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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011

NRC MONITORS UNUSUAL EVENT AT DIABLO CANYON NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is monitoring events surrounding the discovery early Sunday morning of a device which looked like a bomb at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant near San Luis Obispo, Calif.

The faked device was discovered by security officers in a support building at the plant at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. The building is not near any of the buildings that house the systems and equipment necessary for reactor safety. The San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office responded to the plant with a bomb technician, who determined that the device was a fake with no explosives. The FBI field office in Los Angeles was also notified of the event.

The NRC staffed its emergency response center in Arlington, Texas, after Diablo Canyon operators declared a Notice of Unusual Event (NOUE), the lowest level of alert on the NRC's four-level emergency response scale, at 1:20 a.m. At 2:57 a.m., after the device was determined to be a fake, Diablo Canyon secured from the NOUE; however, the plant remains in a "security alert" status while plant security officers search the site to be certain other potential threats do not exist. The NRC will continue to monitor events from its emergency response center until the search has been completed.

State and local officials have been notified of all of the activities associated with this event. FEMA and the FBI have also been informed of Diablo Canyon's and the NRC's response.

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