[ RadSafe ] MSNBC.com Article: NRC agency has trouble tracking its guns

[Steven Dapra]

Aug. 1

         Thank you for posting this, Peter.

         Our buddy David Lochbaum of the UCS pops up in this article.  The 
stuff from him is between the arrows (so I don't have to fool around with 
quote marks).

<<<<<
"There is no accountability," said Dave Lochbaum, a former nuclear power 
plant engineer and spokesman for the Union of Concerned Scientists. "This 
NRC nonsense will likely persist until innocent Americans die. Then 
Congress will hold televised oversight hearings, shake fingers and pound 
desktops, and force NRC to straighten up its act  for about a month, when 
the next lackadaisical agency causes some mayhem."

He also said the audit "reflects the NRC's double standard," maintaining 
that if NRC investigators found similar problems with firearms 
record-keeping by security forces at a nuclear facility, the plant's 
operators would be sanctioned "harshly."
 >>>>>

         This Office of Investigations that can't keep track of its heat is 
partially described as follows (again, between the arrows):

<<<<<
The Office of Investigations was formed in 1982 to investigate violations 
by NRC licensees and contractors. Its cases typically involve matters such 
as falsified documents, misplaced equipment and workers sleeping on the job.

For decades, OI agents operated without police powers. Starting in 2005, 
however, all 30 OI agents were deputized as U.S. marshals, allowing them to 
make arrests, serve search warrants and carry firearms.

OI Director Guy Caputo told MSNBC.com earlier this year that the "blanket 
deputation" was critical to the mission of his office, but his critics see 
no reason for it beyond the fact that it helped justify average annual 
salaries of $130,000 for OI agents.

Caputo acknowledged that his agents had never made a single arrest, before 
or after they were authorized to carry guns. And when OI agents suspect a 
crime has been committed, they are supposed to refer the matter to the 
Justice Department, which then decides whether to pursue criminal charges.
 >>>>>

         This link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17949763/ is within the link 
posted by Peter.  I invite everyone to read it.  It is an ideal example of 
self-serving and evasive rubbish.  I wonder what these jokers do to "earn" 
their gigantic salaries.

Steven Dapra
sjd at swcp.com



At 08:51 AM 8/1/07 -0600, Vernig, Peter G. wrote:
>Seems our friends at the NRC have trouble keeping track of their guns.
>
>Too bad it gives Green Peace and the Union of Concerned Scientists
>justified grounds to criticize NRC.
>
>Thought it was telling that somebody was quoted as saying the NRC would
>have come down real hard on a power reactor that had similar weapons
>accountability problems.
>
>
>NRC agency has trouble tracking its guns
>Tasked with sensitive investigations of the U.S. nuclear industry, a
>Nuclear Regulatory Agency office is having trouble keeping track of its
>own guns, according to a new audit. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey reports.
>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20044076/from/ET/
>
>Pete G. Vernig
>
>Opinions are mine alone and not represented as those of my employer.