WASHINGTON -- October 29 -- Today the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requires nuclear power plants to meet new security requirements formulated post 9/11, also known as the Design Basis Threat (see NRC order here ).

Yesterday, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nation’s leading nuclear lobby claimed that “All Nuclear Power Plants Meet NRC Deadline for Security Enhancements” (see http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041028/dcth052_1.html).

However, this claim was seriously at odds with a September report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm (see the report). The GAO report was highly critical of the NRC’s enforcement of the new security requirements, noting that NRC’s review of the new plans “has primarily been a paper review” and is “not detailed enough.” The report goes on to say “NRC officials are generally not visiting the facilities to obtain site-specific information and assess the plans in terms of each facility’s layout. NRC is largely relying on force-on-force exercises it conducts to test the plans, but these exercises will not be conducted at all facilities for 3 years.”

Reliance on the force-on-force exercises (security exercises using mock-terrorist) is problematic given that the NRC is allowing the Nuclear Energy Institute to pay for these tests. Even more troubling was the nuclear lobby’s decision to hire Wackenhut to provide participants in the test (see NBC News “Conflict of Interest May Hurt Nuke Security” and POGO’s letter to Chairman Diaz). Wackenhut protects roughly half of the nuclear power plants nationwide and was caught cheating in similar tests at government nuclear facilities earlier this year (see Associated Press article “U.S.: Nuclear Plant Cheated During Drill”) The Government Accountability Office was critical of the arrangement in its September report, saying “This relationship with the industry raises questions about the force’s independence.”

Observers, including the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), are also raising questions about why post-9/11 security plans formulated at the Department of Energy (DOE) for nuclear weapons facilities are much more stringent than those for commercial nuclear facilities regulated by the NRC.

POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian noted that “Nuclear weapons facilities have to defend against a threat about three times the size of that required for nuclear power plants. There is no reason for such shoddy security requirements from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission given that we know that nuclear power plants are top terrorist targets.”

Congress is concerned as well. According to a September 27 Greenwire article: “Larry Halloran, counsel to the House National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations Subcommittee, said DOE's action points to a growing disparity between NRC and DOE security standards. ‘We are in touch with NRC to see what their response [to the new DOE upgrades] is going to be,’ said Halloran, adding that [Subcommittee Chairman] Shays ‘continues to press NRC to make sure its DBT [Design Basis Threat] reflects the threat and not just the cost.’”

The details for NRC’s new security standards are considered “safeguarded” and are not available to the public. However, as previously reported by POGO, the NRC’s new standards fall short of threat estimates by the federal government’s intelligence agencies (see Danielle Brian's address to NRC Regulatory Conference). To see POGO’s alerts and recent news items on nuclear power plants, go here.

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) investigates, exposes, and seeks to remedy systemic abuses of power, mismanagement, and subservience by the federal government to powerful special interests. Founded in 1981, POGO is a politically-independent, nonprofit watchdog that strives to promote a government that is accountable to the citizenry. Funded with private charitable contributions, POGO does not accept financial support from the government, labor unions, or corporations.

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