Skip to main content

Time To Run Story on Security at Nuclear Power Plants

We've learned that Time is planning to run a story on security at nuclear power plants in their next issue, due to hit news stands on Monday morning, June 13. The story will be posted online at Time.com on Sunday just after midnight.

Here's what we know:

Time military/defense writer Mark Thompson has been working on this piece for about a month and has toured Exelon's Peach Bottom nuclear power plant to get a first-hand look at security -- as much as Nuclear Regulatory Commission safeguards restrictions will permit. He interviewed NEI Vice President Steve Floyd, NRC Chairman Nils Diaz (for audio excerpts from his March 2005 speech at the National Press Club, click here, here and here), Exelon executives at Peach Bottom Nuclear Plant and most likely anti-nuclear activists and members of Congress.

This week, reporters from Time arrived unannounced in vehicles at the North Anna and Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plants in an attempt to breach security. In neither case did the reporters gain access to the plant. They were repelled at the first armed check point -- the first line in concentric circles of security around nuclear power facilities.

Tomorrow, NEI Chief Nuclear Officer Marv Fertel will speak with ABC News for a piece expected to be broadcast on the Sunday evening news.

When it comes to plant safety and security, there is no way to guarantee that there will never be a terrorist attack. But you can prepare for them by making contingencies for an emergency before it happens, thereby lowering risks for the plant, plant personnel and the public.

Since 9-11, the nuclear industry has spent $1.2 billion enhancing security at plants across the U.S. to help protect against attacks or contain them if they were to occur. Post-9-11 security enhancements include:

● Increased number of security officers -- now 8,000 at 64 sites -- and capabilities
● Extension of security perimeters and installation of additional physical barriers
● Vehicle barriers and checks, more restrictive site access controls

As NEI President and CEO Skip Bowman said in March at the NRC's Regulatory Information Conference:
"We've worked this hard for three and a half years with the best minds in the country. We've identified and fixed vulnerabilities. If after three and a half years, we haven't identified the real threat, shame on us. No one is saying the threat might not evolve in the years ahead. No one is suggesting rigidity.

"But . . . the industry is at the practical limit of what private industry can do to secure our facilities. NRC Chairman [Nils] Diaz and Commissioner [Jeffrey] Merrifield both have said . . . that licensees have achieved just about everything that can be reasonably be achieved by a civilian force."
For an overview of security issues, click here. NEI also maintains a large archive of documents on safety and security. Among these documents you will find information on: the NRC role in regulating plant security; armed guards, physical barriers and protection systems; post 9-11 security enhancements; security readiness; workforce security; and independent studies and drills the industry has undertaken to prepare for any emergency.

To watch our video on nuclear plant security, click here. For our graphics gallery, including a diagram on nuclear plant security zones, click here.

Check back throughout the weekend with NEI Nuclear Notes for updates.

UPDATE: Time has posted the story (subscription required). We'll be back with more later.

Technorati tags: , ,

Comments

Anonymous said…
The story is out already and I have to say that is one of the most biased pieces of "journalism" I have read in a while. My respect for Time magazine has just gone out the window.
Matthew66 said…
Journalists should adopt an attitude of professional skepticism when investigating a story. The authors of the three articles in this week's Time appeared to have adopted cynicism in relation to representatives of the nuclear industry and credulity in relation to those expressing anti-nuclear views (even those fired from the industry, who should be assumed to be disgruntled unless proven otherwise).

Popular posts from this blog

An Ohio School Board Is Working to Save Nuclear Plants

Ohio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help. The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes. One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendu

Why Ex-Im Bank Board Nominations Will Turn the Page on a Dysfunctional Chapter in Washington

In our present era of political discord, could Washington agree to support an agency that creates thousands of American jobs by enabling U.S. companies of all sizes to compete in foreign markets? What if that agency generated nearly billions of dollars more in revenue than the cost of its operations and returned that money – $7 billion over the past two decades – to U.S. taxpayers? In fact, that agency, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), was reauthorized by a large majority of Congress in 2015. To be sure, the matter was not without controversy. A bipartisan House coalition resorted to a rarely-used parliamentary maneuver in order to force a vote. But when Congress voted, Ex-Im Bank won a supermajority in the House and a large majority in the Senate. For almost two years, however, Ex-Im Bank has been unable to function fully because a single Senate committee chairman prevented the confirmation of nominees to its Board of Directors. Without a quorum

NEI Praises Connecticut Action in Support of Nuclear Energy

Earlier this week, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed SB-1501 into law, legislation that puts nuclear energy on an equal footing with other non-emitting sources of energy in the state’s electricity marketplace. “Gov. Malloy and the state legislature deserve praise for their decision to support Dominion’s Millstone Power Station and the 1,500 Connecticut residents who work there," said NEI President and CEO Maria Korsnick. "By opening the door to Millstone having equal access to auctions open to other non-emitting sources of electricity, the state will help preserve $1.5 billion in economic activity, grid resiliency and reliability, and clean air that all residents of the state can enjoy," Korsnick said. Millstone Power Station Korsnick continued, "Connecticut is the third state to re-balance its electricity marketplace, joining New York and Illinois, which took their own legislative paths to preserving nuclear power plants in 2016. Now attention should