Nuke Plant Worker Stopped With Explosive
Arizona Nuclear Facility Put On Lockdown For 7 Hours; Officials Say No Threat To Public
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Photo
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, file photo. (AP)
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Guards stopped Roger William Hurd, 61, at the entrace to the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station when they spotted the bomb. He was detained about a half mile from the containment domes where the nuclear material is stored. Officials pulled his security clearances and placed the facility on lockdown.
"The guards were attentive and alert and took the appropriate action when they identified something suspicious," said Victor Dricks, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will review the incident.
Doug Walters, senior director of security for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's trade group, said Palo Verde's response was exactly as it should have been.
"We have a checkpoint for this reason," Walters said. "They were able to identify a suspicious item in the truck. I don't know what they could have done differently."
The Department of Homeland Security said there was no known terrorism link to the incident at Palo Verde. Hurd, of Goodyear, Ariz., told investigators he did not know how the bomb got in his truck and was released Friday afternoon.
Authorities described the device as a six-inch capped explosive made of galvanized pipe that contained suspicious residue. Tom Mangan, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said it was likely homemade.
"If this thing went off in the bed of the truck, it certainly would put a hole in it," Mangan said. "It was rather crude in construction, but it could certainly injure somebody."
Capt. Paul Chagolla with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said the pipe was not hidden. He said Hurd normally drove a motorcycle to work but was in a truck Friday because of the cool weather.
Sheriff's officials rendered the device safe.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said investigators searched Hurd's home but found nothing helpful. Hurd was not arrested, and Arpaio said he expects Hurd to help with the investigation.
Nobody answered the door at Hurd's apartment in Goodyear. Messages left by The Associated Press at numbers listed for Hurd in Arizona and Hartsville, S.C., were not returned as of late Friday night.
Hurd worked as a procurement engineer, responsible for evaluating equipment purchases for the plant, Palo Verde officials said.
He had access to protected areas but had not been in any such area since Aug. 21, said Randy Edington, the chief nuclear officer for plant operator Arizona Public Service Co.
Edington said Hurd would have had access to the reactors but officials did not know the last time he would have been near the reactors.
The incident was considered an "unusual event" - the lowest of four emergencies the plant can declare, said Jim Melfi, an inspector with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
There was no threat to the public and the station operated normally Friday, McDonald said.
McDonald wouldn't say which company employed Hurd. Like everyone who has access to the plant, Hurd submitted to a background check.
Workers also must pass through two security checkpoints to get inside one of the plant's three containment domes, which house the radioactive nuclear material. One of the checkpoints includes an automated system that sniffs workers for the presence of bomb-making materials, McDonald said.
Palo Verde, operated by Arizona Public Service Co., is the nation's largest nuclear power plant both in size and capacity. Located in Wintersburg about 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix, the plant supplies electricity to about 4 million customers in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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See all 51 CommentsAlmost sounds as good as the WMD arguement for war.
Now we should all support whatever measures they come up with to do whatever they want.
Of course, the security worked this time, but don''t you want to have more and more security measures because someone found what sounds embarrasingly like a sewer pipe? They really gave us nothing in the way of real information...it sounds like tabloid reporting.
Nukes are not safe in U.S.
IAEA must destroy all U.S nukes else ban the production.
Winner India
Rohit Bchachi
Yes, and that would be because the security sweep caught him before he performed a terrorist act and threatened public safety.
Pipe bomb. Nuclear power plant. It may not be the biggest threat to public safety (that honor goes to the Bush/Cheney administration) but threat it was, nonetheless.
- James Madison
"Those that give give up essential liberties for temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
- Abraham Lincoln
"We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and those who would exploit our fear for power and their own personal, selfish, cynical gain."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the ability to handle conflict through peaceful means."
- Ronald Reagan
"Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must...undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine
"Liberty, when it takes root, is a plant of rapid growth."
- George Washington
"Commerce with all nations. Alliances with none."
- Thomas Jefferson
"Wars are poor chisels for carving-out peaceful tomorrows."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
"Ron Paul does''nt represent your Father''s school of political thought. He represents your Founding Fathers."
