News Archive 2006

NRC says nuclear plants safe from attacks and productive
Bill Cahir
Gloucester County Times, New Jersey
March 09, 2006

WASHINGTON — Consumers should regard nuclear power plants as safe and consider them well protected from terrorist attack, according to the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"No member of the public has ever been injured by a radioactive release from a U.S. nuclear power plant; the plants' safety performance indicators have been, over the last several years, close to all-time highs, and the incident precursors at all-time lows," Dr. Nils J. Diaz, chairman of the commission, said in prepared remarks.

Diaz added that the NRC had tested and improved its safety and security standards for the nation's 103 commercial nuclear reactors so that they were "commensurate with the post-9-11 threat and potential consequences."

Just as Diaz was praising the nuclear industry for its safety record, a watchdog group and a major union were taking the opposite stance.

Public Citizen and the Service Employees International Union held a news conference this week to claim that the NRC has erred badly by entrusting Wackenhut Services Inc., a private security company, to safeguard half of the nation's nuclear facilities.

Current and former Wackenhut employees have told the Associated Press that they receive little training to do their jobs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security headquarters office in northwest Washington.

The AP reported that they had not been trained in the proper use pepper spray or batons, and had little recourse, save their handguns, when faced with safety threats.

The story also said that Wackenhut security guards also claimed that their fellow employees had mishandled two incidents last year, including one involving a bag thought to contain a bomb and an envelope that contained white powder. One Wackenhut employee held the bag outside the office of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the AP reported.

"Without good training — good, thorough training about safety — this will never be a good place where people can come in and do their work and not worry about anything outside," Brian Adams, 26, a Navy veteran and former Wackenhut employee, said as he stood in front of the Homeland Security headquarters. Adams said he had resigned from Wackenhut rather than continue working for a company with poor security standards.

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