Nuclear Operators Slept on Job; Fine of $1.25 Million Proposed

WASHINGTON — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today proposed the largest fine in its history--$1.25 million--because operators at Pennsylvania’s Peach Bottom nuclear power plant slept on the job.

In addition, the NRC said it would fine 33 present or former operators at Philadelphia Electric Co., the first time the commission has ever imposed civil penalties on individual operators. The fines will range from $500 to $1,000.

The operators are being fined for “sleeping and/or other acts of inattention to duty” at Peach Bottom, on the Susquehanna River near the Pennsylvania-Maryland line, the NRC said.

The NRC called the $1.25 million a “proposed” fine because it said the company “has a chance to protest it in whole or in part to the NRC staff,” commission member Frank Ingram said.

In informing the company of the fine, the NRC said, “All levels of plant management at that time either knew or should have known of these facts.”

The federal agency ordered the York County, Pa., plant closed in 1987, citing a pattern of control room operators dozing on the job. Since then, Philadelphia Electric has shuffled its management and tried repeatedly to get the commission to approve restart plans.