ML061110039
| ML061110039 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palisades  |
| Issue date: | 04/04/2006 |
| From: | Wald M The New York Times |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| Download: ML061110039 (1) | |
Text
Study Faults
~
d Rules
(- Reactors ByMATHEW. L. WALD WASHINGTON, April 3 -
After consulting with the Industry, the Nu-clear Regulatory Commission weak-en*d security regulations it had pro-posed for reactors, government au-ditorssa~id in a report to be released on-Tuesday.1..',
,jrhe auditors said the process "cre-ak-fte.the Reappearano.3 that the cljnges'wereiiiade based on what the -lndustry consider'ed 'reasonable an4 feasible to defend against rather than an-assessment of the terrorist tl~eat Iseu4'p.
report, by the Go vernment Ac-cowuntabilityOffice, stopped short of
- attg that? -the. connii~slon had 6
changesi"based solely on in-dtiitryvieivs."rdg i he bstudy,. requested by Repre-sentative.Christopher Shays, a Con-nkctcut Republican who is the chair-'
rr'n np..6hesubcommitl ee on national security of the House Government Reform :Commi~lee,.did not draw any broad conclusions about'the ac-tual level of security.,at the plants,
.except to note that drils had not been held at:most of the plants since the neW.requirements tool: effect on Oct.
29,. ?20G4.rThe :03 operable reactors
- ar spread'among 65 :;ltes, but as of the.en( of March, only 27' have had exercisesdinwhich attackers and de-
'feiders-used laser guns to -test pre-pa ednessj-according to the subcom-ii.Shv in-a statenment, said:
- These GAO. findings; paint a decid-
- diy mixed picture of nuclear power security.today.. Whill documented, progress has been made In strength-
-- enig reactor security standards, the I
ticlear
-Regulatory.. Commission
- seermi nable to fortify Itself against
'tlia erofan averly 'cozy rela-.
- tnth1Vwlthnthe-industry."
- f..-)3e added,."The.re:lulated should
-'noleven appear to be able tQ dictate tystandards to the regulator."
sokesman for the commisslon,
.laot h er, lsaed the agency had P.mde4siqg Iksy after the Sept.
"1 at-ktaicstto.ryew its Jules, Including LtecharacteristlsL.we attacking a.force; that the 'plants ni~atate Spe spared to defend against, called the:
- , design basis threat."
'-Making changes td the design ba-jis threat while simultaneously sollc-ttg feedback fronm the industry
'iiay~bave. contributed to'the im'pres-
- ,o,.~n omndue influence, Mr. Brenner
- >4; prpmine~nt critic of the nuclear stryt<DavldoLchbaum of the of Concerned Scientists, said inerview that'his group was Q)
~~~~.
, '...,x, THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL TUESDAY APRIL 4, 2006
- 's'An overly cozy is.. relationship' with industry is seen.
often not allowed to talk informally to commissioners, because they
- were the ultimate arbiters of what rules were Issued. But the industry appears to have done just that on se-
' curity, Mr. Lochbaum said, consult-
~ing with the commission, members
',i after they received recommenda-
-i; tionsfrom agency staff members.
. 4 "How did the commissioners de-
- ide to overrule their staff?" he
- asked.
.Mr.' Brenner, the commission
., spokesman, said he knew of no direct
- communicationbetween the industry and the commission members; the a-communication had been with' the t
commission's staff, he said.
T' Thecommissionhascutoffalmost s all public discussion on, security is-
. sues; the government accountability
__.report is one of the few independent looks at the status of the plants.
L The subcommittee will hear testi-
- mony on Tuesday afternoon from the no commission, the industry and inde-pendent security experts.
In its report, the auditing agency
- - singled out two changes that the
- *-commissioners had made to recom-
_mendations by the agency's staff
.. about the weapons that the attackers
'F would be assumed to carry.
. ma The staff expanded the list of
- -. 4weapons that plants would have to
- ',-defend against, but the commission
,q tdeleted two of them. While the G.A.O.
- did. not specify the two, people in-0s volved in the process said they were rocket-propelled
- grenades, which
,." are common around the world, and 50-callber sniper rifles, which can be bought legally in the United States.