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Paramilitary guards I -238 shipmentsNuclear police force builds quietlyB* Tom TifdfAlKKN S lt;N't A Throughout the 19bOs andearly !97(K the federal government w«s repeatedly-onderrmed for thr wav ittransported nult; lear rtmten• Is around thr nation Often thr shipments were moved on lt;omrnon carrier with next to no security arid critics feared thr loads wet*-susceptible to hijackingSo the security system■ ’ V * ' T\* ”/7’ .cer-- 1was improved ( on tamernation was hardened spe rial anti intrusion transport vehicles wer* built• •omnium* at ions were coin puterued And very quietly the government also put together a new law enforcement agency nut dear police as it were to guard themovement of atomic i{ot»d.sThr government does not• all its new officers nuclear polite For pubht relations purposes thrv ore referredto as couriers Vet thereis no gkeoung lt;*ver their purjxvvc I’ N fetu»rtment ofKnergv offe taLs say the riutear couriers are given a full range of training anti authority to protect nu clear transportsThe full range M trainingincludes si* weeks of paratriihtary dtslt; tpltne and wrap »ns practice Their authority includes if ne*rvu»r. the right to kill any one w ho usesviolent e to intercept a nu lt;lear shipment On the road no om- not even lot a! police, may interfere with courier reapomubtlitesAt present there are Ho nut lear couriers all f -* d at the Knergy I*epartrnenttransportation safeguard' iivusion near Albuquerque h M Bob tides a safe guards off it tal says couriertearm currently accompany all VS plutonium shipment* of two pou»d or more or approximate!) IOCshipments per monthMany of the shipment •riginate here in the westerrborder region of Soiith ( ar •lina The huge (00 square miles Savannah Kiver nu dear pr»* essing plant is !lt;►(atetl on lonely grasslands below Aiken That plant i.s the government s primary manufacturer of we.iporvr grade nult; lear plasma plu Ionium 2MThe plasma here is fash loned into what .Savannah workers t all buttons 4 * ptund chips that resemble huge aspirin tablets The buttons are usually sent tothr Hu* k\ Klat Nut !**cifH t*aporr plan! in ( lt;»i adowhi rr th#*\ brc lt;m« th« of* ra bit* part Aiirhrdd ■»Ur* beiru! hm*v ni to a I * \a sUii slitv for w#*a{M.fr- a\M*rnblThe Savannah buttons are parked in small drums which authorities insist, can withstand the force of a crashing airliner Bob (ides says present nutdear con tamers have been put in railroad tars and smashed mto concrete abutments atspeeds of 64 rriph. he says the drums survive intact and inviolateThe containers are fastened inside specially modified tractor-trailer trucks The government calls the vehicles Safe Secure Trailers SST They are pro tected will second walls of armor They are aLso designed to be self-disabling in ase they are hijackedamong other things, trietires will go flat security offh lals do nottalk much about the anti intrusion devices which allegedly are part of the SSTdesign Popular spe. ulation is that the trucks are equipped with poison gas jets, for one thing the belief ts that if a hijacker broke into a vehic le he would tn-spraved dead with c hlorine Whatev er the capabilities of the SST, nutdear authori ties hope- they will never have to be activated And the nutdear police, the courier- are the basis of this ho{«* The couriers’ job is to stop hijat kings before trans port vehicles are violated, they have M l6s, hand gre nades and shotguns for thepurpose*.There is little doubt the ouriers are ready foranything as Bob (*lies puts it They are Vietnam or Korean veterans, highly paid $2a,000 a year I, and highly motivated (iiles says •nly one in 10 men who apply* if ,1 courier position islt; t pled He adds We• •ok for the best It’s a very important dulyt is also I»k«* 1 \ to becomeJack irulerson'sh very controversial dutvw apr ^ ^ ^ wNuclear critics such as Ralph Nader have warned for year- that the safeguarding of growing amounts of plutonium may require a police for. e that is more military than civilian, and. by necessity more interested in nult;dear securitythan c iv11 berties What’s more, critic s believe not one but many nua*lear police forces will beneeded to protec t plutonium Private industry for examr u,«— lt;r W ^ 111,1 .in i w*iupie is increasingly worried about safeguarding its supplies \ Virginia power company has gone so far a? to ask its legislature to allow it to employ a private police contingent But for now America snuclear police force remains small, restrained, and al most unnoticed Perhaps too unnoticed Nuclear bureau-rats say they wish morepeople knew about theouriers arid their mandateThey feel few hij*alt; kers w their right nnruls would flirt with nuclear shipments if they were aware of the con s»-quenlt; escolumn willaf)[Mar TuesdayThe nuclear couriers are likely to become very controversial. Critics such as Ralph Nader have warned for years that the safeguarding of growing amounts of plutonium may require a police force that is more military than civilian, and. by necessity, more interested in nuclear security than civil liberties.
Newspaper Details
Pasadena Citizen
Pasadena, Texas, US
Mon, Dec 12, 1977
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Kahiler J.
NM, USA 26 Oct 2021
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