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COPYRIGHT 2001 Business News Publishing Co.
The September 11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon brought renewed attention and uncertainty to the nation's energy sector at a time when its reliability and capacity were already being called into question.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation lost little time in issuing a terrorist threat advisory, and utilities were asked to maintain a heightened state of alert and implement security measures as well as to report suspicious activity or threats they receive to the FBI.
The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), likewise, advised all utilities to report any unusual events--physical and cyber.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was due to hand over to plant owners a program under which periodic counter-terrorism drills had been conducted for years but decided that the pilot program, Safeguards Performance Assessment, would not begin as planned.
"It's just too soon to determine whether changes in the policy or plans would be appropriate," NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Nuclear Plant Attacks Feared
Air attacks on nuclear facilities, a worst-case scenario, were foremost on many minds.
Many nuclear power security experts say there is little that can be done to shield a nuclear plant from a plane crash. A direct hit on a nuclear plant by a modern jumbo jet at high speed "could create a Chernobyl situation," a U.S. official who declined to be identified told the Associated Press.
The NRC, however, said that it...
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