Chairman Jaczko made the following remarks at the beginning and end of an open meeting at which the NRC staff discussed security issues:
– Edited by Linton Levy –
Opening Remarks
Good morning, the Commission meets today to receive its annual program briefing from the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR). NSIR’s program responsibilities are vital to the safety of our nuclear facilities. These responsibilities include security oversight of all NRC-regulated facilities, the development of emergency preparedness policies, and the coordination of our response to security incidents with law enforcement, intelligence, and other regulatory agencies.
In order to fulfill its security mission, the NRC has worked actively in recent years to tailor its policies to the potential threats facing our licensees. New security requirements instituted since the 9/11 attacks include: increasing the number of security forces onsite, requiring greater training and qualifications for those personnel, strengthening the design basis threat, enhancing force-on-force exercises, increasing cyber security protections, and integrating response training with federal, state, and local agencies. NRC also made significant improvements to its incident response and emergency preparedness programs, and the agency is working on finalizing a proposed rulemaking for emergency preparedness.
These efforts reflect how seriously the agency takes its security incident response and emergency preparedness missions, the hard work and expertise of the NSIR staff and stakeholders in developing these policies, and the diligence of the licensees in meeting their new responsibilities in these areas. I also would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of my colleagues on these fronts. Commissioner Svinicki has helped keep the Commission focused on the important implementation details and the development of the cyber security program. The Commission has also benefited from Commissioner Klein’s focus on incident response exercises and his work to strengthen integrated response efforts.
Before I turn to my fellow Commissioners for their statements, I would like to note that, over the past couple of years, the Commission has been able to focus greater attention on codifying many of the past orders issued in the wake of 9/11. The rulemaking process provides a valuable opportunity for the Commission to clarify and strengthen regulations based on past experience. Today’s briefing is an important part of this process.
Although we have made significant security gains in recent years, we cannot allow those successes to lull us into a false sense of complacency. The potential threats that our licensed facilities face are simply too real and evolve too quickly to let our guard down. I look forward to hearing the update from the staff on the status and progress of the important programs under their supervision. Would any of the other Commissioners care to make opening comments?
Closing Remarks
I would like to thank the staff for their informative presentations today. We all appreciate your work on these critical programs, and look forward to working with you as the Commission considers ways to improve security at our licensed facilities. Thank you all again for a productive meeting. The meeting is adjourned.