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Democrat Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, has pushed proposals to enhance security, only to be defeated in the face of industry opposition. One bill would have required plants to defend themselves against a 9/11-size enemy force, perhaps aided by air-and-water-based attacks. Another would have created a federal Nuclear Security Force and a 20-member mock terrorist team to test the plants regularly, The NRC and industry representatives argued against such a federalized force on the ground that the close cooperation between plant operators and guards would be lost if federal employees were protecting the plants. "That...
...Government Accountability Office, to find out why the revised DBT is so small. Shays, who chairs the House Reform Committee's panel on national security and emerging threats, told TIME he believes the DBT is "artificially low" because of economic pressures. "Rather than asking what security do we need, plant operators are asking how much security can we afford," he said...
...nation's big nuclear power companies seem to be making enough money to hire more guards, who earn an average of $35,000 annually. Chicago-based Exelon Corp., for example, whose 17 reactors make it the largest nuclear-plant operator in the U.S., saw its power-generation unit triple its income in the first quarter of 2005 compared with first quarter 2004, from $102 million to $320 million. Operators may be worried about future profits, since the increasing move to deregulate electricity has forced most nuclear plants to compete with other electricity producers, all of whom are seeking to sell...
Even if the current security standards are sufficient, there is some question as to whether they will be properly enforced. Last year the NRC approved the NEI's request to hire the Wackenhut Corp. to test security at the nation's plants. Such exercises--suspended after 9/11, pending improvements--resumed last fall. Each plant is to be tested once every three years, which means the British-owned Wackenhut is running fake attacks twice a month...
...Wackenhut also provides security at about half the nation's nuclear reactors. "The very company that makes a living guarding nuclear power plants is also testing nuclear power plants' security," says Congressman Markey. "It's like a take-home exam." No one in the industry has forgotten that just before a mock attack against a DOE facility in 2003, Wackenhut "attackers" tipped off Wackenhut guards about the particulars of the drill. Under the new rules, NRC referees are supposed to pay close attention to ensure that Wackenhut's fake attackers aren't holding back when they launch a mock strike...