Published: January 10th, 2013 at 7:59 am ET
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Title: Enhanced firepower sought to fend off ‘radiological sabotage’ at nuclear sites
Source: The Hill
Author: Ben Goad
Date: Jan 9, 2013
h/t RadChick
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving forward with plans to outfit security guards protecting spent fuel storage sites at power plants with machine guns and other high-capacity weapons.
A supplemental proposed rule to be published Thursday in the Federal Register amends a 2011 regulation giving personnel at the sites “an expanded arsenal of weapons, including machine guns and semi-automatic, large capacity, assault weapons.” [...]
“The proposed action could reduce the risk that public health will be affected by radiological releases because of the increased likelihood of a successful repulsion of an attack,” the agency contends in the proposal. [...]
See also: Security Lieutenant: Workers encouraged to bring movies and video games to NYC-area nuclear plant -- Terrorists win over half the time during drills -- Attack "inevitable"
Published: January 10th, 2013 at 7:59 am ET
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sending...
My question would be why didn't they already have such weapons and just what were they planning on defending these facilities with prior to this? Even after 911 they did not add this level of defense? What were they waiting for? Unbelievable that these facilities have been sitting there so under-protected. We have been damm lucky that we haven't had an incident at one of these facilities. The NRC gets and F!
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ea45 sez: "My question would be why didn't they already have such weapons "
SP: Bingo! You hit the nail on the head. +311
They are just aimless little naked apes playing with Dr. Frankenstein's nightmare creations.
There is nothing but insanity in continuing the charade that these cancer-dealing death machines are benefitting mankind. They never did and they never will.
These death machines can be replaced and someday they will when a new generation of naked apes put on some clothes and start acting like stewards of nature instead of crapping poison on their homes and crops.
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They do have them. They will order tens of thousands more, then deliver them to other agencies. Does the IRS really need tens of thousands of sawed off shotguns, millions of rounds of ammo? No. The order comes from one department budget and the product gets shipped elsewhere.
Next.
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they're just trying to make themselves nun proof.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/29/us-usa-nuclear-gaf-idUSBRE88S0F320120929
'The government's "Fort Knox" of weapons-grade uranium storage has ended a contract with a unit of an international security firm two months after an 82-year-old nun and other nuclear activists broke into the site.'
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It's not such a ridiculous thought. What if a nuclear facility was stormed by, say, 300 well-armed 82-year-old nuns? Or what if nuns started using well-timed evasive maneuvers with waves of armored scooters? Good luck, 'unit of an international security firm'.
"The proposed action could reduce the risk that public health will be affected by radiological releases because of the increased likelihood of a successful repulsion of an attack…"
And astronomically increase the likelihood of the next NRC-approved knuckle-dragging mercenary clowns to put a few bullets through the reactor piping or electrical (in order to repel the nuns).
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"nun proof" LOL
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No need for machine guns or police of any kind needed to harvest the ubiquitous energy of the sun.
Please compare these two stories:
Story one – Where armed police drive unarmed peaceful protesters into the sea for daring to protest nuclear
http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/10/13778106-india-nuclear-protesters-wade-into-sea-to-escape-police-charge?lite
Story two – Where India's rural poor achieve independence from the grid
http://technorati.com/lifestyle/green/article/rural-india-goes-solar/
Nuclear is morally indefensible. If Ghandi were alive today he would lead the charge against it
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"Assuming all eligible sites took advantage, the total cost of the program would be between $32 million and $41.6 million, with the nuclear industry bearing most of the expense, according to the commission."
<<<
Why don't they just put that money into safer dry cask storage for the fuel? Then the spent fuel would pose less of a threat, not only in the event of a terrorist attack, but also in the event of reactor accidents, earthquakes, and extended loss of onsite power.
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Machine guns won't help with those latter situations, but dry casks certainly would.
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@lam335
You are correct. Notice that the arms industry wins again. Does anyone notice that we don't tell them what to do anymore, they tell us? We are a "free" nation and have lots of "democracy." Oh yeah.
If we don't use dry cask storage of nuclear waste at all our npps immediately we are inviting terrorists. This costs money and we have already spent ourselves bankrupt on a credit card. Does anyone tell me that they are seeing the government or the NRC react to this problem? They are protecting it, not cleaning it up.
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Bring the troops home!
Surround the nuke plants!
Make big no-fly zones!
Confiscate pants!
Shave everyones head!
Outlaw tinfoil hats!
Leash up a herd
of land-mine sniffing rats!
