NRC denies U.S. nuclear plants security shutdowns

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Index:



NRC denies U.S. nuclear plants security shutdowns

Nuclear plant scare adds to U.S. security jitters

Security alert dropped at Three Mile Island nuke

US pipelines, nuclear plants, dams seen vulnerable

Saudi daily readers fear N-bomb, not hijackings

Austria threatens Czech EU talks over Temelin

Radar Protects French Nuclear Plant

France positions missiles to protect nuclear site

Conectiv unit completes sale of nuclear interests

=========================================



NRC denies U.S. nuclear plants security shutdowns

  

NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - With talk of shutdowns swirling through the power 

market, the U.S. nuclear industry's top watchdog said on Thursday none of the 

country's reactors had been closed down because of heightened security following 

the Sept. 11 jetliner attacks on New York and the Pentagon. 



"Contrary to some rumors, the agency has not ordered any plants to shut down for 

security reasons," the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said in a statement. 



Energy traders said talk earlier this week of shuttered plants had pushed up prices in 

the wholesale power and natural gas markets. 



The NRC, based in Rockville, Maryland, shut down its Web site last week to review 

whether any of the data it posted there could be of value to anyone seeking to attack 

U.S. nuclear power facilities. As a result, wholesale electricity prices in some regions 

of the country rose because of a lack of information about power supplies. 



One suspended set of data is the NRC's daily plant status report, listing the operating 

status of the country's 103 nuclear reactors that provide about 20 percent of the 

country's electricity. The NRC restored parts of its Web site on Wednesday, but not 

the daily plant status report. 



NRC chairman Richard Meserve, in a Sept. 26 letter to the governors of the 40 

states with nuclear plants or facilities, advised them to liaise with state law 

enforcement forces in the event they might be needed to beef up security. 



In Thursday's statement, the NRC also dismissed a "potential terrorist threat" to the 

Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania as "non-credible." 



The threat, which came into the NRC and was initially taken seriously, triggered a 

heightened alert from the plant's operator, Exelon Corp. <EXC.N>, and involved 

precautionary action by several other federal and state authorities. 



The NRC said it has continued to monitor closely the security at all nuclear reactors 

and nuclear fuel facilities around the country. 



All plants have remained at the highest level of security since the Sept. 11 attacks. 

------------------



Nuclear plant scare adds to U.S. security jitters

  

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A security scare at the Three Mile Island 

power plant sent jitters through the U.S. nuclear power industry on Thursday, driving 

home the urgent need to rewrite outdated rules to met new threats following the 

Sept. 11 attacks. 



Those attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon have opened up a 

previously unthinkable, possibility: using a big airliner to smash into a nuclear power 

station. 



"No one considered the possibility of suicide hijackers steering a large aircraft into a 

nuclear plant," said Victor Dricks, a spokesman with the Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC), which oversees the nuclear industry. 



"That was not considered ... a 'credible threat'. That's an act of war. Some senarios 

that we previously did not consider credible may now need to be considered." 



Under current NRC regulations, a plant has to be able to defend itself against a small 

group of terrorists attacking from the ground with inside help. 



As part of an ongoing comprehensive review of its regulations, the Washington-

based NRC shut down its Web site to rethink its policy of posting thousands of 

documents. 



For each of the country's 103 nuclear power reactors, the NRC had put on its Web 

site engineering drawings, photographs of the plants and detailed technical data 

describing the function of dozens of safety-related systems. 



There were also aerial photographs of portions of sites, "which clearly could be of 

use to potential terrorists planning an aerial assault," Dricks said. 



The NRC has decided to permanently cut from its Web site the latitudes and 

longitudes pinpointing the positions of all U.S. nuclear plants, he added. 



THREATS 



On Thursday, U.S. officials dismissed an unspecified threat to the Three Mile Island 

nuclear power station as no longer credible, less than a day after putting the 

Pennsylvania plant on high alert and shutting two nearby airports. 



The nation's 103 commercial reactors were already on heightened alert following the 

Sept. 11 attacks. 



A few intrusions on nuclear plants have been reported, like in 1993 when a car, 

driven by an person with a history of mental illness, crashed through the outer gates 

of the Three Mile Island compound. 



