http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1874950/posts
QUOTE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1874950/posts?page=1785#1785
UPDATE:
“Bridge Tragedy: Live Coverage as Recovery Resumes”
#
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1338294.html
“9 dead, 60 injured, 20 missing after dozens of vehicles plummet into river”
1,785 posted on 08/02/2007 4:43:23 AM PDT by Cindy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1875170/posts
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/02/news/top_stories/1_01_558_1_07.txt
“Train carries sleeping man onto San Onofre plant property”
By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “SAN ONOFRE — Southern California Edison has changed its security procedures for inspecting train cars that enter the San Onofre nuclear power plant after a sleeping illegal immigrant was accidentally carried onto the property, company officials said Wednesday.
Edison officials said that a man was found on the San Onofre property — but not inside its “protected area” where its nuclear reactors and fuel reside — just after three freight rail cars arrived inside the plant around 12:30 a.m. July 25.
The rail cars, on a spur of Southern California’s main north-south rail line, carry freight inside the San Onofre grounds and pass by an area where Edison stores spent fuel: highly radioactive material that can no longer produce power.
The July 25 incident was described in a document obtained by the North County Times on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, plant officials downplayed the breach and said they were confident the unexpected visitor could not have made it through a tougher set of security checks in areas where nuclear materials are stored.
Officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday they had been notified about the incident and were confident in the plant’s defenses.
The accidental intruder was discovered when Edison employees spotted him standing near one of the recently arrived freight cars, John Todd, director of security at San Onofre, said Wednesday.
“He was not wearing a security badge, so one of our people approached him,” Todd said. “When he could not produce a badge, we took him into custody.”
Todd said the man, who spoke only Spanish, seemed surprised to find himself at the nuclear plant, 18 miles north of Oceanside.
“He claimed he was hitching a ride from Oceanside to San Clemente and was sleeping in the car,” Todd said.
Southern California’s main north-south rail line passes between the nuclear plant and Interstate 5. The entry occurred on a small spur track that leaves the main line just north of the plant, running alongside a small access road just west of Old Pacific Highway.
Brian Katz, Edison’s vice president of nuclear oversight and regulatory affairs, said that the freight cars stand about 12 feet above the ground and that Edison has used mirrors on poles to inspect the cars before they are allowed onto the property.”