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NRC Grants Indian Point Security Workers Permission To Use Weapons

BUCHANAN, N.Y. -- Security workers at the Indian Point power plant in Buchanan will be allowed to carry certain weapons and other protective devices after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission overrode local, state, and federal laws restricting their use.

Security personnel at Indian Point in Buchanan will be allowed to carry certain firearms and other devices after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted pre-emptive authority to nuclear facilities in New York and California.

Security personnel at Indian Point in Buchanan will be allowed to carry certain firearms and other devices after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted pre-emptive authority to nuclear facilities in New York and California.

Photo Credit: File photo

The NRC has granted “pre-emption authority” to nuclear facilities in New York and California.

Besides Indian Point, which is run by Entergy, the New York facilities affected are: James A. FitzPatrick in Oswego, Nine Mile Point in Scriba, and R.E. Ginna in Ontario. The affected facilities in California are: the San Onofre in Pendleton and Diablo Canyon in Avila Beach, as well as their dry cask spent fuel storage facilities.

According to the NRC, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 gave it the authority to permit security forces at NRC-licensed facilities to possess and use certain firearms, ammunition and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices in the performance of their official duties regardless of local, state or federal laws.

This “pre-emption authority” became effective with the NRC’s 2009 publication of guidelines on the use of firearms at NRC-licensed facilities, which were approved by the Attorney General.

Pre-emption authority is granted, the NRC said, through orders and license amendments.

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