Three Mile Island Guards Sleeping On The Job, page 1

A surprise inspection at Three Mile Island triggered by citizen complaints of inattentive security revealed that the security was in fact bad. The inspector wasn't even noticed by a guard who was in a trancelike state and busy playing a handheld video game.

Philadelphia Inquirer: On cloud 9 at the power plant - doh!

Jul. 03, 2006

During a surprise predawn inspection at the plant near Harrisburg in May, a guard didn't even notice a stranger - the inspector - approaching. The reason? The guard was absorbed in a handheld video game.

It was a case of life imitating art - an episode right out of The Simpsons, the Fox show in which Homer is constantly asleep at the switch of the local nuclear plant as bedlam ensues.

What is funny in a cartoon, however, can be a little unnerving in real life. What if the inspector instead had been an infiltrator? What then?

Power plant guards are allowed to read or play video games while on duty as a means of warding off boredom and staying alert. Obviously, that is not working too well. If you've ever watched a 10-year-old with a Game Boy, you know the trancelike states that often accompany these games.

The inspection by the Department of Environmental Protection was approved by Gov. Rendell at the state's five nuclear power plants because of citizen complaints of inattentive security at Three Mile Island.

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Apparently the security at Three Mile Island is not so good. Terrorists wouldn't have much problems entering this plant if they really wanted to. I wonder if the security is much better at other nuclear plants?