Launch the drone birds!
Dry-cask Bureaucrats!
Re-license nuke plants
'til they fall into rust,
keep profits fat
with enforcement or bust!
Absurd, I know.
So are nukes.
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One shot from a lone wolf…that's all it would take. One easily acquired RPG into a SFP and it's all over. 25, 50, a 100 security guards with machine guns would never see it coming until it was too late.
The US' solution to every threat is more guns and bombs…what lunacy!
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"Assuming all eligible sites took advantage, the total cost of the program would be between $32 million and $41.6 million, with the nuclear industry bearing most of the expense, according to the commission."
No it will be passed on to the end consumer of the electrical power. An increase in the Watt/Hr fees for infrastructure upgrades. It's always the end consumer who eats these costs. The cost of building, maintaining, upgrading and eventually we pay with our lives when the plants start giving off radiation.
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The right to bare arms in the USA tell me was the original purpose to protect you from invasion or was it to over throw the government if they did not represent the people,, I feel that the amendment has been distorted.
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The original purpose was BOTH.
"We should not forget that the spark which ignited the American Revolution was caused by the British attempt to confiscate the firearms of the colonists." – Patrick Henry
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That is true! And so-called "Wall Street" was so afraid of mob-rule that they the Bankers and Money-makers of that time built their own "Wall" to keep the very-very early American Occupiers – out! lol. I don't usually find myself agreeing with Alex Jones, but… he does have a tiny shred of truth in what he speaks. I don't believe that crazy people need access to huge magazines… but I don't want armed teachers in any kindergarden or first or second grade or even high school or college-level school, but — I do think that revolutionaries in every period of history need to know where the local armory is…and I do think that every Gun Club and Firing Range should have certain heavier-equipment that people could rent and/or train on… just so they know how. (And can have fun safely).
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@PurpleRain, did you know that we made the Berlin Wall fall and removed our stalinistic, dogmatic and incapable government and system in East Germany in 1989 without a single shot being fired from either side?
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…. Those commie terrorist again!!!!
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s
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Make sure those machine guns have depleted uranium bullets to stop those commie terrorists in their armored vehicles…
Next thing will be huge security walls around the nukes draped in patriotic buntings and USA flags for freedom…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Nuclear insanity!!!
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That would be more in keeping with our culture here in the USA verses the pretty blue sky and clouds look that the Japanese had painted their nuclear plants with to blur into the surroundings.
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Oh.. we can't guard children..but they can guard reactors.
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Hacker hits on U.S. power and nuclear targets spiked in 2012
Hope the NRC is doing a better job protecting against cyber attacks…
http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/09/technology/security/infrastructure-cyberattacks/index.html?iid=Lead
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Machine guns are the best idea the nucleocrats ever came up with. If a situation arises a machine gun might help to open a valve which can't be opened otherwise or to shoot some holes in the roof to let the hydrogen escape. It might also be sensible to give out a gun and one bullet to every person living inside a 30-km radius around any nuclear power plant to unburden the health system. (Strong sarcasm intended)
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Hahahahahaha! (gee, it looks like I am copying ftlt but I am not)
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Laughing… Gosh I love reading all your comments here!
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All the guards are a joke, sort of like are border. Buy up all the East German wall stuff. Now put up hardened machine gun towers, with remote controlled Gatling guns, with shoot to kill orders, then you might slow them down.
If they really want to do damage to a GE Mark I or Mark II with the pool on the top floor, they can do it from mortar range.
BOOM!
Now if their leaders were smart, they would stay far away from these, if they go up with a 1,000+ fuel rods, and most do have lots more, all of the Northern Hemisphere would be a grave yard~them too!
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"…all of the Northern Hemisphere would be a grave yard~them too!"
Yes, that's where we are now, including the Southern Hemisphere. Any further accidents will only accelerate an already occurring ELE.
The Mayans (actually pre-Olmecs) were right, whether they knew it or not.
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My days on contract to SCE looking after a Generating Station, it was home-grown loons doing drive-by's. The unarmed contract guards actually caught more tresspassers, as they'd stay twice as far and ran twice as quick if they saw SCE coming for them…
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They're targets!
Yet another reason to never build a Nuclear Power plant.
A machine gun will not stop even a small plane from smashing into a spent fuel pool. They know that.
It was not in the initial safety design specs. (just guessing)
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What about guns for guarding the dams upstream from Nuclear Plants?
Oops, another loophole.