- Me
====================
The convicted murderers (of Janet Chandler) were Wackenhut security guards? Gotta wonder; who watches the watchmen....
Posted by pakaal at 05:11 PM : Nov 02, 2007
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Asleep on the job:
They even notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but nothing changed. So the guard decided to use his cell phone and camera to get evidence.
They videotaped napping in March %u2026 still at it in June ... and getting more shuteye in August.
Wackenhut, which heads up security at 29 nuclear plants, wouldn''t agree to an interview.
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Smoke and mirrors to take our eyes of the other two stories:
(AP) Security officials at the nation''s largest nuclear power plant detained a contract worker with a small explosive device in the back of his pickup truck Friday, authorities said.
The worker was stopped and detained at the entrance of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, said U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Victor Dricks. Security officials then put the nuclear station on lockdown, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving the facility.
Authorities described the device as a small capped pipe that contained suspicious residue.
- Gandhi
There is simply no other politician like Ron Paul. He understands the ills of our nation and how to cure them. The Doctor is in!
- James Madison
"Those that give give up essential liberties for temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
- Abraham Lincoln
"We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and those who would exploit our fear for power and their own personal, selfish, cynical gain."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the ability to handle conflict through peaceful means."
- Ronald Reagan
"Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must...undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine
"Liberty, when it takes root, is a plant of rapid growth."
- George Washington
"Commerce with all nations. Alliances with none."
- Thomas Jefferson
"Wars are poor chisels for carving-out peaceful tomorrows."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
"Ron Paul doesn''t represent your Father''s school of political thought. He represents your Founding Fathers."
- Me
Iran so find out first what is going on in our own country. this bomb is a threat to us all . it does not matter that it could not set off a nuclear explosion or not it is not normal and should be treated with great scruitetony . my spelling bad but good sence in this case is being given.
'' ... one way to financial success is to aim for achieving up to 1/33 of a nights pay from at least 33 folk by contributing one''s wares to scores or hundreds or thousands folk each night and soliciting tips ... if rallied around each sick bed are five folk at any one time and a total of 165 folk in a night, then those folk are able to generate and share much song dance skit kit and props with accents and dances with jingles and arts and crafts and knicks and knacks etc etc etc to support the tips applied to that sick bed ... ''
'' ... all my friends blow trillions on baby raping nuclear biological chemical stealth ray warfare and they swear they''ve got it handled, now bend over and kiss the ground i walk on, or i''ll come over there and bend you over ... ''
'' ... if all folk had exactly the same amount of money all the time, then all would be infinitely rich and purchases would be free, and shortages would be built on demand instead of financial accumulation ... ''
'' ... if the folk are not growing too little food, then they are growing too much and poisoning others and need to be spanked, if they are not using too much resource or polluting too much, then they are using too little or polluting too little and need to be spanked, if there''s not too much war then, there is too little and folk need to be spanked ... spankings are forever ... now spank me p p l l e e a a s s e e ... ''
So you see polar opposites, and yet claim no difference? Interesting...
Pleasantly surprising that the "Al Qaeda is comin'' to getcha" warmongers aren''t already blaming this on Iran, or Castro, or Chavez.
Pleasantly surprising that the "Al Qaeda is comin'''' to getcha" warmongers aren''''t already blaming this on Iran, or Castro, or Chavez.
Posted by brianbwb at 09:20 AM : Nov 03, 2007
You are a paranoid schizo , can''t figure which one if you is saying this though. Help me out, are you from Cuba or Venezuala it would help me diagnose you for a treatment, waterboarding or tazing. I''ll send you both a bill for my services if you give me any back talk.
- James Madison
"Those that give give up essential liberties for temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
- Abraham Lincoln
"We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and those who would exploit our fear for power and their own personal, selfish, cynical gain."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the ability to handle conflict through peaceful means."
- Ronald Reagan
"Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must...undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine
"Liberty, when it takes root, is a plant of rapid growth."
- George Washington
"Commerce with all nations. Alliances with none."
- Thomas Jefferson
"Wars are poor chisels for carving-out peaceful tomorrows."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
"Ron Paul doesn''t represent your Father''s school of political thought. He represents your Founding Fathers."
- Me
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