Regulators Release Annual Security Inspection Report Of US N-Plants
Written by NucNet
Thursday, 17 July 2008
17 Jul (NucNet): Out of 199 security inspections conducted by
regulators at US nuclear power plants in 2007 five were found to be of
low to moderate security significance, according to a new report.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) made public an unclassified version of its annual security inspection report to the US Congress this month. The report covers the security inspection programme, including 'force-on-force' exercises, for commercial power reactors and certain fuel cycle facilities.
Force-on-force inspections use "a well-trained mock adversary force to test a facility's ability to respond to the level of threat the facility is required to defend against", the NRC said. Twenty-two such inspections were among the 199 conducted last year.
Reviews of the 199 inspections resulted in 122 findings of which 117 were of very low security significance and five were of low to moderate security significance, the report shows.
Under the security inspection programme, licensees are expected to promptly fix or put compensatory measures in place if any potentially significant deficiencies are identified in the protective strategy of a plant.
