ML040480179
| ML040480179 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Indian Point  |
| Issue date: | 07/16/2003 |
| From: | Brian Holian NRC Region 1 |
| To: | Blough A, Bill Dean, John Jolicoeur, Lanning W, Milano P, Diane Screnci, Neil Sheehan, Tracy G, Weber M, Weinstein E, Jason White, Wiggins J NRC/EDO, Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, Office of Public Affairs, NRC Region 1 |
| References | |
| FOIA/PA-2004-0042 | |
| Download: ML040480179 (10) | |
Text
UJohn Joicoeur-Entergy Press conference.
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\\Brian Holi gL
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ARB; DP; Eric Weinstein; Glenn Tracy; HJM1; John Jolicoeur; John White; JTW1; Michael Weber, eli Sheehan; Patriek Milano; WDL; William Dean -EO Date:
0)fi 7/1603 4:51PM
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Subject:
Entergy Press conference.
(See DPS emall...from Jim Steets perspective. The Info In this email is from discussions with EP director, Slobodien, and Clinton Staffer)
The press conference went for about an hour today.
A VP for Entergy (Kneubel) discussed the force on force exercise. Entergy had the NRC fact sheet In their handout.
The MILES equipment was demonstrated.
Giuliani discussed drills and exercises - the importance of doing what can be done...
About 30 press from print, radio and TV. NYTimes included.
Lowey and Clinton offices were the only congressional staffs with representatives there.
Witherspoon reportedly asked a question regarding the low number of adversaries....Other questions Included how the adversaries make their choices, who approves, etc. Also, they questioned whether there were independent observers. Riverkeeper add campaign also came up.
Emergency Planning did NOT get much attention..
Clinton staffer (Shapiro) did share with me that it will be important for the NRC to show that this Is "their drill.... not Giuliani and Entergy...
She did think it was an effective press conference.
CC:
Elizabeth Hayden; W. Beecher 9
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From:
Diane Screnci To:
Brian Holian; Elizabeth Hayden; Hubert J. Miller; James Wiggins; W. Beecher Date:
7/16/03 4:36PM
Subject:
Entergy Press Conference I spoke with Jim Steets of Entergy about today's press conference with Rudy Giuliani at the JNC In White Plains. Lots of media attended: WCBS-TV, WNBC-TV, Fox 5, New York Times, New York Daily News, Times Herald Record, News 12, Cable News 6 (orange county), Journal News, AP, Channel 11, WINS, WCBS-AM.
Steets says Gluliani did well. He spoke on the value of drills and exercises, stressed the need for evaluation, but not grading. Discussed the purpose of exercises is to strengthen the program, not grade it.
Entergy deferred questions on the date/time of the drill; the decision not to discuss results in detail; and early notification of the planned drill.
Steets says the reporters seemed to appreciate that this was a PR event to get Giuliani out there. The articles should be interesting.
Kyle Rabin of Riverkeeper showed up late and was interviewed by a number of the TV stations.
Diane CC:
Eric Weinstein; Neil Sheehan; Scott Burnell; Tracy Walker
- Jn licoeur -
rIndian Point articles for Thursday
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From:
Todd Jackson To:
IPNews Date:
7/17/03 7:10AM
Subject:
Indian Point articles for Thursday Articles attached - 2 pasted below that would not save, Including Newsl 2 text and link to video shown below.
Todd July 17, 2003 Giuliani defends Indian Point By Wayne A. Hall Times Herald-Record waynehall @th-record.com Westchester County Airport - He was the hero of post-Sept. 11 New York City. A trusted figure in the metropolitan area.
And yesterday, Indian Point owner Entergy trotted out former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in a new role: hired gun.
Entergy hired Giuliani, CEO of Giuliani Partners LLC, earlier this year to consult on security and emergency planning at all its plants in the Northeast. That includes the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan.
Entergy's security at Indian Point has come under fire since December, when some of its own guards went public with a long list of security lapses. Those lapses, they said, included a steering wheel coming off in a patrol car, inadequate weapons training, scarcity of ammunition and fatigue from overwork. The Indian Point plant, guards said, can not stand up to a terrorist attack.
Giuliani said yesterday that the much-maligned plant security looks good to him, and that the upcoming mock attack drills would be enormously useful.'
While the argument still rages over whether the mock attacks set up by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are realistic enough, given that the plant is warned months in advance, Giuliani defended them.
'You don't want people to get hurt," he said.
