Reactor security criticized

Reactor security criticized
TVA officials say background checks of employees 'thorough'

STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
WASHINGTON — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not keep track of the number of foreign citizens working at nuclear power plants, or how many guards are employed at the plants or what the owners spend on security, the agency told Rep. Edward J. Markey in response to his questions about security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Rep. Markey, D-Mass., on Monday released more than 100 pages of correspondence with the agency since Sept. 11 and said the documents revealed "black hole after black hole" in security. But a spokesman for the nuclear industry said that even without government involvement and data-gathering in every area, reactor operators were taking strong steps to assure security.

Rep. Markey, who has long been critical of the industry and the NRC, is sponsoring a bill under which the federal government would take over reactor security similar to how airport security has been federalized. The bill also is sponsored by Democratic senators Harry Reid of Nevada, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

Craig Beasley, a spokesman for the Tennessee Valley Authority, said that agency's background checks are "very thorough."

"They include past employment, personal characteristics, credit history, education, medical and criminal records and fitness for duty, which means drugs and alcohol," he said. "We check references and develop other references."

Mitch Singer, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's main trade association, said there's "no question" that foreign nationals are employed at U.S. power plants. But he said the industry not only screens applicants thoroughly, but also monitors employees closely with random drug and alcohol screenings.

"And if there's an indication of abnormal behavior, it's noticed and dealt with," he said.

Mr. Singer said that initial checking and ongoing observation make the nuclear industry's security and background-check procedures "one of the best of any industrial operation in the country."

"I'm very confident about that," he said. "I don't think the level of security and the emphasis placed on it could be matched anywhere."

Stephen Smith, executive director of the Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said he applauds Rep. Markey for "asking the tough questions."

"One of the greatest revelations of Sept. 11 is the vulnerability…"

bility of our nuclear plants. It
concerns us that Congressman
Markey is saying the NRC has
failed to carefully look at ter-
rorist connections. That should
be of great concern, because
there was clear evidence that
terrorist cells were targeting
reactors," Mr. Smith said.

In response to questions from
Rep. Markey to Richard A.
Meserve, the chairman of the
commission, the NRC said reac-
tor operators were not required
to avoid hiring foreigners or to
limit their access to nuclear
plants. The commission also said
it required a certain level of secu-
rity but did not keep track of
how much the licensees spent
to provide it, or how many extra
guards they had.

According to a summary of
the NRC responses prepared by
Rep. Markey's staff, "it appears
that al-Qaida operatives such as
Mohamed Atta or Marwan al-
Shehhi could pass the narrow
nature of the criminal screening
still in use at U.S. nuclear power
plants and gain unescorted
access to the controlled area of
a plant, just as they obtained stu-
dent visas to attend flight
school."

Rep. Markey also said it was
hard to determine whether for-
eigners had criminal records in
other countries.

Ralph E. Beedle, the chief
nuclear officer of the Nuclear
Energy Institute, said the names
of all reactor employees were
checked with the FBI and he
assumed criminal records would
be discovered in the process.

"The people we hire, for the
most part, are folks who have
come over here and gone
through school," Mr. Beedle said.

He added that when he was the
chief of nuclear operations at
the New York Power Authority,
"I hired a lot of people out of
Columbia University, CCNY,
folks from India, China, that
were over here for years as stu-
dents."

Rep. Markey has called for
putting anti-aircraft weapons at
reactor sites, saying only four
of the nation's 103 nuclear reac-
tors were designed with a plane
crash in mind and that even
then designers contemplated
planes much smaller than those
hijacked on Sept. 11. In addition,
despite industry assertions that
the containment buildings at
reactors were "robust," Rep.
Markey said a plane that hit
other areas of a reactor site
could cause a meltdown.

The commission said it had
consulted with the Defense
Department, the Office of Home-
land Security and the Federal
Aviation Administration and
concluded that "there would be
enormous command and con-
trol problems and a large poten-
tial for unintended consequences
and collateral damage if such
weaponry were deployed."

Rep. Markey and other critics
say that even before Sept. 11 the
commission had been slow to
recognize the vulnerability to
terrorists of the plants it licens-
es.

The commission, for exam-
ple, passed over the question
when it issued a paper on the
licensing of a proposed plant to
make plutonium fuel, called
MOx, for reactors in South Car-
olina. A local environmental
group had asked that an envi-
ronmental impact statement
include an assessment of the
risks of terrorism, but the day
after planes slammed into the
World Trade Center and the Pen-
tagon, the commission staff said
that the group "does not estab-
lish that terrorist acts (involv-
ing the proposed MOx facility
or related materials) fall within
the realm of 'reasonably fore-
seeable' events."

The commission told Rep.
Markey that since Sept. 11 it has
suspended exercises in which
mock commandoes test defens-
es. It said that conducting such
tests "in the current elevated
threat environment would pose
significant safety hazards to the
licensees' employees and nega-
tively impact security effective-
ness." But Rep. Markey said that
without such drills, the com-
mission had no way to tell if the
security improvements it had
ordered were effective.

Rep. Markey argued for more
security at sites where reactors
have been retired but the fuel,
which is highly radioactive, is
still present. He also called for
tests on the casks in which some
fuel is stored, which were built
to be sturdy enough to withstand
a variety of accidents but which,
like the reactors, were not built
with attack in mind.

Markey said on Monday he
would put the agency corres-
pondence on his Web page,
www.house.gov/markey.

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-
Tenn., said the security issue has
two fronts.

"The commercial nuclear
reactor business is doing a very
good job with its clearances and
background checks," he said.
"Where I believe we have to
tighten down is at weapons
plants. That's where the most
questions are asked, and that's
where (background and securi-
ty checks) are the slowest.

"I represent the (Oak Ridge
National Laboratory) Y-12 plant,
and I believe we can improve
and are improving background
checks. It's a constant balance
between timing and making sure
all possible diligence is done in
clearing everyone. It's a very
time-consuming process."

A security guard armed with a rifle stops a vehicle entering TVA's Sequoyah Nuclear Plant to check the driver's identification. Due to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, security at TVA's plants has been increased.