But a U.S. nuclear reactor has never been attacked. 



The NRC says reactors, with their robust steel-enforced concrete containment 

buildings and multiple safety systems, are, "among the most hardened structures in 

the country designed to withstand hurrianes, tornadoes and earthquakes. 



"However, we could not rule out the possibility that a large aircraft like a (Boeing) 

767, fully loaded with fuel,  deliberately crashed into a containment building might not 

cause some structural damage that could release some radiation," Dricks said. 



He added detailed engineering analyses of a large airliner crash on a nuclear plant 

have not yet been performed. 



But Paul Leventhal, president of watchdog group Nuclear Control Institute (NCI) 

warned that a Boeing 767 flown at full speed could penetrate a reactor containment 

vessel, causing a meltdown and release of radiation. 



"The consequences are so unthinkable that a successful attack has to be prevented 

at all costs," he told Reuters. 



The NCI is calling on the government to immediately station National Guard soldiers 

and anti-aircraft weapons around each nuclear plant to boost their defense. 



"We sent letters to the governors of 40 states, all of which have nuclear plants, 

urging them to establish close communication with the National Guard within their 

borders in the event that they need assistance. So that's been left in their hands," 

Dricks said. 



So far, New York and New Jersey have called up National Guard troops to protect 

the plants. 



"We have taken steps to ensure the plants will be able to defend themselves against 

a wider variety of attacks ... and that includes attacks from the air and water," Dricks 

said, without going into details. 



The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also issued an advisory to pilots 

urging them to stay away from nuclear plants, regardless of whether they are in their 

flight path. 

-----------------



Security alert dropped at Three Mile Island nuke

  

NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - U.S. officials on Thursday dismissed a threat to the 

Three Mile Island nuclear power station as no longer credible, a day after putting the 

Pennsylvania plant on high alert and shutting nearby airports. 



"We took the appropriate actions putting the reactor on a heightened state of alert 

last night following a report from the federal intelligence community of a threat to 

Three Mile Island," Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC), said. 



"We no longer consider that threat credible," Sheehan said, adding it was "very 

specific" to the Three Mile Island facility. He declined to elaborate. 



"Everything appears to be back to normal" Melanie White, spokeswoman for the 

Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington. 



Three Mile Island permanently shut one of its two reactors after an accident in 1979. 

The remaining unit has been shut since Oct. 8 for refueling, which raises security 

risks because it involves bringing in hundreds of contract workers. Refueling 

operations are typically carried out every 18 to 24 months at U.S. reactors. 



All 103 U.S. nuclear power rectors, among the most closely guarded facilities in the 

country, have been on even higher alert following the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks 

on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. 



The NRC was notified of the threat late Wednesday, in turn alerting Exelon Nuclear, 

which operates Three Mile Island, prompting stepped up security in coordination with 

state and federal agencies. 



The plant, about 12 miles (19 km) from the Pennsylvania state capital in Harrisburg, 

is owned by AmerGen Energy Inc, a joint venture between Exelon Corp.<EXC.N> of 

Chicago, the parent of Exelon Nuclear, and British Energy plc<BGY.L> of Edinburgh, 

Scotland. 



AIRPORTS BRIEFLY SHUT 



The threat prompted the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees the safety 

of the nation's airports and airlines, to shut airspace to planes for 20 miles (32 km) 

around the plant, including the nearby Harrisburg International and Lancaster airports 

for about four hours. 



Pennsylvania State Troopers, local police and private security hired by Exelon 

Nuclear were guarding Three Mile Island. 



While National Guard troops have been sent to guard nuclear power stations in New 

York and New Jersey following the Sept. 11 attacks, there were no guardsmen at 

Three Mile Island. 



Three Mile Island made headlines in 1979 when an overheated reactor triggered the 

worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, leaking some radiation while operators 

scrambled to ease pressure building up in the reactor containment vessel. 

-----------------



US pipelines, nuclear plants, dams seen vulnerable

  

WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A threat against the Three Mile Island nuclear 

plant was seen Thursday as a potent reminder about the vulnerability of energy 

supplies that keep U.S. home computers humming, cars and trucks rolling down the 

highways, and manufacturers' assembly lines moving. 



