The recent incident where a couple, supposedly lost during a road trip from Virginia to New York, allegedly trespassed on the grounds of the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station about six miles north of Harford County's border with York County, Pa., can be viewed from many perspectives.
It will be up to Pennsylvania's justice system to determine if a crime was committed. Police in Pennsylvania say the couple allegedly cut a chain to get onto the Peach Bottom property. They are said to have been trying to find their way back to whatever road they were tying to take. A judge will get to sort all this out.
At first blush, the story seems to have its comedic element, but go deeper and it begs the question: Just how secure is Peach Bottom, a nuclear generating facility with a history of operational issues under previous ownership?
The plant's owner, police and federal regulators all have been saying the right things. There's no issue with the plant's security. The perimeter breach was discovered immediately. Plant security was carefully monitoring the whereabouts of the supposedly accidental visitors. At no time was there any threat to the most sensitive areas of the plant. All the proper notifications were given, including to Harford County, which obviously is affected by anything happing at Peach Bottom.
So, in sum, everything was handled properly and there's absolutely no problem. It sounds like, "Heck, these things happen all the time and we are prepared for them." Really?
Let's cut to the chase. Nuclear generating plants, like all electrical generating facilities, are potentially attractive targets for terrorists of any stripe. In addition to the potential for economic and other chaos that could result from a major disruption to the power grid, there's the potential environmental destruction that gets multiplied when radioactive material is involved.
At the very least, last Friday's incident at Peach Bottom is unsettling. Harmless? Perhaps. Preventable? Well, if you believe all the "official" statements, this wasn't out of the ordinary and nothing they couldn't handle.
Unfortunately, that may be the most perplexing aspect of the story. If anyone with a pair of bolt cutters can get onto the Peach Bottom property – which is fairly well out in the country, like most facilities of this sort – just how secure is that?
Not very, it would appear, not very secure at all.