[NukeNet] AZ Republic newspaper: Detained worker: Had no idea pipe bomb was in truck

[theroyprocess at cox.net]

www.azcentral.com 
Palo Verde nuclear plant at a glance 
Facts on Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the nation's largest nuclear plant complex:

. Location: Wintersburg, about 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix.

. Design: Uranium-fueled, steam-electric nuclear plant using a pressurized water reactor.

. Capacity: 3,739 megawatts from three 1,270-MW units. Provides enough power for approximately 4 million homes.

. Construction: Began in 1976, first unit online in 1986. Third and final unit running in 1988.

. Cost: $5.9 billion for construction and startup testing.

. Owners: Arizona Public Service, Salt River Project, El Paso Electric Co., Southern California Edison, Public Service Co. of New Mexico, Southern California Public Power Authority and Los Angeles Department of Water & Power.

Source: Salt River Project 
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  http://www.azcentral.com/community/swvalley/articles/1102paloverdebreach02-ON.html 
Detained worker: Had no idea pipe bomb was in truck
Ryan Randazzo and Allison Denny
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 2, 2007 05:00 PM 

A 61-year-old man said he was unaware of a pipe bomb in his pickup bed Friday that triggered a lockdown at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station when he tried to pass security, officials said.

>From about 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. , no one was allowed on or off the nation's largest power plant as security and law enforcement officers investigated and searched for more explosives at the site about 50 miles west of Phoenix.

Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies searched the Litchfield Park apartment of the West Valley man, but would not say what they found. 
      
     
     


Armed guards searching the contract worker's vehicle found the device at a checkpoint at least a third of a mile from the nuclear reactors, officials said, adding that they don't believe the plant or public were at risk. 

The metal device was about five inches long and an inch and a half in diameter, containing an explosive used in commercial fireworks, APS Chief Nuclear Officer Randy Edington said.

"If contained right, it appears it would have done some damage in about a 20-foot radius to people and equipment," Edington said. 

Roger W. Hurd of South Carolina was cooperating with officers after the device was found in his maroon Ford, and led them to his Litchfield Park apartment so officers could search it, said Capt. Paul Chagolla, a sheriff's spokesman. 

The incident does not appear to be a terrorism act, he said. "No nexus with terrorism is in our investigation at this point," Chagolla said. 

Hurd said he was unaware of the pipe bomb, Chagolla said. 

The plant locked down the estimated 3,600 workers at about 7 a.m. when the guards found the suspicious device that the bomb squad later confirmed contained explosive material. 

"This is not a threat to the public," said Jim McDonald, a spokesman for plant operator Arizona Public Service Co. "If it had the potential to be, the security guards stopped it."

Security guards working for the utility armed with automatic weapons check identification and search under the hood of vehicles entering the plant. Several other security checks protect the reactors, including X-ray machines, devices that "sniff" individuals for explosives, and heavy turnstiles with armed guards that require special identification to open. 

And the three containment domes over the reactors are made of 4-foot thick concrete designed to withstand a commercial airplane crash.

The man being questioned normally drives a motorcycle to work, but with the cooling temperatures decided to drive a truck, Chagolla said. It's not clear whether Hurd owns the truck, authorities said.

The event is believed to be the first time the plant has been locked down, said APS spokesman Mark Fallon, who has been involved with the facility for more than 27 years. The facility began making electricity in 1986.

Explosives, firearms, alcohol and drugs are prohibited from the site. 

The plant has hundreds of contract workers on site helping with upgrades to one of the three nuclear reactors. Hurd is a long-term contractor who has security clearance to access the plant without an escort, Fallon said. 

"A contract employee here gets the same sort of briefings, training and background screening that an APS employee would get," Fallon said.

McDonald said the screening includes a FBI-style background check. 

Utility executives said the event, while startling, reveals the effectiveness of security at the facility. 

Palo Verde is currently under the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's microscope for safety problems. Officials expect it will take more than a year or two to get out of so-called Category 4 status, which has included having 20 inspectors at the facility in October.

A NRC spokesman said the agency will review how APS handled the lockdown.

"From what we have seen so far, it would appear the security force was attentive and vigilant, and appropriately identified a potential problem and took the correct action," spokesman Victor Dricks said. 

Palo Verde declared an "unusual event," the lowest of four emergency categories a nuclear plant can call. Dricks said such events occur "every few days" among the nation's 104 nuclear plants, but not because of credible threats.

Edington said he did not think the incident would hurt the plant's NRC standing because the response was appropriate.

"Everything worked the way it should have worked," Edington said. "The guards found it at the very first of our checks."

The lockdown took longer than usual because the plant was thoroughly searched from the inside out for other devices, a job made more difficult by the extra workers and equipment working on plant repairs, Edington said.

Two elementary schools and a high school in the area were locked down briefly when a plant employee notified the district at about 8 a.m., district Superintendent Robin Berry said. The notice was not an official lockdown alert from law enforcement or the power plant, but Berry decided to close up the schools as a precaution when the parent called, she said.

McDonald said that employees locked down in the facility are allowed to contact friends and family outside the plant, and that it did not violate security procedures.

The incident highlights how interwoven the facility is into the fabric of the towns of Tonopah and Wintersburg, where many residents either work at the plant or are related to someone who does. 

Annette Turner, a Tonopah resident who worked at Palo Verde for six years and whose mother has worked there for 25, said the emergency didn't rattle her sense of security. "I feel very, very safe here," Turner said. 





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