Some U.S. senators have urged billions of dollars be spent to protect American oil 

refineries, natural gas pipelines, hydropower dams and nuclear power plants. In the 

post-Sept. 11 world those facilities are highly desirable targets, they say. 



Nuclear plants, which rank among the nation's most closely guarded facilities, are of 

particular concern because an attack could spew radioactive contamination over 

hundreds of miles. 



The Three Mile Island plant -- the site of the worst U.S. nuclear accident a generation 

ago -- set off alarm bells throughout the industry after receiving what it called a 

"credible threat" late Wednesday. The plant gave no details. 



Two Pennsylvania airports were closed until early Thursday and other unspecified 

precautions were taken until federal officials announced there was no longer any 

immediate danger. 



NEW AIR, WATER RESTRICTIONS 



Since the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, the federal government 

has imposed new restrictions on air space and waterways near nuclear plants. 



Some advocacy groups say that is not enough. 



"I hope this Three Mile Island threat will serve as a wake-up call," said Steven Dolley, 

research director of the non-profit Nuclear Control Institute. It has urged the 

government for years to impose stricter security at plants. 



"We are especially concerned about the possibility of a commando-style ground 

attack to take over a nuclear plant with the assistance of an insider," Dolley said. 

"There is also the risk of more conventional vehicle bomb attacks." 



The nation's 103 plants, which provide about one-fifth of U.S. electricity, are typically 

built near a lake, river or ocean for huge volumes of water needed to cool their 

reactors. 



Nuclear plants have long been required to have armed guards, razor wire or fences, 

strict background checks of all employees and other monitoring devices. 



Plants refuse to speak about new security precautions. However, it is known that 

since Sept. 11 governors in New York and New Jersey dispatched National Guard 

troops to protect nuclear plants. Massachusetts is considering a similar move. 



The Nuclear Regulatory Commission took the unprecedented step of halting Internet 

publication of its daily plant status report, fearing it could be used by terrorist 

organizations. 



NEW ATTENTION TO PIPELINES, DAMS 



"What we learned from the terrorist attacks in September is that we were much too 

trusting as a nation in protecting our assets and people," said Bob Cuomo, an energy 

expert with the consulting firm DRI-WEFA. "Much of the security already in place is 

not going to work with a very determined terrorist." 



But extra protection for oil pipelines criss-crossing the nation would be costly, he 

said. Most already have surveillance equipment monitoring a handful of key 

locations. 



The risk became clear on Oct. 4 when the huge trans-Alaska pipeline was closed for 

three days after it was pierced by a bullet, in what was described as an act of 

drunken mischief. 



A spokesman for Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles said that it was impossible to defend 

the entire 800-mile-long pipeline, which carries about 1 million barrels of oil each day. 



Dams, which are key sources of electricity in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast, 

are also difficult to protect. 



At the Grand Coulee and other dams, visitor centers were closed, gates closely 

monitored, and all employees and contractors must show identification. The dams 

and "ladders" that let salmon swim upriver to spawning grounds are among the 

Pacific Northwest's favorite tourist spots. 



"If somebody did try to take out part of the system, we are pretty confident we can go 

around the outage using backup systems," said Mike Hansen, spokesman for 

Bonneville Power Authority, a federal hydropower agency. It manages electricity lines 

stretching from the Canada border to Southern California, forming the backbone of 

the Western power grid. 



Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission stopped making public 

documents and maps that detail construction of interstate pipelines, power plants 

and hydropower dams. 



HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH? 



The waterways adjacent to many refineries and nuclear plants are also a concern. 



The U.S. Coast Guard has imposed 94 off-limits zones for boaters in the Pacific, 

Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts as well as the Great Lakes. Fishing, recreation 

and other vessels face fines of $5,000 or more for entering the zones. 



The biggest security zone extends one mile off California's biggest nuclear plant, 

PG&E Corp's (PCG.N) Diablo Canyon station located midway between San 

Francisco and Los Angeles. 



At major ports, the U.S. Department of Transportation is evaluating security with an 

eye toward stricter measures. That has some companies worried about costs and 

red tape. 



