Thursday, November 1, 2001

Nuclear power plants increase security
By H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Federal officials have told nuclear power plant operators to ratchet up security in response to the alert this week of possibly another terrorist attack.

Officials emphasized that there has been no specific threat against any of the country’s 103 reactors.

At least six states, Arkansas becoming the latest on Wednesday, have dispatched National Guard troops to help private forces and police guard nuclear reactors. New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Arizona already had guardsmen on duty at reactors. There are 31 states that have nuclear power plants.

In a conference call with governors on Monday, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge told governors to consider deploying more police at nuclear power plants, but left it up to the states to decide on use of guardsmen, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday.

Ridge largely left it to the governors to decide which sites to protect more vigorously, but suggested they look especially at nuclear and other energy plants. “Heighten your alerts and watch your vulnerable sites,” Fleischer quoted Ridge as saying.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission asked power plant operators this week to take another look at their security although plants have been on high alert since the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks in New York and Washington. Many of the plants have added security guards and increased patrols this week, according to industry officials.

NRC spokesman Bill Beecher said that there have been no specific threats against a nuclear power plant. But he said the NRC issued another security advisory this week urging operators to keep in close communications with state officials in case additional security help was warranted. The NRC has left it to the states and plant operators to decide on whether National Guard troops are needed.

“We’ve asked them to request additional security patrols or posts, using local law enforcement, state police or National Guard if needed, in addition to using all of their own people,” said Victor Dricks, another NRC official.

In Arkansas, National Guard troops were deployed Wednesday at the state's only nuclear power plant, the Arkansas Nuclear One reactor near Russellville, operated by Entergy Corp. The troops were guarding the perimeter of the plant and making additional patrols near the facility “to maximize our security effort,” said Entergy spokesman Phil Fisher in Little Rock.

Fisher said the use of the guardsmen “was prompted by the Justice Department warning this week” that another terror attack of some kind — although not necessarily directed at a nuclear facility — could take place in the next week or so.

Fisher said that during Ridge's conference call Monday, “there was a recommendation that governors deploy National Guard troops at nuclear plants in their states.”

Fleischer said no recommendation was made on use of guardsmen.

The latest alert has prompted many of the power plant operators to boost the number of guards on duty.

In Florida, three nuclear power plants, already on heightened alert following the Sept. 11 attacks, increased the number of security guards stationed around the plants this week, but no military troops have been called.

“We are coordinating very closely with all levels of law enforcement, including the FBI and military,” said Rachel Scott, a spokeswoman for Florida Power & Light, which operators one of the plants, the Turkey Point facility 20 miles from Miami.

Underscoring the heightened security, two F-16 fighter jets escorted a private plane to an airport after it flew into restricted airspace near a former nuclear plant in Platteville, Colo. The Cessna 152 was being flown by a student pilot and his instructor.

On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration banned private planes from flying within 11 miles of nuclear plants. The U.S. Coast Guard last week began patrolling waters on the Great Lakes to keep ships away from several nuclear plants on the coastline.

Pentagon officials, meanwhile, left open the possibility that some additional reservists being called up for homeland defense might see duty at nuclear power plants or be on call to possibly intercept an aerial attack.

A military jet recently was dispatched to protect the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pa., after a threat was received. The threat later was found to be groundless.