TEAM OF COMMANDOS sent to test security at French nuclear power stations
penetrated one 鈥� at Bugey near Lyons 鈥� with little difficulty, according
to a government report leaked by the French satirical magazine Le Canard
Enchaine, last week. The report says that the commandos鈥� sudden appearance
in the central control room caused no concern, as the technicians assumed
they must have been allowed entry.
The report鈥檚 claims have been dismissed as 鈥榩ure make-believe鈥� by the
manager of the plant, Lucien Betron. He said that the group only got as
far as the cooling towers at the reactor. However, another official with
the nationalised electricity company Electricite de France said that the
alleged 鈥榩enetration test鈥� actually took place at another reactor, at Nogent.
Le Canard Enchaine maintains its version of events.
The leaked report lists a series of major shortcomings in surveillance
at plants. In addition to carrying out the successful 鈥榩enetration test鈥�,
police chief superintendent Jacques Doucet, on secondment from the interior
ministry to the EDF, also found people who are on terrorist and criminal
files employed by subcontractors. He pointed out that three attacks on high-voltage
power lines were carried out in 1987.
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In his report, Doucet warned that not all of those in charge understood
that security restrictions should not be forgotten 鈥榠n the desire to implant
an ordinariness to nuclear power through guided tours, or because of the
need to show clients our knowhow鈥�.
He went on to say that the vast majority of subcontractors needed to
be more vigilant in screening and overseeing staff, explaining that he had
鈥榰nearthed individuals on terrorist and criminal files鈥�. Le Canard Enchaine
reports that in one case, former Red Brigade members worked as cleaners
at the Nogent site in 1987. EDF has taken note of Doucet鈥檚 criticism on
the deployment of gendarmes at reactors, 20 of whom are assigned to each
site鈥檚 surveillance. Doucet found that only two gendarmes actually patrolled
the sites, driving around a 10-kilometre radius. They now patrol the perimeter
fence itself.
EDF says that the report, which was commissioned in order to identify
鈥榳eak points鈥� in the security, has been followed up with new improvements
and the rectification of deficiencies.
Meanwhile, the management of the fast-breeder reactor Superphenix at
Creys-Malville, also near Lyons, which has been started up again to an outcry
from the Swiss authorities and French Greens, has launched a quarterly colour
magazine in an attempt to 鈥榗hange the appalling image鈥� of the Superphenix
reactor.