"In a free society with open trade, you cannot protect yourself against any potential 

scenario, whether it's a nuclear power plant, a dam or a truck," a shipping source 

said. "You can make yourself crazy." 



Some shippers at the Port of Duluth on Lake Superior, who previously thought their 

biggest risk was from drug smugglers or thieves, have added guards to restrict traffic 

to the docks along 49 miles of shoreline in Minnesota and Wisconsin. 



"The very word 'security' has changed dramatically where it's now synonymous with 

anti-terrorism," said port director Davis Helburg. 

-------------------



Saudi daily readers fear N-bomb, not hijackings

  

RIYADH, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Readers of Saudi Arabia's Arab News daily are more 

scared of being blown up by a nuclear bomb than being hijacked, a weekly poll by 

the kingdom's most respected English language newspaper showed on Thursday. 



Fifty six percent of the 11,117 votes the Arab News collected last week showed that 

nuclear bombs were the biggest fear among its readers. 



Twenty-two percent feared suicide bombers, and 11 percent felt most threatened by 

the anthrax scare sweeping the world. 



Just nine percent said their biggest fear was of being on a hijacked plane. 



Last month, alleged Muslim militants hijacked four U.S. airliners, crashing two into 

the World Trade Center in New York and a third into the Pentagon in Washington. 



The fourth plane landed in a Pennsylvania field. Saudi citizens have been implicated 

in the attacks. 

-----------------



Austria threatens Czech EU talks over Temelin

  

PRAGUE, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Officials at the Czech Temelin nuclear power plant said 

on Thursday they had applied to raise the controversial station's output as Austria 

threatened to impede EU accession talks over the Soviet-designed plant. 



Temelin said in a statement it was awaiting approval by the Czech nuclear watchdog 

to raise output at its first reactor up to 75 percent of full capacity, the highest level 

ever, as it continues testing operations. 



At the same time, the Austrian Environment Ministry said it would block the closing of 

the energy chapter between the EU and the Czechs next week unless its concerns 

about the Temelin nuclear plant were addressed. 



Austria has been a long-standing opponent of the Temelin nuclear power station, just 

60 km (37 miles) from the Austrian border, raising concerns that the plant is unsafe 

and should be shut down. 



"The Austrian government acts on the basis of repeated parliamentary resolutions 

according to which provisional closure of the energy chapter with the Czech Republic 

will not be approved unless there is a satisfactory resolution of open questions," the 

ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. 



The Czechs say the plant, combining Soviet-designed equipment with U.S. control 

systems, is safe. 



The Czech power producer CEZ hopes the station's first block will be fully 

operational by the end of this year, followed by the second block next year. 



Temelin said in a statement the turbogenerator's output has stabilised at 490-500 

megawatts while the reactor is operating at 55 percent of capacity during the current 

testing phase. 



Temelin was allowed last week to conduct final tests on the second block ahead of 

nuclear fuel loading later this year. 

------------------



Radar Protects French Nuclear Plant

  

PARIS (AP) - French defense officials have stationed a radar system in northwest 

France to sweep the skies above Europe's largest nuclear reprocessing plant as a 

precaution against airborne suicide attacks, a defense official said Friday. 



The radar system, called Crotale and capable of scouting out airplanes flying at low 

altitude, is mounted on a large military vehicle parked near the nuclear center at La 

Hague, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 



The official said there had been no threats and that the measure was purely a 

precaution. The radar system can be used in conjunction with missiles, but none has 

yet been set up, he said, declining to discuss future plans. The military can also use 

fighter planes to shoot down aircraft picked up on radar screens, he said. 



The radar system is part of a broader initiative to bolster defense in northwestern 

France since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Most of France's air bases 

are located in the southeast. 



France has transferred military aircraft to the country's western regions, including 

Mirage fighter planes that have been moved to a base in Lann-Bihoue in the Brittany 

region. 



The official declined to provide more details about protection at the nation's other 

nuclear facilities. France is one of the world's most nuclear-dependent countries, 

getting more than three-fourths of its energy from nuclear power. 



