U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION: NRC Publishes Annual Report to Congress on Nuclear Security Inspections

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following announcement on July 6.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made publicly available an unclassified version of its annual report to Congress detailing the previous year’s security inspection program.

The report, which is required under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, covers the NRC’s security inspection program, including force-on-force exercises for commercial nuclear power reactors and Category I fuel cycle facilities for calendar year 2017. It also provides information regarding the overall security and safeguards performance of the commercial nuclear power industry and Category I fuel cycle facilities to ensure that Congress and the public are informed of the NRC’s efforts to oversee the protection of the nation’s civilian nuclear power infrastructure and strategic special nuclear material. 

In 2017, the NRC conducted 230 security inspections at commercial nuclear power plants and Category I fuel cycle facilities. Those included 19 force-on-force inspections, involving simulated attacks on the facilities to test the effectiveness of a licensee’s physical protection program. The NRC’s security inspection program and publicly available results of the inspections are addressed in the report. When NRC inspectors identify a security finding during an inspection, they ensure the licensee implements appropriate compensatory measures to correct the situation. Details of security findings are considered sensitive and not released to the public.

Original source can be found here.