Columnist Benjamin Grove: Nuclear agency’s attempt to assure public is a flop

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Jan. 10, 2003 | 4:12 a.m.

IT'S NOT EASY being the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Since Sept. 11 the agency that licenses nuclear power plants and waste sites has been battered by criticism. As people demand to know if nuclear facilities are secure against terrorism, the agency has failed to answer.

Either the sites are not as secure as they could be -- or the sites are secure, and the Rockville, Md.-based agency is doing a terrible job of assuring people.

Consider:

But Nevada officials fear the NRC ultimately will apply the ruling to Yucca Mountain, where the Energy Department aims to construct a repository for 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive nuclear waste. Yucca foes howled that the NRC ruling was an outrageous contradiction. If the federal government is so concerned about homeland security, why was the NRC giving nuclear installations a pass?

Of course it should be noted that the corporations and government agencies that operate nuclear facilities will continue to take counterterrorism precautions at the sites, even if the NRC won't require terrorism tests as criteria for licensing.

But are they doing enough -- on their own -- to safeguard against an attack?

And will the Energy Department do enough -- on its own -- to design and construct a Yucca repository that is as secure as possible?

We don't know -- and that's the NRC's problem.

The NRC, the Energy Department and nuclear power plant operators need a lot more than better public relations. They need to adopt a whole new philosophy about sharing information with the post-Sept. 11 public. As it is, these colossal institutions keep under wraps absolutely everything that even remotely relates to security. They have cloaked themselves in a cocoon of secrecy and told the media that everything is fine.

Now the agency has alienated the public -- and its own employees -- to the point that it's mighty uncomfortable working in Rockville.

The powers that manage our nation's nuclear complex must do everything possible to secure nuclear sites. Then they should figure out a way to communicate what they've done, without disclosing legitimately classified information.

The NRC can start when a new chairman takes the helm in March (Chairman Richard Meserve is quitting, and who can blame him). The agency should treat the public like an important constituency and acknowledge that not everything is perfect at every plant and storage site. The agency needs to prove it can be open-minded about changes that would make installations safer.

The nuclear industry can start by opening plants to media tours, which were halted after Sept. 11.

And the Energy Department can start by answering some critical questions about terrorism risks at Yucca Mountain. For instance, the Energy Department, citing national security, has refused to release any part of one 112-page Yucca report titled "Identification of Aircraft Hazards."

But there are some questions the Energy Department could answer without jeopardizing public safety:

Sure, it would be irresponsible for the nation's nuclear complex managers to publicly answer some questions. But it is irresponsible for them to not answer others. They should emerge from their secret rooms and engage citizens in important conversations about nuclear security.