The ministry is keeping most of its plans secret, and revealed details about the La 

Hague site only because of intense public interest in the nuclear reprocessing plant, 

which treats waste from reactors in Europe and Asia. 



French Defense Minister Alain Richard said Thursday that France may deploy 

surface-to-air missiles to protect sensitive civil and military sites across France. 

Among the sites the government promised to protect was the La Hague nuclear 

facility, French nuclear officials said. 



La Hague stocks 8,250 tons of nuclear fuel, officials say. 

-----------------



France positions missiles to protect nuclear site

  

PARIS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - France has deployed ground-to-air missiles near its 

nuclear waste reprocessing plant as a precaution following last month's attacks on 

the United States, the Defence Ministry said on Friday. 



A ministry spokesman said soldiers were positioning a Crotale missile battery close 

to the plant at La Hague in northern France. 



France has boosted security around key sites such a nuclear plants, industrial zones 

and large dams since hijackers flew commercial planes into the World Trade Center 

in New York and the Pentagon on September 11. 



Washington blames the attacks on Islamic militant Osama bin Laden and has 

launched air strikes on bases of his al Qaeda network and targets of the ruling 

Taliban in Afghanistan. 



On Thursday, Defence Minister Alain Richard said France was prepared to use 

warplanes to shoot down hijacked aircraft and that putting missile batteries in place 

was a complementary measure. 



He said the government had not been informed of any particular threat. 



France has 19 nuclear power plants producing 76 percent of its electricity, the 

highest proportion of any country. 



French military aircraft have previously been deployed to create a so-called 

protection "bubble" around sites for special events, such as summits of the G7 group 

of major industrial nations or the World Cup soccer finals in 1998. 

-----------------



Conectiv unit completes sale of nuclear interests

  

NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Conectiv Inc. <CIV.N>, a leading Mid-Atlantic energy 

provider, said one of its subsidiaries completed the sale of its interests in three 

nuclear plants. 



Atlantic City Electric Co., the subsidiary, sold the interests for about $11.3 million to 

the PSEG Nuclear unit of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. <PEG.N> of Newark, 

New Jersey, and to the Exelon Generation Co. unit of Exelon Corp. <EXC.N> of 

Chicago, Conectiv said in a statement late Thursday. 



The interests included a 7.51-percent interest (164 megawatts) in the Peach Bottom 

nuclear station units 2 and 3 that was sold in equal shares to co-owners PSEG 

Nuclear and Exelon, each of which, prior to the sale, owned about 46 percent of 

Peach Bottom. Exelon operates Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania. 



A 7.41-percent interest (167 megawatts) in the Salem nuclear station units 1 and 2 

was sold to PSEG Nuclear. PSEG Nuclear is the operator of Salem in New Jersey. 



A 5.00-percent interest (52 megawatts) in the Hope Creek nuclear station units 1 and 

2 was sold to PSEG Nuclear. PSEG Nuclear is the operator of Hope Creek and, prior 

to the sale, owned 95 percent of that facility. 



PSEG Nuclear and PECO, another unit of Exelon Corp. that delivers electricity in the 

Philadelphia area, also assumed full responsibility for the ultimate decommissioning 

of Atlantic's interests in Peach Bottom, Salem and Hope Creek in New Jersey. 



Conectiv President and Chief Operating Officer Thomas Shaw said the sale is 

consistent with the Wilmington, Delaware-based company's focus on its two core 

energy businesses: Conectiv Energy, a generation and energy marketing group; and 

Conectiv Power Delivery, a regulated power delivery business. 



Shaw said, "We have sold baseload nuclear and fossil-fired power plants that do not 

fit our strategy and have made progress developing and building new, fast-response, 

mid-merit generation units that can meet the region's need for power." 



Mid-merit units can start and stop quickly in response to changes in the demand for 

power. 



Baseload units run at a constant rate to provide a system's minimum demand for 

power at a minimal cost. 



Shaw pointed to the additional 350 megawatts of mid-merit capacity the company put 

in service this past summer at its Hay Road power plant in Wilmington, Del.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle				Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   

Director, Technical			Extension 2306

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service	Fax:(714) 668-3149 	           

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.		E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  	E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com   

Costa Mesa, CA 92626                    



Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com





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