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That's funny, I can't remember any windmill sites requesting machine guns. Oh right that's because if you damage a windmill nothing bad happens, unlike the utter irreparable devastation of a nuclear disaster. Sigh
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Nothing bad? That depends… A windmill might fall on a nuclear reactor.
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Actually there has always been well-armed security forces at MOST NPP's which have been under heavy pressure to adapt to a changing mission that resulted from the NRC surprise inspections & drills at facilities in TN and SC showing the worst grades followed by most of the other 100+ domestic sites that are potential terrorist targets. The thing is that they (quietly)cite the reason for their inspections & drills as having been given a glimpse of how bad it gets when a NPP is attacked by nature,much less an intentional attack and spending money on added security instead of the much higher cost of revamping the facilities themselves or the best solution of removing NPP's altogether if they really want to "fix" the unrivaled threats the butt-ugly NPP's many known & recently discovered weaknesses pose!
If they're upgrading their arsenals I'm guessing they're wanting to trade in the H&K MP5's for the new MP7's and if they're smart,frangible ammo that penetrates clothing & tissue but disintegrates with little or no damage to hard surfaces and is stopped by even thin walls. Forget about tower-mounted gatling guns or even full-auto capability for the higher-powered rifles capable of penetrating steel,etc. as bullets rated for their armor penetrating capability probably don't mix well with things in NPP's!(?)A .50BMG cal. Barrett semi-auto,scoped rifle or equivalent in well-trained hands could take out the "scooters" from 2,000+yards!!LOL!
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Now as to the issue raised about the IRS buying a bunch of sawed-off shotguns & ammo?-I have a good take on that too as follows;
The BATF is a division of the IRS(both are Treasury Dept.) and both agencies are involved with high-risk warrant execution,raids and short-barreled shotguns equipped with a fairly recent innovation-a muzzle device that has a knurled,jagged ends to place against the locks,handles or hinges on the doors they need to breach and fire a special,ceramic slug that transfers the weapons energy to the point of impact and takes down most doors alone or in conjunction with battering rams,etc. After entry is made the weapon becomes an effective tool for maneuvering through hallways & doorways,etc.due to its short length and the lethality of 12 gauge shotgun ammunition can end a firefight quickly in the right hands. Any shotgun with a barrel length measured from breech to muzzle is shorter than 18 inches is illegal for civilian ownership and falls under the same federal laws regulating machine guns,silencers and certain "destructive devices" but can be legally owned by private citizens in some states after stringent requirements are met and oddly enough "a $200 "IRS" Tax Stamp is purchased for each NFA-registered weapon.(I say odd because the IRS keeps coming up?!) Back in the good old days when Thompson submachineguns could be bought by anyone with a Sears or JC Pennys catalog they figured a $200 tax would discourage people!LOL…..
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One more thing before I take my little 6 lb. long-haired Chihuahua "Ted" out for a walk in my gang-infested,high-crime neighborhood on the southwest edge of Chicago city limits. I'd been discreetly carrying a high-cap .45acp pistol with two extra 14 rd mags following a rash of beatings,stabbings & shooting incidents with a bunch of dead teens & a few innocent bystanders and the police who I'm on good terms with show up AFTER things happen. I don't blame them though-they aren't mind readers who can show up ahead of some idiot(s) making some crap decision to harm others,so I felt comfort in the double-stack 1911A1 tucked under my jacket. That "confidence" was well-founded considering the next chapter of my closing comments(lol)~I was coming into the vestibule of our old 6-unit apt. bldg. and the half-dozen 14-18 yr. old neighbor kids were passing around a bottle of cooking wine from someones moms kitchen and I'd known most of them since I've lived in this building 6 years now & didn't think they were "bad" kids then & still don't after what happened next!~while I untangled the dogs leash the youngster who'd helped me previously when my wife had a seizure on the sidewalk spotted my weapon and the other kids commented "cool"-before I got up the stairs-then 5 of the 6 displayed NICE S&W,Glocks,Sig Sauer's and a Colt!!(?)A gun ban would mean 5 of the 6 guns I saw that day will still be in the same hands-except MINE!!(?)
**
I think that's BULLSHIT!!!
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Wow. Very interesting account. Sorta 'educational' even.
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A Government that is buying up as much ammo as they can, and calling for machine guns at taxpayer's expense to protect their misguided money making scams, (Nuke Plants), while attempting to take the same away from American citizens is proving it's goal of becoming a 'Dick-Tator-Ship'.
Normal historical progression, and always detrimental to it's own citizenship. Hypocrisy in the extreme.
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