Oyster Creek Maintains Security Measures After Bin Laden Death

With concerns of possible retaliation following the death of Osama bin Laden, security measures across the nation have been enhanced and Oyster Creek Generating Station is prepared, said Suzanne D’Ambrosio, the spokesperson for Oyster Creek.

“Our security remains at a high state of vigilance and readiness to protect the plant,” D’Ambrosio said.

Although Oyster Creek could not release specific details on the security program, D’Ambrosio emphasized that the security workers are highly professional and alert.

“There’s no real fear in people locally regarding security,” Lacey Mayor Gary Quinn said.

Quinn said the nuclear plant had made major upgrades following Sept. 11 and there is currently enough security. He deemed the plant safe.

“I think we’re in good shape right now,” Quinn said.

Dennis Zannoni, the former Department of Environmental Protection's chief resident inspector for Oyster Creek, said the spent nuclear fuel creates a problem.

“Reasonable people with commonsense know that permanent spent fuel 100 feet above ground is vulnerable to anything,” Zannoni said.

Zannoni said a helicopter could land on the reactor with explosives causing the same result that Japan faces.

“They’re just blind, that’s all. And this is a very populated area; that makes them more guilty,” Zannoni said. “The NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) is the problem. If they did their job, Oyster Creek would not be operating.”

With the current circumstances, nothing will change, Zannoni said.

“That’s not going to change anything. They’re not going to do anything differently,” Zannoni said. “The security, no matter what they do, it’s not going to protect the spent fuel. They can add 1,000 people [to security] and it won’t make a difference."

The nuclear plant took the station’s reactor off line as of 8 a.m., Saturday April 3 for planned maintenance work.

The purpose of the maintenance is to prepare the plant for the high electricity demand of the upcoming summer months. It includes repairs to one of five recirculation pumps, which moves water through the reactor during power operations.

“In preparing for the summer, we will also take advantage of the plant outage to do minor repairs and modifications that can only be done when the reactor is off-line,” said Mike Massaro, Site Vice President for Oyster Creek Generating Station.

The plant came off line properly without any impact on aquatic life.

Oyster Creek, owned by Exelon Corporation, is the oldest operating nuclear plant in the country with a 636-megawatt boiling water reactor capable of running 600,000 homes.