Counterpoint: Nuclear industry responds to NPPP report

August 21, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

A recent report prepared under a contract for the Pentagon by the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (NPPP) contends that nuclear facilities across the United States are woefully unprepared for credible terrorist attacks. To the contrary, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Progressive Policy Institute hail nuclear power plants as the best-defended and secure facilities among the nation's critical infrastructure.

Credit: Stefan Kühn/Wikimedia Commons

Specifically addressing the NPPP report, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) counters that it fails to explain how attackers would be able to dislodge highly irradiated uranium fuel -- 800 to 1,200-pound, 18-foot-tall fuel bundles -- and maneuver them from reactors, storage pools or steel and concrete containers past layers of elaborate security.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) holds nuclear power plants to the highest security standards of any American industry, and industry exceeds those standards. Based on its regular interactions with federal intelligence and law enforcement authorities, the NRC establishes the threat against which the industry must be protected and sets stringent standards that the industry's private security forces must meet.

Approximately 9,000 highly trained and well-armed security officers, augmented by comprehensive detection and surveillance systems, defend the nation's 62 nuclear power plant sites -- a 60 percent increase in the size of nuclear plant security forces since 2001. These private forces are drilled and tested regularly to ensure their readiness, including force-on-force exercises that are evaluated by federal regulators while an integrated security and response plan with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies ensures robust and extensive site protection, according to NEI.

Since September 11, 2001, more than $2 billion in additional security encompassing substantial physical enhancements at nuclear plant sites has been invested. Every reactor design used to generate nearly one-fifth of America's electricity has been assessed for the potential of aircraft impacts and each design would protect against damage to the reactor fuel and used uranium fuel that is safely and securely stored at nuclear energy facilities, according to NEI.

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http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/counterpoint-nuclear-industry-responds-nppp-report/2013-08-21