With the Indian Point nuclear power plants as a backdrop, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer announced in Peekskill today that the NRC will soon be enacting security improvements at nuclear power plants from around the country. Schumer says the changes are the result of an NRC audit he requested back in March aimed at identifying areas power plants can better secure their facilities against potential terrorists and prevent them from infiltrating them.

The Senator's request was prompted by the discovery several years ago that Al- Quaeda operative Sharif Mobley was allowed to work at nuclear facilities in New Jersey for six years before he moved to Yemen and was arrested for having ties with the terrorist organization.

Schumer says in the next 30 days, the NRC will enact three new security measures.

First, the NRC will soon be able to directly access the classified national criminal database to determine if an employee is listed there. Currently, the NRC is able to do so, but only through a third party, something Schumer says "left room for error and slowed down the process."

Second, the NRC and individual power plants will provide training to enable management and workers at the plant to determine whether a worker might be engaged in terrorist activity.

Third, the new security efforts will ensure that anyone who has access to a nuclear power plant will be re-screened against the terrorist watch list on a more frequent basis. The frequency, the Senator said, is confidential, and will be at the discretion of the NRC.

The new changes, Schumer said,will be enacted upon by the NRC within the next 30 days.