NRC Publishes Annual Security Inspection Report To Congress

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made available to the public an unclassified version of an annual report to Congress outlining the previous year’s security inspection program. The report covers the security inspection program, including force-on-force exercises, for commercial power reactors and certain fuel cycle facilities for calendar year 2007.

According to the report, required under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the NRC conducted 199 security inspections at commercial power reactors, of which 22 were force-on-force inspections. These 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 199 security inspections yielded 122 findings from these reviews, of which 117 were of very low security significance and five were of low to moderate security significance. The results of the security inspections conducted at Category I fuel cycle facilities are discussed in the Safeguards Information version of this report.

Under the security inspection program, 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.

“The NRC is committed to protecting the public health and safety, promoting the common defense and security, and protecting the environment. Conducting force-on-force exercises and implementing the security inspection program are just two of a number of regulatory oversight activities the NRC performs to ensure the secure use and management of radioactive materials by the commercial nuclear industry,” said NRC Chairman Dale E. Klein.

The report can be found on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/congress-docs/correspondence/2008/.

U.S. National Regulatory Commission