SEABROOK - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a special inspection team to review security at the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant.
The weeklong inspection began Monday and is a follow-up on NRC-identified findings from an inspection in May, according to a statement from the NRC’s regional office in King of Prussia, Pa.
Resident inspector Glenn Dentel confirmed the inspection Monday and said he could not speak to specific security concerns.
Dentel said the inspection is being conducted by three members of the NRC’s regional office in Pennsylvania, one inspector from NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md., and resident inspector Steve Shaffer.
Inspectors are on site following reports of a breach in the plant’s intruder-alert alarm system installed last October. The security failure was identified in an internal plant document leaked to Seacoast Newspapers last month.
The report blamed an inadequate Perimeter Intrusion Detection System design and also deficient testing of the system, according to the document.
FPL Energy Seabrook Station spokesman Al Griffith said he could not comment on security.
"At no time have we lost the ability to protect public health and safety," he said.
The NRC inspection comes two days after U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan, a Democrat from Lowell, Mass., was given a private tour of the nuclear power plant, according to a report published in the Lowell Sun.
Meehan requested the tour and a meeting with plant officials and the NRC, said Griffith.
"We actually appreciate Congressman Meehan taking the time and opportunity to do that," Griffith said. "It gave him a new appreciation of Seabrook’s security, to see first-hand how multi-layered it is, not reliant on any one piece of equipment. He said afterwards it was safe."
Meehan could not be reached for comment.
Meehan reportedly said several breakdowns in the plant’s security system should be cause for deep concern.
U.S. Representatives John Tierney and Edward Markey, also of Massachusetts, have both written letters to the NRC decrying the breakdown in the security system.
Locally, 1st District Rep. Jeb Bradley released this statement:
"I have toured the Seabrook plant several times in the past and observed the extensive security measures they have in place there. All commercial nuclear plants, including Seabrook, have security measures in place that are designed to protect against a wide range of threats.
"Relative to this recent situation, it is my understanding that at no time was safety or security compromised at the Seabrook plant or in the surrounding communities.
"The Seabrook plant takes security very seriously and will work in conjunction with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Department of Homeland Security to correct any problems that may exist.
"We have been in contact with officials at both the Seabrook plant and the NRC and will continue to monitor the situation closely."
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