WHITE PLAINS - An armed guard was found asleep at the gate of an inner security ring around the Indian Point nuclear power plants, officials said Monday.

The inspector who found the snoozing guard spent two minutes trying to rouse him before the guard “stood up and opened his eyes,” said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The guard was alone on the second of three security rings around the two plants in Buchanan, Sheehan said. He said other security measures at the gate remained in operation during the guard's Sunday afternoon nap and tapes showed there was no breach, “but that doesn't make it any less serious.”

Jim Steets, spokesman for Indian Point owner Entergy Nuclear, said the other measures included a palm-print reader.

To get through the gate, a person's palm and his badge would be scanned, and if they matched, the gate would click open, he said, allowing access to “general plant areas.”

Another security ring would then have to be breached to get to critical areas including the reactor buildings and the spent-fuel pool, Sheehan said.

He said the guard, a five-year veteran whose name was not made public, was found sleeping by an NRC inspector performing a “backshift” inspection - focused on night and weekend operations.

Steets said the guard carried a sidearm.

The inspector saw that the guard “appeared to be inattentive, with his eyes closed,” Sheehan said.

The inspector then “tried several times to get his attention from eight to 10 feet away, and after about two minutes the guard stood up and opened his eyes,” Sheehan said.

Indian Point, on the Hudson River 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan, has attracted widespread criticism, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, for such problems as siren failures and leaks of radioactive water. Federal regulators have turned away attempts to have it shut down, however.

U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., an Indian Point critic, said, “I have long suspected that Entergy is asleep at the switch in protecting the safety of the millions of people who live in the surrounding area. This is only the latest in a series of failures by Entergy to maintain safety and security at Indian Point.”

Susan Tolchin, spokeswoman for Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, said, “It's well and good that the NRC does these spot inspections, but where is Entergy's oversight? If the NRC didn't pick this particular time, this guy could have been sleeping all day.”

Steets said security guards are rotated from post to post during their 12-hour shifts - “in part to keep them attentive” - and the guard who fell asleep had worked two previous posts on Sunday.

He had been on the security gate just 17 minutes when he was found asleep, Sheehan said.

Steets said the guard had begun his Sunday shift at 6 a.m., and had not worked any recent overtime.

“There are strict limitations on hours worked, so work fatigue would not have been an issue here.”

Steets said the guard, an Entergy employee, was placed on administrative leave pending tests for drugs and alcohol and a review.

Sheehan said Entergy “needs to get to the bottom of this and make sure the staff knows this is unacceptable.”