2004 Year in Review

Stoermer speaks at Chamber meeting

Bill Stoermer, Exelon Communications Manager, speaks to those who attended the Chamber of Commerce business meeting, about security at the Quad Cities Plant.

Morrison Chamber of Commerce held their second business meeting Thursday, June 17, 2004, at the Northside Country Inn Restaurant. Bob Vaughn, president of the chamber talked about the progress of the Morrison Fest schedule and the Sesquicentennial.

Featured speaker was Bill Stoermer, Exelon Communications Manager for the Quad Cities Generating Station. He talked about the security measures used by the nuclear power plant and showed a slide show to explain some of these measures and the continued growth of security at the plant since the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Currently Exelon employs 680 workers at the Quad Cities Station. Wackenhut Security International is the security force which provides security services and watch over the facility on a 24-hour basis year around. Morrison residents make up the second largest number of employees working at the Quad Cities plant behind Bettendorf, which employs the most residents. Wackenhut Security also employs a number of security officers from the Morrison area.

Stoermer explained that a lot of changes have been made in security since 9-11. Exelon as a whole has spent over $15 million in upgrading security. The Quad Cities Station has spent well over $1 million and will be spending an additional $7 million in 2004 due to new requirements issued from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

A vehicle security checkpoint has been established to search every vehicle entering into the plant property. A new checkpoint is being installed which will allow guards to pneumatically activate a vehicle barrier restraint to forcibility stop unauthorized vehicles from entering the restricted areas.

Weapons carried by the guards have also been upgraded since 9/11. Wackenhut Security, which is currently contracted with the city of Port Byron for use of a weapons training range. Guards need to be able to shoot an automatic weapon accurately from an elevated position over 350 yards away from the target. The Quad Cities plant is in the process of building its own weapons training range. The security officers currently use over 90,000 training rounds of ammunition annually and that number will be increased to over 1 4 0,000 rounds this year to meet the new training requirements.

More security barriers have been installed. Which consist of cement barriers, which are anchored in the ground with steel posts. There are currently 500 barriers and 900 more will be added this year. Over 10 miles of addition delay fencing, which is razor sharp rolled fencing, will be added around the plant

The security patrol route has also been increased. Seven hundred and fifty acres of land around the Station is now monitored by security. Ballistic resistant towers will also be installed this summer, which will overlook the nuclear plant and the Mississippi River.

A more extensive FBI -style background investigation is conducted on employees to ensure their background checks permits entry into a nuclear plant facility. Every five years an updated investigation is done on Station employees.

During plant outages, temporary workers are brought in to expedite the work activities. Since 9/11 the plant has started using the parking facility at the Cordova Drag Strip for external parking purposes. This allows the temporary workers to be bussed to the plant without any compromise to the strict security measures.

Stoermer stated, "We are very confident in our ability to operate a safe nuclear facility. Nuclear safety and maintaining a rigorous security program are our highest priorities at Quad Cities Station."

by Dawn Zuidema, theCity1.com
June 18, 2004