News From the Week of April 7, 2008

Sierra Club Sues Duke Energy Over Coal-gasification Plant

Study: New Street Light Technology Could Save Energy, Money


Local Woman Takes On a Power Giant

"Unusual Event" at Waterford Nuclear Power Complex

Bills Offer More Tax Breaks to Save, Produce Alternative Energy

Labor, Environmentalists Join Forces to Launch National 'Green Jobs for America' Campaign

NRC Monitoring Unusual Event At Millstone 2 Nuclear Plant

US Senate Votes For Solar, Wind Tax Credits; Faces Hurdles

Senate Passes Tax Incentives for Energy Efficiency

Feds Propose Florida Power & Light Fine for Sleeping Security Guards at Nuclear Plant


Sierra Club Sues Duke Energy Over Coal-gasification Plant
INDIANAPOLIS (The Associated Press) - Apr 4 - By RICK CALLAHAN Associated
Press Writer

The Sierra Club is suing Duke Energy Corp. over an aging coal-fired power plant in southwestern Indiana set to be replaced by a high-tech plant, alleging that the current facility violates provisions of the Clean Air Act. The federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Indianapolis is the Sierra Club's latest action targeting Duke's planned $2 billion coal gasification power plant in Edwardsport. It alleges that Duke has not obtained required permits for changes it has made over the years to the 160-megawatt coal-fired plant and has failed to install rigorous pollution controls the group contends are required under the Clean Air Act.

Because of that, the lawsuit claims, Duke cannot claim emission reductions from the shutdown of the older plant toward its new 630-megawatt coal gasification plant, for which the company obtained a state air permit in January.

"That plant has been operating illegally without pollution controls for over a decade so they can't take credit and claim voluntary reductions when those emissions have been illegal for all those years," said Bruce Nilles, a Madison, Wis.-based attorney for the Sierra Club.

Duke spokeswoman Angeline Protogere said Duke's Edwardsport coal-fired power plant operates in full compliance with the Clean Air Act. She said the air permit approved in January by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management is a "legal air permit." Because the new plant's future emissions were compared with the existing plant's emissions as part of the permitting process, Protogere said Duke contended that it did not have to go though a review to identify the best available control technology. She said IDEM agreed with that position in approving the permit.

"Some critics don't acknowledge the plant's advanced technology because they don't want anything to do with coal," Protogere said in a statement. "Once this plant is completed, it will be one of the cleanest coal-fired plants in the world."

Protogere said construction is under way on the new coal gasification plant along the White River near Edwardsport, about 15 miles northeast of Vincennes. The current plant was built in stages between 1944 and 1951, she said.

The Sierra Club's suit asks the court to prohibit Duke from building the new plant and from continuing to operate the current plant unless the company makes the emissions control upgrades and obtains the permits the group maintains are needed.

Dan Murray, assistant commissioner for IDEM's Office of Air Quality, said the Sierra Club's contentions of Clean Air violations are not correct. "I am not aware of any pending or open enforcement actions against Duke for any of these things the Sierra Club is alleging," he said.

Duke says the plant, tentatively slated to open in 2012, stands to become the nation's first large scale project to use coal gasification technology. Unlike traditional coal-fired power plants that burn coal to produce electricity, coal gasification converts coal into a synthesis gas that's processed to remove pollutants such as mercury and sulfur. That gas is then burned in a traditional turbine power plant to produce electricity.

In February, the Sierra Club joined three other groups in appealing Indiana's approval of an air permit for the new plant. They contended that plant would allow air pollution increases that would raise nearby residents' risk of heart and lung ailments and other conditions.

They also warned that the plant would boost emissions of pollutants linked to global warming and burden Duke ratepayers with paying for a costly coal plant.

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Study: New Street Light Technology Could Save Energy, Money
WASHINGTON (The Associated Press) - Apr 7 - By SARAH KARUSH Associated Press
Writer

The nation's roads are a major source of greenhouse gases - but it's not just from the cars and trucks traveling on them. The lamps that light the way for those vehicles gobble up their share of energy, too.

