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3 workers at power plant are detained

Officials say the men used false Social Security numbers to get jobs that gave them access to Progress Energy's Crystal River complex.

By RAGHURAM VADAREVU
Published March 12, 2005

CRYSTAL RIVER - Three of seven men hired by a private contractor to work at the Progress Energy power plant complex used false Social Security numbers to get their jobs and access the plant, officials said Friday.

One of them was able to get as far as the Turbine building, a structure where the steam from the highly restricted nuclear reactor is harnessed to generate electricity, said Danny Roderick, the director of site operations at the nuclear plant.

Roderick added that there was no security threat because the man and a co-worker, whose identification and Social Security number had checked out, were in the company of Progress Energy security personnel and others who had security clearances.

"You are not allowed to be out of the sight of your escort, ever," he said.

And like everyone who enters the power plant complex, he said, the workers also were sent through metal and bomb detectors, he said.

The other two men who had used the false Social Security numbers had been working at the coal-fed power plants in another portion of the complex separate from the nuclear plant, Roderick said.

He said the three men were taken into federal custody, pending further investigation of their immigration status in the United States.

For some, the incident raised questions about the security procedures used at the power plant for private contractors and their employees.

"We are not saying that any of these particular workers are terrorists," said Michael Jeske of the Florida Gulf Coast Building and Construction Trades Council, before mentioning that those who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks used box cutters as weapons.

The council sent a letter on Wednesday about the incident to H. William Habermeyer Jr., the Progress Energy president and chief executive; U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Crystal River; and Gov. Jeb Bush.

Information about the seven men came to the attention of one of the council's member unions at the power plant. The council's investigation revealed that the Social Security numbers the men used "appear to be false," the letter said.

Brown-Waite said such an incident should not happen at any of the nation's power plants in this age of terrorism.

"There is absolutely no excuse for this," she said, before repeating her call for Congress to adopt national standards for driver's licenses issued by the states. She said such standards would help identify those who overstay their visas.

"The driver's license should not expire later than the person's legal time that they are allowed to stay in the U.S.," she said.

The seven men were employed by Brock Specialty Services, which performs maintainance work for Progress Energy at the nuclear and coal-fed plants. Roderick said the company that Brock uses to do background checks of its employees did not find the false Social Security numbers.

For workers like the seven, Roderick said, Progress Energy does background checks. But because those checks take two to three weeks, he said, Progress has security procedures in place to allow them in for escorted visits with valid government-issued photo identification. In this case, the men showed their identification - a Social Security card does not count - and were taken through metal and bomb detectors. Two men were taken to the Turbine building, where they painted the concrete floor under the watchful eye of their escorts, he said.

The five remaining men were taken to the coal-fed plants for work there, he said.

Attempts to reach Brock and its parent, Brock Enterprises of Texas, were unsuccessful on Friday afternoon.

Raghuram Vadarevu can be reached at rvadarevu@sptimes.com or 564-3627.

[Last modified March 12, 2005, 00:49:09]