US government regulators tailored post-September 11 nuclear power security controls to suit the industry, the investigative arm of Congress said Tuesday. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sought changes in the security regimes at nuclear power plants, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The nuclear regulations required plants "to defend against a larger terrorist threat, including a larger number of attackers, a refined and expanded list of weapons and an increase in the maximum size of a vehicle bomb," said the GAO, which oversees government for Congress.
However, after consulting the nuclear industry, the commission backed off.
"The NRC staff made changes to some recommendations after obtaining feedback from stakeholders, including the nuclear industry, which objected to certain proposed changes such as the inclusion of certain weapons," the GAO said.
"GAO found that the process used to obtain stakeholder feedback created the appearance that the changes were made based on what the industry considered reasonable and feasible to defend against rather than an assessment of the terrorist threat itself.
"GAO recommends that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission improve its process for making changes … and evaluate and implement measures to further strengthen its force-on-force inspection program," the statement said.
