Don’t mess around at a nuclear power plant facility. If you have no business there but insert yourself anyway, you will be met with armed guards who are directed to “detect, assess, interdict and neutralize” all threats — including with lethal force.
Use of force in securing such facilities, including TerraPower’s Natrium nuclear plant underway near Kemmerer, is required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to agency officials. So are a litany of other security measures to ensure the sensitive operations don’t fall prey to “radiological sabotage” — among the highest threats to U.S. national security, they say.
Trained security guards must assume that “adversaries would be dedicated and willing to exhibit lethal force and, quite frankly, receive lethal force in return,” NRC Regional State Liaison Officer Ryan Alexander told members of the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee on Thursday in Casper.
TerraPower officials, who will use a highly enriched uranium fuel to power an “advanced” nuclear reactor, presented a draft bill, “Wyoming Security,” to the committee. They’re asking lawmakers to extend protections against civil lawsuits to a private security force, which the company will be required to install when it begins handling nuclear materials. In addition to describing potential statutory changes to accommodate lawful “use of force” by private security guards and related civil protections, the measure refers to standard NRC security requirements and what would be considered criminal trespass.
“Wyoming law currently lacks clear legal authority for trained security personnel performing these duties without such [legal] protection,” TerraPower Nuclear Security Manager Melissa Darlington testified. Without expressed legal protection, TerraPower would still be held to federal NRC standards of security enforcement, she added, which “may result in hesitancy [upon private security personnel] in implementing their duties.”
The committee directed the Legislative Service Office to work up draft legislation based on TerraPower’s proposed language, and agreed to continue discussion at its next hearing in July.
Though most committee members spoke in support of rigorous security — among the primary concerns they’ve heard from constituents regarding Natrium and other potential nuclear facilities — they want to avoid unintended consequences. Such civil liability protections, for example, should not extend to private security guards while not on duty at the nuclear plant, Laramie Democratic Sen. Chris Rothfuss suggested.
“TerraPower will have more security guards than there is law enforcement officers in Lincoln County.”
Shane Johnson, Lincoln County Sheriff
“We have to explore, a little bit, how Wyoming statute [currently applies to] use of lethal force if you are not law enforcement,” he said. “We don’t typically grant civilians the right to lethal force, and particularly when they’re not representing the state or the community, [but] they’re representing a corporation.”
NRC officials admitted it’s a “delicate situation” for each state that hosts nuclear facilities.
“These protections are not unlimited,” said Darlington, who noted she will move to Kemmerer this summer to help oversee security at the Natrium plant. “They only apply to security personnel at commercial nuclear facility sites who are acting with reasonable belief and within the scope of their employment.”
Though some communities opt to train local law enforcement to qualify in on-site security efforts, that’s not likely to be the case in Lincoln County, according to TerraPower and local officials. Law enforcement will work closely with the company and NRC to coordinate emergency responses, said Lincoln County Sheriff Shane Johnson. But local agencies simply don’t have the resources or expertise to take on federal nuclear security.
“TerraPower will have more security guards than there is law enforcement officers in Lincoln County,” Johnson told the panel.
Several committee members expressed anxiety over providing civil liability protections to a private, corporate security force. Rothfuss suggested the committee should consider forming a special task force to explore the issue.
“When we’re writing statute, we don’t want to provide somebody who’s an armed-nuclear-security guard the authority to use deadly force on the other side of town,” he said.
All privately held, for-profit companies are responsible for bearing the costs of compliance with federal and other regulations. TerraPower makes the vague threat that, without immunity, security staff who are paid to secure the plant and materials may decide it’s too risky to secure the plant and materials. Nonsense. If the company truly believes that security staff may fail to assume the responsibilities of their job, especially when those failures could pose cascading threats, they need to review their hiring, training, and supervision practices as well as their compensation policy. Privately held, for-profit companies with specific risks also purchase liability insurance to manage those risks and TerraPower is free to do so. They are not making this request [demand] in Wyoming’s interest, but because it saves them money by lowering costs related to staff compensation and supervision, monitoring and auditing of policy and procedures, and potential criminal and civil liability. Conversely, our legislators seem to be approaching the question as if there’s no cost to Wyoming, and that’s a mistake. Conferring governmentally-granted immunity on individuals working for a privately managed security force (over which public agencies and staff have no oversight or authority) is not cost-free, especially once those privately employed individuals invoke their immunity after harming or killing Wyoming citizens.
Know authorities; know general public. There is no room for the proposed idea, when its not extended the same way to qualified citizens.
Yep, give them immunity, just like big pharma! Nothing could ever go wrong! Just ask the millions of dead and injured by Covid..