Drills are drills, Giuliani said. He credited a Sarin nerve gas drill in New York City just before Sept. 11 with preparing responders for that catastrophe, as did another of an airplane crash in Queens.
The Project On Open Government, which has blasted the mock drills as too predictable and unrealistic, said Entergy's hiring of Giuliani to promote its image is disgusting."
But plant officials said yesterday that Giuliani will give their emergency response plan and security the kind of expertise that's unmatchable, particularly given his access to New York City emergency experts like former fire Commissioner Thomas Van Essen.
Giuliani didn't miss a beat yesterday when asked whether communications glitches in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center rescue tainted his expertise as a private sector security guru.
'Were there mistakes? Yes," said Giuliani of the radio transmission troubles experienced Sept. 11 that some investigators said cost lives.
"But 12,000 to 13,000 lives were saved" that day, Giuliani said.
Saving lives has been issue raised by plant critics for months, especially in regard to Entergy's evacuation plan. This year some officials in the so-called "nuclear' counties refused to sign off on the plans by the annual deadline, as did Gov. George Pataki. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to render its decision on the plan any day now.
And now the man known as the hero of Manhattan will be riding herd on an Indian Point security plan critic Riverkeeper said Is so weak the plant could be turned into a "weapon of mass destruction," killing people throughout the metro area.
Giuliani, who called Riverkeeper's Indian Point ads "irresponsible," said the upcoming mock commando drill will prove how good security at the plant really is.
Johnj olicoeur - Indian Point articles for Thursday i---
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Company officials said the drill will be the most realistic one yet, with participants using green harnesses with sensors to pick up body hits and near misses from laser-M-1 6 rifles that also shoot blanks. The drill, which will feature 'terrorists hired by Entergy to attack the plant, will last for several days.
Giuliani said the drills are instructive because they show emergency personnel what can go wrong and why and what can be done about it.
But, he admitted, drills are never realistic. You never know what kind of an emergency you will face.'
Record Online is proudly brought to you by the Times Herald-Record, serving New York's Hudson Valley and the Catskills.
40 Mulberry Street
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- Middletown, NY 10940 Telephone 845-341-1100 or 800-295-2181 outside the Middletown, N.Y., area.
NEWS12 Terror exercise to test IP's security (07/16/03) BUCHANAN - A mock terrorist drill at Indian Point will soon test the nuclear power plants' security. Many say the terror exercise won't help, but IP's new security consultant Rudolph Giuliani believes it will.
Giuliani, who was hired by Indian Point's owner Entergy to bolster security, says the terrorist exercise will utilize state of the art laser equipment that will let both attackers and defenders know if they would have been hit by bullets. During the drill, which is set for an undisclosed date, 'terrorists' will try to gain control of the nuclear power plants.
But critics contend the exercise will prove nothing. Kyle Rabin, of the group Riverkeeper, complains the force-on-force exercise, as it is called, falls far short of a real test of Indian Point security. He says he's concerned the lack of independent observers will mean the public will never know what the exercise actually shows. Entergy spokesman Jim Steets tells News 12 Westchester the company wants the public to have as much information as possible.
Giuliani says he's confident the exercise will improve security. He says his experience has taught him emergency exercises, no matter what the scenario, are the best way to test emergency response procedures.
The date for the exercise is still a closely guarded secret. Even Entergy officials say they don't know when it will be held.
Video: http://ondemandl.cv.net/newsl2/DWIPDR5T.asx CC:
Bores, Robert; McConnell, Keith
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July 17, 2003 Giuliani Promotes Indian Pt. Terror Drill By LISA W. FODERARO ARISON, N.Y., July 16 -
Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, visited Westchester County today to speak on behalf of one of his new clients, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, as it prepares for an antiterrorism'drill at its Indian Point nuclear power complex.
The visit was part of an elaborate presentation by Entergy that blended the thrills of a summer action picture -
an M-l 6 semiautomatic rifle firing blanks at an Indian Point security officer-and Mr. Giuliani's star power. It seemed designed to take back some of the attention that has lately focused on Entergy's critics, who have attacked the nuclear site's operations and its emergency evacuation plans.
Mr. Giuliani, whose consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, was hired by Entergy in April to advise the company-on security and emergency planning, spoke about the usefulness of preparedness drills. He cited exercises that the city undertook while he was mayor -a mock airplane crash in Queens and an imaginary sarin gas attack in Lower Manhattan.
