Federal regulators are revising work rules to help keep security guards at nuclear plants alert and not sleepy, recognizing that fatigue can also be an enemy for workers who must be prepared to make life-or-death decisions.
For years, industry watchdogs have complained that low staffing has increased the workload for guards and made them more prone to "inattentiveness" - a catchall term nuclear operators use to describe napping and other behavior that can distract them.
The fitness-for-duty revisions require that guards regularly scheduled for shifts of eight or 10 hours get at least 10 hours rest between shifts, up from eight. Security workers at many plants also work shifts of 12 hours on, 12 hours off, typically three or four days a week.
The NRC also decided to end a practice that allowed plants to meet work-hour limits by using the average of hours worked by groups of employees in certain departments.
Under that practice, guards on 12-hour shifts working 60 hours a week because of overtime might get grouped in with guards working regular four-day, 48-hour work weeks.