By switching to a more efficient lighting for their roads, the 10 largest metropolitan areas could reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 1.2 million metric tons - the equivalent of taking 212,000 vehicles off the road - and save $90 million a year, according to a study released in March.

"Even if there wasn't the thought of global warming, this would make sense because it saves electricity, it saves taxpayer dollars," said Robert Grow, the study's author and government relations director of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. "It's really a no-brainer."

Grow wrote the report as part of a fellowship on sustainable growth funded by the Ford Foundation through the American Chamber of Commerce Executives. He focused on two strategies. One would be to simply change the type of lamps used to electricity-sipping light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. The other would be to create a centrally controlled street-light network that allows managers to adjust brightness based on environmental conditions and to quickly pinpoint malfunctioning lights - including ones that stay on in broad daylight.

Grow said he was surprised to learn that more hasn't been done already to improve street light efficiency around the country.

Perhaps the biggest effort is in Ann Arbor, Mich. The city announced in October that it would convert all its downtown street lights - some 1,400 - to LED lights, an effort estimated to cut electricity use in half. The Ann Arbor lights are manufactured by Durham, N.C.-based Cree Inc.; other manufacturers promise similar savings.

LED traffic lights have become common in much of the country, but LEDs that produce white light, instead of red or green, use newer technology. Ram Sarma, street light coordinator for Virginia's Arlington County, said LED street lights have only now been around long enough for local decision-makers to have data about actual costs and potential savings.

Arlington, which has committed itself to reducing greenhouse gases produced by the county government by 10 percent from 2000 to 2012, is in the process of installing five LED street lights. The county wants to gather feedback from drivers on the quality of the light they produce before it embarks on a wholesale replacement project.

The high pressure sodium lamps that the county now uses are about a decade old. They are about 25 percent to 30 percent more efficient than the mercury vapor lamps they replaced, Sarma said.

Besides LEDs, Grow looked at the centrally managed street light network being implemented in the city of Oslo, Norway. The system feeds data into a control center that keeps track of lights that need to be fixed and automatically dims street lights based on the season, local weather and
traffic density. Street lights at dawn, for example, don't have to be at full power to still do their job, said Julia O'Shaughnessy, a spokeswoman for San Jose, Calif.-based Echelon Corp., which owns the technology being used in Oslo.

Sarma said he had heard about that technology but that the capital costs were too high and potential savings not great enough for Arlington to try it.

Grow estimated it would cost nearly $70 million to install such a system throughout the entire Washington region and would take about seven years to pay for itself in energy and maintenance savings.

Based on Oslo's experience and the estimates of LED streetlight manufacturers, Grow's analysis assumed a 50 percent reduction in electricity usage for any kind of street light improvement. He calculated the Washington region alone could save $6 million a year on electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 78,000 metric tons.

Grow then extrapolated his basic assumptions to the 10 largest metropolitan areas. Besides Washington, they include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Houston, Miami, Atlanta and Detroit.

Maryland State Highway Administrator Neil Pedersen said his office was reviewing Grow's report and that it would seriously consider efficiency improvements to the lights on the roads it operates.

"There are capital costs associated with it that we need to understand," he cautioned. "There's still questions about what the longevity is of some of these lights."

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Local Woman Takes On a Power Giant
Apr 6 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Stephanie Vosk Cape Cod Times,
Hyannis, Mass.

For Christmas, Mary Lampert asked her husband for a nuclear engineer.

For her birthday -- the Duxbury resident will turn 66 tomorrow --Lampert is just looking for some peace and quiet.

Since moving to town in 1987, Lampert has been fighting for change at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in nearby Plymouth. She formed the citizen group Pilgrim Watch in 2004. She has spent day after day, dollar after dollar, preparing to almost single-handedly take on Pilgrim's owners at a hearing before a panel of judges from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board on Thursday.

Pilgrim Watch has about 70 members, but it's Lampert who has researched endlessly and taught herself how to battle a power giant. It's Lampert who has succeeded in a demand for a hearing, a stage only one other citizens group has reached in the relicensing of about 50 nuclear power plants across the country.

