Markey asks NRC: Why the secrecy?
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today released a redacted letter sent to Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Greg Jaczko requesting information on a recently completed investigation of a security violation at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, operated by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. The original letter was sent in response to a recent investigation completed in fall 2010 that found that security at Pilgrim was deficient.
 
“For this particular violation, NRC has made a preliminary finding of at least ‘low to moderate’ security significance; however, had this deficiency been exploited by terrorists, the potential consequences could have been neither low nor moderate,” wrote Markey in the letter to Chairman Jaczko.
 
The NRC today issued a final notification that there was a violation of an NRC Security Regulation but has not yet announced the consequences of this violation. Additionally, the NRC has not made the details of this incident public, even though it categorized the security risk as “low to moderate” and maintains that Entergy remedied all deficiencies.
 
“I have been informed that Entergy has taken steps to remedy the identified weaknesses in its processes,” wrote Markey in the letter. “If the reactor is now safe and secure, why has the NRC determined that it is still evidently too dangerous to tell the public what happened?” he added in separate comments.
 
The redacted letter can be found HERE.
 
“I question whether NRC is hiding embarrassing disclosures of a licensee’s security violation behind the cloak of homeland security,” said Rep. Markey in separate comments. “This kind of obfuscation is simply unacceptable. The public has a right to know exactly what happened now that the problems are solved.”
 
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