Posted on 08/02/2007 4:43:21 AM PDT by radar101
SAN ONOFRE -- Southern California Edison has changed its security procedures for inspecting train cars that enter the San Onofre nuclear power plant after a sleeping illegal immigrant was accidentally carried onto the property, company officials said Wednesday.
Edison officials said that a man was found on the San Onofre property -- but not inside its "protected area" where its nuclear reactors and fuel reside -- just after three freight rail cars arrived inside the plant around 12:30 a.m. July 25.
The rail cars, on a spur of Southern California's main north-south rail line, carry freight inside the San Onofre grounds and pass by an area where Edison stores spent fuel: highly radioactive material that can no longer produce power.
The July 25 incident was described in a document obtained by the North County Times on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, plant officials downplayed the breach and said they were confident the unexpected visitor could not have made it through a tougher set of security checks in areas where nuclear materials are stored.
Officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday they had been notified about the incident and were confident in the plant's defenses.
The accidental intruder was discovered when Edison employees spotted him standing near one of the recently arrived freight cars, John Todd, director of security at San Onofre, said Wednesday.
"He was not wearing a security badge, so one of our people approached him," Todd said. "When he could not produce a badge, we took him into custody."
Todd said the man, who spoke only Spanish, seemed surprised to find himself at the nuclear plant, 18 miles north of Oceanside.
"He claimed he was hitching a ride from Oceanside to San Clemente and was sleeping in the car," Todd said.
Southern California's main north-south rail line passes between the nuclear plant and Interstate 5. The entry occurred on a small spur track that leaves the main line just north of the plant, running alongside a small access road just west of Old Pacific Highway.
Brian Katz, Edison's vice president of nuclear oversight and regulatory affairs, said that the freight cars stand about 12 feet above the ground and that Edison has used mirrors on poles to inspect the cars before they are allowed onto the property.
"We went around that car twice with the mirror," Katz said. "We have concluded that we cannot do mirror inspections anymore."
Both Katz and Todd said that Edison has changed its inspection procedures for rail cars at San Onofre in the wake of the incident. However, both also declined to specify how those procedures have changed, citing security concerns.
Edison officials have said for years that security at San Onofre is nearly impenetrable, citing layers of security that were added after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, designed to identify intruders and stop potential attacks.
Plant officials said Wednesday they reported the intrusion to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the agency responsible for law enforcement at the plant.
"It was their conclusion that this guy was not a threat to the site," Katz said.
Darrell Foxworth, an FBI spokesman in the bureau's San Diego office, confirmed that Wednesday. He said the incident "was not terrorist-related."
To understand security at San Onofre, imagine a bull's-eye with the plant's two domed nuclear reactors at the center. The reactors, generators and pools where highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel are stored are all within San Onofre's "protected area." The area is protected by armed guards, security fences, high-powered cameras and a host of other features that Edison does not discuss publicly.
Everything outside the protected area, all the way to the edge of San Onofre's property, is in a less-secure zone called the "owner controlled area." This zone includes warehouses where deliveries of supplies are made, training buildings and other structures.
Katz and Todd said that many outside vendors pass through the owner controlled area every day. But they must first be cleared by the plant's security department and issued identification. Their vehicles must also be inspected as they enter to make sure no prohibited items are on board.
Victor Dricks, a spokesman with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Wednesday that his office received a report from Edison following the accidental intrusion. He said that the agency examined the incident, and found no security concerns.
"There is nothing in the owner-controlled area that would be safety-related," Dricks said.
He said the regulatory commission is examining safety procedures at the plant, but has found no gaps.
Plant officials said that the train rider was turned over to the Border Patrol officers shortly after he was detained.
Matthew Johnson, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, said Wednesday that the man was in the country illegally and will be sent back to Mexico. He declined to say whether the man had a criminal record.
"We typically don't give out that information," Johnson said.
Katz said the train cars came to San Onofre to haul away material from demolition of the plant's Unit 1 reactor which is being decommissioned.
-- Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.
I very much object to this man being referred to as an “illegal alien”!
He’s an “undocumented nuclear engineer”.
So typically, the illegal aliens are protected once again.
Wouldn't want to interfere with the criminals' rights, would they?
I feel soooooo much safer knowing that our government is working so hard to protect us.....
To paraphrase El Presidente Bush, he was merely taking the train rides that Americans don’t take....LOL. Bush’s Homeland Security crony, Chertoff, is a joke who needs to resign for gross incompetence.
Ping.
ping
Just imagine if this snoozing illegal had been an Al-Queda agent.
Thanks for making us so secure, Chertoff, head of the Department of Homeland Insecurity!
"We went around that car twice with the mirror," Katz said. "We have concluded that we cannot do mirror inspections anymore."
I don't know if the reporting is bad or if I am missing something here. The freight cars stand about 12 feet above the ground and they need to use mirrors to do an inspection?
I suspect the car was a hopper car, which would be something like 12 feet above the ground. If the illegal was “riding the rods” the mirror inspection should have found him. Maybe he was actually in the car.
To be truthful, there is a heck of a lot of security around there. When the alert level is raised it looks like an armed camp with a tank at the gate, and armed California State Rangers at the beaches on both sides.
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