"I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a nuclear engineer, the group is unfunded," said Lampert, who has degrees in the field of sociology. The last chemistry class she attended was at the Beaver Country Day School in the ninth grade, she said.

With the nuclear engineer and hydrologist she hired in tow, Lampert will argue one reason why the plant -- about 15 miles from her house -- should not be relicensed for 20 years.

Her contention that the plant does not have an adequate plan to maintain buried tanks and pipes is the only one of many issues she raised that made it to the hearing stage.

"I have a right to live here in safety and know what's being emitted," Lampert said. "I have a right to feel secure."

Entergy Nuclear Operations, which owns the plant, will present its own experts to dispel Pilgrim Watch's argument, spokesman David Tarantino said. "The plant is saying that the plan for ensuring the integrity of underground pipes and tanks is working and they are in good condition and that we have adequate monitoring in place," he said.

Tarantino declined to speculate on the hearing's outcome or the possibility of an appeal by Entergy, but he said if the safety and licensing board makes reasonable recommendations, the plant would likely comply.

Pilgrim's license expires in 2012.

Last September, a watchdog group in New Jersey argued before the safety and licensing board that the drywell casing at the Oyster Creek Generating Station would not survive another 20-year license. A drywell casing is part of the containment system for a nuclear reactor. The board disagreed, but the case is still on appeal.

The New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, another citizen watchdog group, will get its hearing in July on the relicensing of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.

Whether the watchdog groups are successful in their quest to block relicensing, the hearings draw out the relicensing process. Without hearings, decisions are handed down in about 22 months. With hearings, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sets a 30-month timeline for relicensing decisions.

The Oyster Creek relicensing process has already gone beyond 30 months, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

In most of the relicensing cases in recent years, the NRC did not get hearing requests, he said. In New Jersey, while the outcome of the Oyster Creek hearing is still up in the air, it nevertheless helped to spotlight the issue, Sheehan said.

No relicensing application has ever been denied.

"It's the way the process is designed to work," Sheehan said. "It's another opportunity for any individual group or governmental body that wants to raise issues to do that."

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"Unusual Event" at Waterford Nuclear Power Complex
WATERFORD, Conn. (The Associated Press) - Apr 7

Operators at the Millstone 2 Nuclear Power plant in Waterford say they detected "an unusual event," the lowest of four emergency classifications, during preparations for a shutdown Sunday. The plant is beginning a shutdown process for refueling and maintenance.

A spokesman for Millstone owner Dominion Nuclear Connecticut says that in preparation for the refueling outage, water has to be moved through the system.

In Sunday's incident, about 1,000 gallons of water from the reactor coolant system flowed into a 500,000-gallon refueling water storage tank. Spokesman Peter Hyde and the NRC say the leak was stopped and none of the water had been released into the environment.

Some low-level radioactive gas was released through the tank's designed vent but Hyde said it was within allowed federal limits. The NRC said is evaluating the release and sent inspectors to the plant to monitor the company's actions.

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Bills Offer More Tax Breaks to Save, Produce Alternative Energy
COLUMBIA, S.C. (The Associated Press) - Apr 7 - By JIM DAVENPORT Associated
Press Writer

Bills offering bigger tax breaks for South Carolina residents to buy energy efficient homes and appliances are expected to come before lawmakers this week.

"Based on everything I see, we're heading toward energy shortages up the road unless we employ energy conservation, energy efficiency and energy production," said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell. The Charleston Republican has three bills Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee that deal with energy-related tax breaks.

One bill eliminates sales taxes on a variety of home products that meet or exceed federal Energy Star rating requirements including refrigerators, water heaters, dishwashers, clothes washers, air conditioners, fluorescent light bulbs, programmable thermostats and doors and windows. But the items must be bought this October or April 2009 and the break is limited to $2,500 in merchandise.

"Every kilowatt hour we can save off of energy efficiency is the cheapest energy we can produce," McConnell said.

