http://www.boston.com/news/daily/15/attacks_nuclear.htm

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Web site shut down for overhaul

By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press, 10/15/01

WASHINGTON -- Worried it might help terrorists, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is overhauling its Web site, removing some details about the nation's 103 nuclear reactors, agency officials said.

The Web site has been out of commission since Friday and a spokeswoman said Monday it probably won't be available for another few days -- and then with less information.

"We took it down to make sure to take off anything that might be of use to an evildoer, a terrorist," said NRC spokeswoman Sue Gagner. "We hope for it to be back up in a few days."

Among the items to be removed from the Web site are the specific longitude and latitude locations of the nuclear power plants, she said. It's uncertain whether more general information about their location will be omitted.

Other things on the Web site being closely scrutinized are maps of the plants, cross-section sketches of reactor vessels and other design details and daily plant status reports. No final decision has been made on many of these items.

"Everything is being looked at," said Gagner.

In a letter Monday, U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., asked the NRC for more details about the move. Markey asked whether the site improperly released classified or confidential information on its Web site, and if so, for how long.

Markey, a senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees both the nuclear power industry and the Internet, also asked for a list of materials being removed from the Web site. He called on the NRC not to remove unclassified information, particularly information used to set wholesale power prices, unless it believes the data would pose a danger in the wrong hands.

The nuclear power plants -- 103 reactors at 64 sites in 31 states -- have been under heightened alert since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The governors of New Jersey and New York have dispatched National Guard troops to reactors in their states. And the U.S. Coast Guard has established "security zones" to protect five nuclear power plants located on Lake Erie and Lake Michigan.

No ships are authorized to transit through or anchor within the zones without advanced permission. The plants are the Perry and Davis Besse reactors in Ohio, the Kewaunee and Point Beach reactors in Wisconsin and the Enrico Fermi reactor in Michigan.

Mitchell Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry trade organization, said the group has had "ongoing discussions" with the NRC on security and about the contents of the NRC Web site.

The institute's own Web site provides an "interactive map" giving the general location of nuclear reactors in each state, including the names of the closest community.

"It doesn't give an exact grid location. There are no specific directions," said Singer, adding that he was not aware of discussions to remove any information from it.

At a hearing last week, Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, raised concern about the longitude and latitude location of nuclear power plants being readily available on the NRC Web site.

Detailed maps showing locations of nuclear power plants have disappeared "pending the outcome of a policy review" from the Web site belonging to the International Nuclear Safety Center, operated by the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory.

Some nuclear industry watchdog groups expressed concern that the NRC might go too far in taking valuable information about the performance of nuclear power plants, including daily plant status reports, out of the public domain.

"This is information that has been in the public realm for years and years," said Tom Clements of the Nuclear Control Institute, a Washington-based advocacy group. "It's useful for oversight."

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001