Federal investigators say there was no security breach at a Beaver County nuclear plant last year when a guard sent 150 employees through an out-of-service explosives detector because the device was still working as intended.
Investigators from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigated the March 30, 2015, incident at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport, where the guard at the main entrance sent about 150 employees through an explosives detector despite a sign that said the detector was out of service, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.
The guard later told officials at Securitas, her employer providing security at the plant for FirstEnergy, that she hadn't noticed the sign until she found it on the floor. But surveillance video appeared to show the guard noticing the sign after she'd sent people through, then taking the sign down and putting it on the floor herself, according to an NRC report released Monday.
“We expect the employees who work for us and the contractors who work for us to provide complete and accurate information on everything,” said Jessica Young, a FirstEnergy spokeswoman. “The actions (the guard) took were absolutely unacceptable.”
The guard, who admitted to Securitas supervisors that she'd lied about the sign initially, no longer works for Securitas and will not be allowed to work at any FirstEnergy sites if re-hired, Young said.
The detector had been out of service for about an hour because it had failed a minor calibration test. The guard sent employees through for about 20 minutes before reporting that she'd missed the out-of-service sign. Plant officials tested the machine again and determined that even though it was out of calibration, it was still capable of detecting explosives. The 150 people sent through it the first time were brought back and screened again as a precaution, Sheehan said.
Young said the plant had other explosive detectors that were open and operable at the time of the incident, and the guard should have been sending personnel through one of those. She said the plant has a total of four security lanes that can open or close depending on staffing, equipment and traffic, similar to airport security lines.
Because the detector was operational the entire time, the NRC investigation determined there was no enforcement action necessary against FirstEnergy. A public letter summarizing the investigation was issued Monday.
Securitas officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Matthew Santoni is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412 391 0927 or msantoni@tribweb.com.