People tend to buy the cheapest and least energy efficient models because there's little incentive to look for energy efficiency in South Carolina, said Erika Hartwig, the renewable energy coordinator for the State Energy Office.

A second bill would give a sales tax break to companies buying machinery, tools or parts to produce electricity from alternative sources, including solar, wind, tides and biomass.

That kind of break and other energy production incentives have been a huge benefit for companies like Ecogy Biomass, a company that began turning soy oil into biodiesel in Estill in January.

Hal Wrigley, president of Ecogy Biomass and Knightbridge Biofuel said the soy oil for his biodiesel cost $1.75 a gallon a last year and was $5.25 a gallon last month. "Right now, the only lucrative place to sell it is over in Europe," Wrigley said.

Wrigley wants to see more incentives that encourage companies to mix biodiesel with regular diesel and tax breaks for truckers and other consumers buying biodiesel. Other bills being considered address existing incentives for people installing solar water heaters or panels to generate electricity.

State and federal income tax breaks for installing those devices have helped Bruce Wood's Sunstore Solar in Greer. South Carolina had lagged North Carolina and Georgia for years in state tax breaks, Wood said. That meant that he was doing 70 percent of his business out of state. But now 75 percent of his business is in South Carolina and his payroll has tripled to nine people.

"There's a green movement that's afoot," Wood said.

The tax break makes the cost of putting in solar panels more reasonable while shortening the time it takes for the systems to pay for themselves with reduced energy bills. A solar hot water system that costs $6,000 comes earns an $1,800 federal tax credit and $1,500 from the state.
That means the system will be paying for itself in less than six years, instead of the 12 years it would take without the break, Wood said.

Encouraging alternate sources of energy could help the state's economy too. One recent report showed the state could expect to create more than 22,300 jobs in wind, solar, geothermal and biomass production, Hartwig said.

Energy independence has another benefit in South Carolina. "Last year we spent $18 billion on energy in South Carolina and almost all of that money left the state to import" oil and coal, Hartwig said.

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Labor, Environmentalists Join Forces to Launch National 'Green Jobs for America' Campaign
PITTSBURGH, April 8, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

The United Steelworkers (USW), the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership of the USW and Sierra Club, today launched the national Green Jobs for America campaign. The campaign will focus on the ability of a serious commitment to clean, renewable energy to make us more energy independent, help us end our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels and create over 820,000 new green jobs
nationwide.

The time for a national push for renewable energy is now, said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. What is really exciting about this campaign is the opportunity to create jobs, help fix our broken economy and contribute to solving the biggest environmental challenge of our generation at the same time.

The Green Jobs for America campaign will demonstrate that investing in clean, renewable energy is the best way to fight global warming, bring skyrocketing energy costs back under control, create new, good-paying jobs and put us back on the path toward economic growth and prosperity. In addition to encouraging the right investments from the private sector, the
campaign will also focus on the kinds of policies that are needed to fight global warming, expand clean energy production and reform unfair trade agreements.

The public education campaign will take place in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Oregon, and Nebraska. The campaign will run through September 15, 2008.

Teams of organizers from the USW, Sierra Club, NRDC and Blue Green Alliance will undertake grassroots organizing activities, conduct a series of public events, release independent studies highlighting the potential for tens of thousands of new green jobs in each state and generate thousands of signatures on a petition calling for green jobs, clean energy solutions and fair trade agreements.

An independent study conducted last year for the Blue Green Alliance by the Renewable Energy Policy Project found that these twelve states in particular stand to gain nearly 170,000 new manufacturing jobs in wind turbine manufacturing and almost 93,000 new manufacturing jobs making the parts for solar power equipment.

Blue Green Alliance Executive Director David Foster said that green jobs are not only those that produce a green product designed for a specific environmental purpose but also include existing jobs that involve a green process or a green purpose. He said that steelworkers building components for wind turbines are performing green jobs, as are chemical workers making
products that are not harmful to humans or the environment.

The green revolution isn't just creating new and different jobs," Foster said. "It's revitalizing and creating new investment in a lot of the jobs we already have.

