Security

December 7, 2009

By MATTHEW L. WALD

WASHINGTON — After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress passed a law instructing the federal government to help states build bigger stocks of a simple, cheap drug to protect people near nuclear power plants in the event of an accident or terrorist attack.

But the 2002 law left a legal loophole allowing the White House to forgo distribution if officials found that there was a better way to prevent cancer than administering the thyroid drug, potassium iodide. And after years of delays, the Bush administration dropped the plan in 2007, saying evacuations would be a better alternative.

September 11, 2009

NEW NRC GUIDELINES ARE FIRST STEP 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued guidelines today making effective a section of the Atomic Energy Act that authorizes the NRC to allow the licensees and certificate holders of NRC-regulated facilities to apply for permission for their security personnel to possess and use certain “enhanced weapons.” These weapons are machineguns, short-barreled shotguns or short-barreled rifles. These guidelines have been approved by the U.S. Attorney General as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Previously, with limited exceptions, only federal, state or local law enforcement could lawfully possess machineguns.

 August 19, 2009

Changed F.B.I. Agents’ Role Shown When Radioactive Material Went Missing

By ERIC SCHMITT

NORWALK, Calif. — The report last month was chilling: a 55-gallon drum of radioactive material had gone missing during shipment from North Carolina to California. Even worse, the person who signed for the cargo was not an employee of the company that ordered the load.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation here ramped up, consulting health officials, questioning radiation specialists and tracking down the trucker who dropped off the material, which could be used in a radioactive-bomb attack. Three hours later, the shipper found the drum — still sitting on a loading dock 20 miles from its destination in the Los Angeles area — having confused it with a similar shipment sent to a different company on the same day.

For an F.B.I. team here that vets tips and threats about possible terrorist activity, it was yet another false alarm in a job largely defined by hoaxes and bogus leads that must still be run to ground.

“A lot of time we are chasing shadows,” said Lee Ann Bernardino, a 20-year F.B.I. special agent who handled the case, “but it’s better to do that than find out later you let something get by.”

A watchdog group thinks satellite images could pose a risk, but the nuclear plant says no security measures are compromised.

Monday, June 08, 2009

BY MONICA VON DOBENECK mdobeneck@patriot-news.com

Visitors at Three Mile Island are asked not to photograph guard towers, vehicle barriers and other security measures. Yet these items are easily seen on the Internet through such sites as Microsoft's maps.live.com, now bing.com/maps.

Scott Portzline, a consultant for the watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert, thinks this is a security problem.

He has monitored sites such as Google Earth, which bring satellite images to home computers, for several years. Recently, he said, the level of detail has increased.

 WASHINGTON -- A security consultant with a citizen watchdog group claims that a list containing sensitive nuclear facilities' information that was inadvertently leaked to the Internet could provide terrorists with the tools needed to formulate a plan to attack a commercial nuclear plant.

 Three Mile Island Alert Security Consultant Scott Portzline recently directed a statement of

concern to the Secretary of Homeland Security: 

Dear Secretary Napolitano, 

There now exists a very serious compromise of security at our nation’s 

nuclear power plants. Due to the very high quality of satellite images, terrorists 

By P.J. Reilly

Staff Writer, Lancaster Newspapers

State, county and municipal officials are making preparations now for the "monumental" journey of two gigantic, 510-ton steam generators, which will travel the length of Lancaster County as they move from Maryland to Three Mile Island.

To accommodate the generators, which are 70 feet long and 13 feet tall, temporary bridge bypasses must be built, overhead utility wires, trees and traffic signals must either be moved or removed and roads must be closed to all traffic.

"It will be an event unlike anything we've seen in my lifetime, as far as moving something goes," said Barry Smith, Manor Township's manager. "I've seen them move houses, and I thought that was pretty cool.

"But this apparently is going to be staggering."