"We did so many drills and exercises, there was probably a point after a while that we thought we were going through too many," he said in a news conference at Westchester County Airport here.
"And on'Sept. 11 and 12 and 13, all those drills and exercises became enormously important."
The antiterrorism drill, involving commando-style raids in which mock terrorists try to foil the defenses at the plant, in Buchanan, N.Y., is part of a federal pilot program and will take place during several days sometime this summer, Entergy officials said. But the Nuclear Regulatory Agency, which will monitor the drill, refused to say precisely when, citing security concerns.
Before Sept. 11, all nuclear power plants underwent such drills every eight years. After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the drills were suspended, as security forces at the nation's nuclear reactors were on high alert, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission focused on strengthening security guidelines.
Next year, the exercises will resume, with each of the nuclear sites undergoing drills at least once every three years, said Neil A. Sheehan, an N.R.C. spokesman. But this year, 15 nuclear sites will conduct drills under the pilot program, using the agency's new guidelines, which expand the threat from the mock adversaries. The final guidelines will be in place by the end of 2004, Mr.
q John Joicoeur - NYTGiuliani Promotes Indian Pt Terror Drill.htm Page 3 Sheehan said.
At Indian Point, which has two nuclear reactors, pseudoterrorists will be given a layout of the complex, as well as its defense strategy. They will then try to penetrate that defense in several mock attacks, using sophisticated laser-tag equipment and coming at the security officers from land and, possibly, from the Hudson River, said James Knubel, Entergy Nuclear Northeast's vice president for nuclear affairs.
Mr. Knubel said Indian Point will have two separate security forces in place during the drill, one to respond to the mock assailants and the other to maintain existing security in the event of a real attack. Therefore, the security officers will have warning of the timing of the drill.
Mr. Knubel said the mock attack would not come from the air, although elected officials and environmental activists have said since Sept. 11 that the plant is most vulnerable to sabotage from above.
The N.R.C. does not plan to grade Indian Point on the exercise, and Entergy officials stressed today that the drill is not a test. Rather, it is a chance for both the N.R.C. and Entergy to learn what improvements may be needed in the plant's defense.
Moreover, the N.R.C. does not intend to tell the public how the security force at Indian Point performed during the drill, Mr. Sheehan said, adding that critics of the nuclear industry have manipulated results released about such exercises in the past.
Opponents of Indian Point faulted the advance notice that the guards would receive about the drills.
"It's troubling because we know that in the real world the terrorists are not going to tip their hand and let Entergy know they are coming," said Kyle M. Rabin, the policy analyst for Riverkeeper, an environmental group.
Mr. Rabin also dismissed Mr. Giuliani's involvement as a "P.R. move," saying Entergy was "hiding behind the popularity" of the former mayor. And he ridiculed the idea of training for an assault originating on the ground, instead of one coming through the air.
Mr. Knubel defended the exercises. "This is as real as it can get without actually firing real bullets and people getting hurt," he said.
Copvriht 2003 The New York Times Comnan I Home I PrivacyPolicy I Search I Corrections I Hel I Back to Top
14 Jodlicbe~ur - Poug hkeepsie,lournaLcor Giulilani defend s I!ndian Poin~t attack drill~htm
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-Pa 1-Thursday, July 17, 2003 Giuliani defends Indian Point attack drill Exercise to test nuke plant's readiness The Associated Press HARRISON, Westchester County -- A mock assault on the Indian Point nuclear plants by a handful of fake commandos may not be realistic, but can still help strengthen security, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Wednesday.
Giuliani, hired by the plants' owner as a security consultant, met with reporters about the "force-on-force" exercise that is to be sprung on Indian Point in the next few weeks.
Critics have said the drill is not a sufficient test of the plant's security, given the scope of the 2001 terrorist attack.
One critic said Wednesday that Giuliani had been brought in by the owner, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, "to whitewash the plant and mislead New Yorkers."
'Drills are never realistic," Giuliani said, but they are "the most valuable way to determine emergency planning, to both find out what improvements you have to make and to be ready for the other things that might happen."
He used several examples of drills he'd been through as mayor, including a simulated toxin release, an attack on Madison Square Garden and a plane crash on the Queens-Nassau border.
"Obviously we didn't crash a plane or hurt anyone," he said. But each drill gave city emergency workers experience that proved valuable when the World Trade Center was attacked, "even though the exercise was different than the actual task of Sept. 11, 2001."
"You're never going to predict precisely what's going to happen," he said. You take a drill for what it's worth. There are certain artificial limits in any drill."
