GAO questions US NRC plan for protecting nuclear power plants

Washington (Platts)--4Apr2006

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's process to boost nuclear power
plant security after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington "created the appearance" that changes were made based on what
industry "considered reasonable...rather than on an assessment of the
terrorist threat itself," the Government Accountability Office told Congress
Tuesday.

In a report submitted to the House National Security, Emerging Threats
and International Relations subcommittee, GAO said an April 2003 revision to
the NRC's so-called design basis threat -- a document that describes the kinds
of threats nuclear power plants must be prepared to defend against -- followed
a "generally logical and well-defined process that required plant operators to
defends against a larger terrorist threat."

Among other things, the revised DBT required plant operators to defend
against a larger number of attackers, an expanded list of weapons and a larger
maximum size vehicle bomb.

GAO told Congress, however, that while key elements of the revised plan
generally concur with staff's original recommendations, the agency made some
changes to the document in response to public comment, including from the
nuclear industry, that objected to some changes such as the inclusion of
certain weapons.

While NRC officials said the changes were the result of the further
analysis of intelligence information, GAO said it found that the process "used
to obtain stakeholder feedback created the appearance that changes were made
based on what the industry considered reasonable and feasible to defend
against rather than on an assessment of the terrorist threat itself."

Further, the report said that while US nuclear plant have made
"substantial security improvements" since 9/11, "it is too early" to conclude
"that all sites are capable of defending against the DBT" because as of
November 1, 2005, NRC had conducted "force-on-force" inspections at about only
one-third of all plants.

For more information, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at
http://nucweek.platts.com.


 

Copyright © 2005 - Platts

Please visit:  www.platts.com

Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!.