2006 Vandalism at FPL Nuclear Plant Raises Concerns About Worker Screenings

November 7, 2008

by SUSAN SALISBURY, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Information unveiled this week raises troubling questions about a 2006 act of vandalism at Florida Power & Light Co.'s Turkey Point nuclear power plant - vandalism that has already cost utility customers $6.2 million.
A sheet metal worker suspected of drilling a tiny hole in a pressurized pipe was authorized to work there despite a history of scrapes with the law, including a DUI conviction, and, according to FBI documents, failing FPL's standard psychological screening test.

The man worked at the plant in 2006, when someone drilled a one-eighth-inch hole in the pipe, according to testimony this week before the Florida Public Service Commission in Tallahassee.
Nuclear reactor 3 at Turkey Point had to be shut down for five days beyond its scheduled maintenance.
The details of the 2-year-old incident came to light this week when the state Office of Public Counsel, which represents consumers before the PSC, went before the panel to argue that it was "unfair, unjust and unreasonable" to require utility customers to pay fuel costs stemming from the vandalism.
It wants FPL to return the $6.2 million to customers, with interest.
The utility's defense included FBI field notes on the pipe-drilling incident, and specifically a 47-year-old sheet metal worker from Indiana.
He was not an FPL employee. FPL, like all nuclear power plants, regularly contracts work to other companies. Neither the man nor the company has been identified.
When FBI agents drove up to his home in 2006, they noted a new pickup in the driveway and that he drinks Bud Light beer and "tries to drink at his neighborhood bar as much as possible."
More seriously, the FBI noted that between 1989 and 1991, the worker, then in his 30s, faced a half-dozen criminal charges, including criminal recklessness, criminal mischief, public intoxication and discharging a firearm.
All charges were eventually dismissed except a DUI charge. In that instance, he entered a guilty plea.
During screening to work at the nuclear plant, his answers on a 600-question psychological exam led to a referral to a psychologist for further screening. He was later cleared to work.
Although he denied having anything to do with the vandalism, FBI notes reflect that he admitted he "could have" been drilling in an area just above the hole.
A co-worker later told the FBI that the Indiana man said he deliberately drilled the hole, angered partly about not being paid for the time it took to fill out the 600-question exam.
Asked directly by the FBI whether he could have drilled the hole by accident, he said, "Nothing is out of the realm of possibility," but that the chances of him having drilled it accidentally "are less than 5 percent," according to the FBI notes.
At the hearing, Hugh Larkin, a Tampa CPA who testified for the Office of Public Counsel, said that until the information from the FBI was known, FPL had represented that it had a "superduper system" that would identify anyone who might turn out to be a problem.
"This individual passed it," Larkin said. "Not only did he pass it, he passed it with flying colors."
FPL Vice President Terry Jones, however, emphasized that the utility followed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's guidelines in its screening process, and an NRC investigation found no violations by FPL.
As for the worker's brushes with the law, "The facts are, there are people who have had transgressions in their past," Jones said. "We go to a great deal of trouble to verify that is behind them. This is not a unique situation."
Jones said the percentage of people who have never been in trouble "is low."
That prompted PSC members to question the standards for screening nuclear power plant workers.
Those standards are a secret, and have been since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Dave Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who worked in the industry for 17 years and is director of the Union of Concerned Scientists nuclear safety project, says only the last five years of a nuclear plant worker's criminal, credit and employment history are typically checked.
As for the sheet metal worker in FPL's incident, Lochbaum said, "He was probably better than a lot of other workers who had more recent records. They likely have workers with much more recent things in their past."
There may be more incidents of vandalism in the nation's nuclear plants. Like screening standards, such incident reports are not readily available.
Lochbaum said he has found multiple instances of workers snipping wires. In another instance, he said, a worker threw a penny into a cooling tank, disrupting operations.
Post-9/11 secrecy also has slowed the trickle of information about the 2006 incident. FPL had to file a Freedom of Information request for the FBI records, and only recently got them. The Public Service Commission learned about the records only this week.

But questions may remain unanswered for a while: A Nuclear Regulatory Agency report on the incident was forwarded Thursday to the Florida Attorney General's Office, but only after the PSC first ordered that it be kept confidential.