Entergy Vice President Jim Knubel said the exercise would consist of three to six different' operations, carried out one at a time, in which mock intruders try to overcome Indian Point's defenses. The drill is likely to last several days, he said. The dates have not been made public.
Entergy volunteered Indian Point to be one of the first plants to undergo the test, which has been upgraded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission because of the terrorist attacks.
The NRC said Tuesday that Entergy would not be graded on its performance and that public information on how guards defend the twin reactors in Westchester County will be limited for security reasons.
-1 Jofhn Joicoeur - P ioughkeepsieJournal_corn - Giuliani defends Indian Point attack drill.htm
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., ae2 Indian Point security has become a major worry in the northern suburbs since the attack on the World Trade Center, 40 miles to the south. Most of the concern has focused on evacuation plans around the reactors. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is deciding whether the existing plan is adequate.
Giuliani said those emergency plans, "although they're developed for the purpose of dealing with the possibility of something going wrong at a nuclear plant, they're useful for 10,000 other things that can happen."
, Poughkeepsie Journal.
Use of tis site signifies your agrmement to the Teri nofSrvic (updated December 17,2002).
i o icoeur - ournaNewsFake attack at Indian Point this summer.htm Pa 1
Fake attack at Indian Point this summer By ROGER WITHERSPOON THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: July 17, 2003)
HARRISON 0 A mock terrorist attack at Indian Point, to be conducted this summer by the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is a necessary drill to help improve security planning and training at the nuclear facility, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said yesterday.
Giuliani became an icon of American resolve after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Now head of a consulting firm he formed after leaving office in 2001, Giuliani appeared yesterday at a news conference hosted by Indian Point's owner. His firm, which includes former New York City Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen and former Emergency Services Director Richard Sheirer, was hired by Entergy Nuclear Northeast to improve security and public acceptance of emergency planning at Indian Point.
"Drills are an important example of the kind of thing that has to be done to prepare for emergencies of any kind," Giuliani said at Westchester's emergency news center at the county airport.
"On Sept. 11, and the 12th, and all the days after that, all the drills and exercises we had became enormously important," he said. "Drills are never realistic. You are not going to use real bullets, and you are not going to release anything dangerous. But a drill can help greatly in emergency planning at Indian Point."
Giuliani's role in Indian Point's emergency planning has drawn critics who, despite his handling of the terrorist attack's aftermath, challenge Giuliani's ability to help the plants prepare for a similar assault.
"We learned after the fact that under Mayor Giuliani, the fire and police in New York City had no way to cooperate and no plan for cooperation, and they still donl," said Marilyn Elie, head of the Westchester Citizens Awareness Network. "Lives were lost because of poor preparation, and it seems to me that this former mayor is not the one to come in and tell us how to do an evacuation plan based on his poor prior record in emergency planning."
An analysis prepared for the city last year by the McKinsey Co. consulting firm found that police and especially firefighters were poorly mobilized, equipped, coordinated and disciplined, costing many of them their lives on Sept. 11. The report also found that mutual aid from neighboring counties such as Westchester and Rockland was poorly integrated into the rescue effort, and
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_a neighborhoods were left without emergency services as rescue workers raced downtown with no clear managerial direction.
In addition, radio communications failed the hundreds of firefighters in the Twin Towers, and many never heard the order to evacuate the north tower after the south tower collapsed. Police radios did work, but the two commands did not share communications or information. The site of the disaster was not secured for five days and, because of poor interaction with federal agencies, the city's ability to assess if more attacks were imminent was hindered.
Giuliani said yesterday that the city's police and firefighters saved more than 10,000 people by implementing an orderly evacuation. "Given the realities of that kind of attack," he said, "it was about the most effective response that anybody could have had anywhere in the United States."
Yesterday marked Giuliani's first public foray into Westchester since Entergy announced the upcoming security drill, which could take place over several days. The company volunteered to participate in the first such tests ordered by the NRC, though critics question why the results will not be made public; there are no penalties for failing; no outside observers will be allowed; and the plant had six months to prepare.
Giuliani said that Indian Point has a sound emergency plan and that "the level of preparation is among the highest we've ever seen. You can compare it to a high-level security prison, except it's designed to keep people out."
Reach Roger lWiJIerspoon at nvithers@tlhejournalnews.com or 914-696-8566. Reach Roger Witherspoon at nvrthers @tlejoumnalnews.com or 914-696-8566.