Absolutely NOT! Government law enforcement has far too much immunity protection as it is, to give such to Eric Prince’s mercenaries (and that is very likely the guards in question — his Blackwater bunch is now ‘owned’ by Apollo vulture capital but he’s still in charge) or even sad sacks such as Geo (formerly Wackenhut). [FWIW, the transformation of Blackwater is kinda fascinating, and tawdry at the same time. Might be something there for WyoFile, considering Prince is a Wyoming figure and all]
It won’t be Apollo
Deadly force is not included in the requirements for security and I do not want any corporation to be given that access.
I quote from NRC:
The NRC requires nuclear power plants and some nuclear fuel facilities to have significant security measures in place. Research and test reactors, radiological material holders, and others licensed by the NRC also must have security measures in place.
Security enhancements for nuclear power plants implemented following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks include:
Upgraded physical security plans
Enhanced security officer training
Increased security patrols
Additional physical barriers
Greater stand-off distances for vehicle checks
More restrictive site access controls
Nuclear power plants and certain fuel fabrication facilities must show they can defend against a set of adversary characteristics called the Design Basis Threat. The specific details of the DBT are not publicly available. The DBT is based on realistic assessments of the tactics, techniques and procedures used by terrorist groups and organizations. The NRC is constantly evaluating the threat environment and considers changes to the DBT if necessary.
The NRC’s security baseline inspection program is the primary way the agency verifies nuclear power plants are operating according to security regulations. Force-on-force security inspections are part of this program. In these inspections, a specially trained mock adversary force “attacks” the facility using the DBT attributes. In 2004, the NRC implemented more realistic force-on-force exercises on a more aggressive schedule to test facilities more frequently and with more challenging scenarios.
It isn’t that hard. No different than any other private security anywhere else. If anything, simply say lethal force is allowed in defense of the physical plant in the course of their duty as guards. I don’t get Rothfuss’s point. His quote: “We don’t typically grant civilians the right to lethal force, and particularly when they’re not representing the state or the community, [but] they’re representing a corporation.” First, police are civilians (unless they are military police.) Second, and more important, is that private citizens do have the right to use lethal force if faced with an immediate threat (or a reasonable belief of) death or grave bodily injury. Is Rothfuss implying people shouldn’t have the right to defend themselves unless they are State functionaries? Or is he unaware that people do have that right?
Bingo
I understand the security requirements and concerns surrounding the new nuclear site being constructed outside Kemmerer. I hunt fossils there several times a year and rummage through the old coal towns of Cumberland. My worry is the use of “deadly force” by those who may not be familiar with the history of the area. Most people who visit that area, are armed. Whether coyote hunting, jack rabbit or antelope hunting, most people will be “armed” as I am. I hunt for fossil wood, clam shells and other items of interest. Will there be adequate training for those given use of lethal force on the diversity of the public who they may encounter at such a remote location. Most encounters will be with an “armed” civilian who’s just out rummaging around and not looking to get “sniped” at 1000 yards.
Would that person be Bill Gates?
Bill Gates will be running the show.
He’s the one who will be calling the shots.
Threat assessment and abatement in sensitive national security environments must be quick and decisive. Those decisions and decision-makers cannot improve without judicial review and remedy.
Maybe they can hire whatever Eric Prince’s Blackwater mercenaries are called now?
Private corporate armies will become more common as we move into the future. They have been working in many parts of the world for decades now.
Welcome to the future Wyoming, it isnt looking good 🙁
One stroke of a pen. Mr. Trump undone cumbersome rules regulations to speed up process of building these power plants. GOOD JOB #47!!! GIT ER DONE!!
Larry, you fail to realize that these power plants arent for lowering peoples electric bills.
Trump is putting the Surveillance State on a “Warp Speed” schedule.
You people are applauding your way to enslavement.
Doug. Don’t forget Hillary Clinton had financial ties to that organization. Plus they came about due to Chaney’s lies and helped start the war they profited from.
Buy………Hillary.
Everybody wants to have a nuclear reactor but nobody has a place for radio active waste. Are we going to have little radio active swimpools all over everywhere the greedy have a way to make more money and leave the public to pay for there disposal? Not in my state.
Relax, Nancy. This isn’t a “private corporate army”. Nor are they “mercenaries”. It’s a security force that’s required by law. The only difference between this and a bank guard is that the law also requires these guys to be massively vetted and trained.
You’re right. Private armies are coming–they’re already here.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/3/10/erik-prince-harvard-republicans/
Nuclear facility security services are not private armies. They are highly trained security professionals in place to prevent sabotage, theft, and seizures. They are in place at every Nuclear facility in the nation and many other sensitive sites. Their presence is paramount to keeping us safe. One can imagine what could happen if some nefarious individuals with ill intent took over a reactor and put it into a full blown meltdown. These security personnel are governed by three separate federal agencies, a point conveniently left out of the article. Personally I would rather have a private security group protecting a nuke, rather than a small town police force trying to handle a terrorist take over of a Nuclear site.