The campaign builds on the momentum of the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference held in Pittsburgh last month, which brought together over 1,000 participants, over 80 organizations, elected officials, and leaders from industry, community groups, environmental organizations, and labor unions. The Green Jobs for America Campaign expects to add additional allies to this new national movement focused on making the clean energy future a reality.

We saw a glimpse of the clean energy future last month in Pittsburgh, said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. The Green Jobs for America campaign will bring the power of that future to communities across the country. We aim to show people that we can start building that clean energy future today -- a future that promises a strong economy, good jobs, fair trade agreements, a clean environment, and a stable climate for our children and grandchildren.

Energy efficiency is a largely untapped resource that can save consumers and businesses money on their energy bills and cut our global warming emissions, all while creating tens of thousands of new jobs.

Technologies like wind and solar are just part of the story. This is also about job security. Making homes, offices and factories more energy efficient not only saves money, it also represents a huge growth opportunity for the people who build our communities and keep them running, said Frances Beinecke, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Were talking about architects and engineers. Drywall and lighting contractors. Electricians and carpenters. Everything from construction to computing. And these are jobs that cannot be shipped offshore, and pay lasting dividends to the American economy.

Founded in 2006, the Blue Green Alliance is a strategic partnership of the United Steelworkers, North Americas largest manufacturing union, and the 1.3 million members and supporters of the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.

For more information, please visit:

www.bluegreenalliance.org

www.usw.org

www.sierraclub.org

www.nrdc.org

SOURCE Blue Green Alliance

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NRC Monitoring Unusual Event At Millstone 2 Nuclear Plant
(The Associated Press) - Apr 8

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is monitoring an Unusual Event declared early this afternoon at the Millstone 2 nuclear power plant in Waterford, Conn. An Unusual Event is the lowest of four levels of emergency classification used by the NRC.

Dominion, the plants owner and operator, made the declaration at 1:17 p.m. after an increase in unidentified leakage was detected at the plant. Millstone 2, a pressurized-water reactor, was shut down at the time for a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage.

When operators placed a system into service to further cool down the plant, they observed increased reactor coolant system leakage and an increasing level in an on-site water-storage tank. The leakage between the reactor coolant system and the storage tank was captured by the tank and therefore there was no liquid release to the environment. The leakage to the tank has since been halted.

The storage tank, by design, has a vent to the atmosphere. Some low-level radioactive gas was likely released through the tank vent. The NRC is independently evaluating any potential release and radiological consequence.

The NRC began formally monitoring the event at 2:30 p.m. today. Inspectors assigned to the plant reported to the site to follow the company's actions in response to the event. In addition, the Incident Response Center at the NRC's Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa., was activated to track developments at the plant, maintain close communications and determine if any additional actions were needed.

Millstone 3, an adjoining pressurized-water reactor operated by Dominion, was not affected by the event and continues to operate at 100-percent power.

Federal and state officials have been notified regarding the event.

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US Senate Votes For Solar, Wind Tax Credits; Faces Hurdles
Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Apr 10

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to extend tax credits for wind-power and solar-energy projects, but the measure is unlikely to become law in its current form due to concern it would add to the nation's deficit.

By 88-8, the Senate added the renewable-energy tax credits to a major housing bill. Companies such as utility XCel Energy Inc. (XEL), the largest U.S. seller of wind-generated energy, have been calling on Congress to act quickly. The tax credits expire at the end of the year, but executives are making decisions now about whether to invest in renewable projects beyond
this year.

The U.S. House of Representatives has hardened its opposition to this version of the tax-credit extensions, which are estimated to cost $6 billion over 10 years. House leaders have strong objections to deficit-financed tax breaks, and with few exceptions offset lost tax revenue with tax increases or spending cuts elsewhere.

"I doubt that the House will accept these extensions without some corresponding offsets," said Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., on the Senate floor. "This leaves the administration with a key role to play in developing a compromise that will be acceptable to both chambers."

The warning to the White House came amid negotiations with Bingaman and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., about a compromise measure that would offset the budget shortfall created by extending the renewable-energy tax credits. While the Senate Democrats have reportedly given ground by dropping plans to finance the renewable-energy
tax breaks by taking away tax breaks from oil companies, the talks appear to have reached an impasse.

