesday.

"At this point we are looking into the concerns and will have to determine what is the appropriate regulatory course to follow," said Ken Clark, an NRC spokesman in Atlanta. "We're not sending investigators to look at those kinds of things or talk to people. It's being evaluated at this point."

Clark said some of the issues alleged were similar to concerns previously investigated by the NRC. He declined to be specific.

The N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network (N.C. WARN) and Washington-based Union of Concerned Scientists said in a complaint last week that security was lax at Shearon Harris, which is owned by Progress Energy.

They alleged that guards, employed by an outside security firm, have been forced to cheat on recertification tests, made to work while injured, retaliated against for reporting injuries and allowed to sleep on their shifts. N.C. WARN's source of information was an unidentified guard at the Shearon Harris plant.

The complaint also alleged that the plant has some inoperable intruder detection equipment and doors with worn-out hardware that keeps them from locking properly.

Rick Kimble, a spokesman for Progress Energy, said the plant is safe and secure. The plant is in southern Wake County, about 25 miles from Raleigh.

"Our initial response is there is no basis to any of the allegations that would result in any security breach," Kimble said.

Kimble said the plant, as an industrial facility, did have some malfunctioning door locks.

"If the locking mechanism doesn't work, there is a compensatory measure such as having a live guard stand there," Kimble said.

Jim Warren, executive director of N.C. WARN, said his group was calling on the state attorney general to order a criminal investigation of alleged cheating on guard certification exams and alleged falsification of security records.

"It's really time for the public to be hearing that somebody is on the case," Warren said.

Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Roy Cooper, said the state Department of Justice had received the information. It was reviewed by the agency that oversees private security services in the state.

"We understand that it is being reviewed by the federal authorities responsible for regulating nuclear plants," Talley said.