The National Nuclear Security Administration's Y-12 complex experienced another embarrassing security incident Sunday when two of its guards were involved in an accidental shooting.
The NNSA released few details, but the Knoxville News Sentinel confirmed that two guards were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries and released after an accidental firearm discharge. It is the second security-related incident in as many months at the site, after an unauthorized woman accidentally drove two miles into the complex in June after being waved inside with a line of employees.
The shooting at 12:15 a.m., Sunday, also happened exactly one year after protesters breached several layers of security and painted an anti-weapons message on a building that stores highly enriched uranium. The three trespassers, one an elderly nun, currently await sentencing. The incident brought about a raft of investigations and security improvements at the Oak Ridge, Tenn., site that the News Sentinel estimated cost more than $100 million. The NNSA also cut off its security contract with a subsidiary of G4S Government Solutions, formerly known as Wackenhut.