The White House "rebuffed our request to identify any acceptable offsets," Bingaman said. He called on the Bush administration "to work with Congress in good faith to find a way to pay for these incentives."

A Treasury Department spokeswoman referred calls to a Treasury tax aide, who declined to comment.

Details Of Senate Measure

Under the Senate measure, put forward by U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and John Ensign, R-Nev., companies would be able to continue taking a tax credit equal to 30% of the cost of buying solar equipment through the end of 2016.

Companies would be able to take a tax credit for starting up through next year new projects that produce electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind power.

A host of other tax credits would be extended, including those for producing energy-efficient dishwashers, washing machines and refrigerators, and for residential purchases of solar hot water heaters and solar panels used to generate electricity.

Solar energy company stocks and options surged last week on optimism that Baucus was working on a compromise bill. Stocks in companies including Evergreen Solar Inc. (ESLR), First Solar Inc. (FSLR), SunPower Corp. (SPWR), Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ENER), and Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP) all rose at least 7% on Friday.

-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; Siobhan.Hughes@
dowjones.com

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Senate Passes Tax Incentives for Energy Efficiency
ROSSLYN, Va., April 10, 2008

Today, the U.S. Senate passed a comprehensive piece of housing legislation that included several critical tax incentives that encourage use of energy-efficient technologies and renewables. The bill, S. 3221, aimed to assist ailing homeowners included several provisions that are set to expire. The tax incentives included in this bill are one-year extensions that will allow homeowners and businesses to better plan for the future and should have a stimulative effect in the economy. Due to these tax incentives, such as the energy-efficient commercial buildings tax deduction, more energy-efficient products manufactured by NEMA companies will be used in the marketplace.

This Senate-passed legislation includes:

-An extension of the energy-efficient commercial buildings tax
deduction,

-Extension of the renewable energy production tax credit,

-Extension of the solar energy and fuel cell investment tax credit,
and

-Extension of residential energy efficient property tax credit.

The current commercial building tax deduction will expire on December 31, 2008. The deduction and incentives assist homeowners and businesses to purchase and install energy-efficient technologies, which provides economic benefits in lowering energy bills, contributing to construction and manufacturing jobs, and benefiting the environment. "While negotiations continue on a long-term extension of these tax incentives, NEMA calls upon the U.S. House of Representatives to act swiftly to pass this legislation so it can be signed into law," urged NEMA President and CEO Evan Gaddis.

"NEMA has been vigorously lobbying Congress for a long-term extension of the commercial building tax deduction and other energy efficiency and incentives, and while this is only a one-year extension, NEMA praises the U.S. Senate for its action on ensuring this vital incentive is continued," commented Gaddis.

NEMA is the trade association of choice for the electrical manufacturing industry. Founded in 1926 and headquartered near Washington, D.C., its approximately 450 member companies manufacture products used in the generation, transmission and distribution, control, and end-use of electricity. These products are used in utility, medical imaging, industrial, commercial, institutional, and residential applications. Domestic production of electrical products sold worldwide exceeds $120 billion. In addition to its headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia, NEMA also has offices in Beijing, São Paulo, and Mexico City.

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Feds Propose Florida Power & Light Fine for Sleeping Security Guards at
Nuclear Plant
MIAMI (The Associated Press) - Apr 10

The federal government wants to fine Florida's largest electric company $130,000 because security guards slept on duty at a nuclear plant.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says Florida Power & Light Co. violated security requirements at the Turkey Point plant from 2004 to 2006. It says guards served as lookouts while others slept on the job.

The commission says in a letter to the utility that its "inattentive behavior" is of particular concern and can't be tolerated.

The utility's nuclear spokesman says the company has made security changes to ensure this doesn't happen again.

The guards were employed by Wackenhut Nuclear Services. Wackenhut did not return phone messages.

The commission says Wackenhut has agreed to make sure its workers are
attentive on the job.



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