Nuclear security training criticized

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Training for the Savannah River Site's guards has been modified in the areas of shotgun training, rappelling and defensive tactics, the report said. In addition, "vehicle assaults" were also excluded or modified.

"We have not reduced our security force training," said Jim Gusti, a Department of Energy spokesman at SRS. "We have very active security training at the site."

Gusti said the SRS modifications were enhancements and additions to the program. SRS was cited for eliminating shotgun training in the report, but Gusti said the change was made because shotguns are no longer used by guards.

The 21-page report did not give further details on what training changes were made at which sites. Security details for nuclear facilities are typically not discussed by government officials.

The report comes as plutonium is stockpiled at South Carolina's Savannah River Site ahead of the construction of two new plants. Plutonium is the fuel for nuclear bombs.

One of the plants will make new triggers for nuclear bombs, the other will convert plutonium to fuel that can be used in nuclear reactors.

At the Savannah River Site, security is provided by Wackenhut Services, a company based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Across the 12 facilities studied by Gregory Friedman, the inspector general, the government found:

* Each of the sites has eliminated or substantially modified two or more blocks of instruction. One site, not named, cut 40 percent of the required 320 hours of basic security police officer training;

* None of the sites include instruction in rappelling. That change happened after a death during training in 1995;

* Only the Hanford, Wash. site conducted basic training on a shotgun; and,

* Seven of the sites modified the curriculum by reducing the intensity or delivery method for "critical skills" such as handcuffing, hand-to-hand combat and vehicle assaults.

"Most tactical skills can only be learned by repetitive practice in an appropriately realistic setting," the report reads. "Anything less may rob the trainee of the levels of force, panic and confusion that are usually present during an actual attack...."

The overall criticism was that the Department of Energy didn't oversee or approve of changes to the curriculum and some training was cut because of safety concerns. The report recommends the government review whether the entire curriculum should be modified and clearly define when nuclear sites need Washington's approval for changing training.

In response, Glenn Podonsky, director of the office of independent oversight for the department, said he "generally agreed with the findings" in the report.

Jason Zacher covers the environment and natural resources. He can be reached at 298-4272.