exclusive, 21 November 2011
The economic crisis has triggered a significant increase in the number of nuclear workers vulnerable to bribes, the government’s nuclear security watchdog has warned.
Roger Brunt, who was director of civil nuclear security with the Office for Nuclear Regulation, has revealed that growing numbers of workers vetted for national security reasons have run into financial difficulties, and had their clearances reviewed.
In a report to ministers covering 2009-11, released online today, Brunt also expressed concern about the vetting of foreign workers. He disclosed a problem with the security of nuclear information, and said that the proportion of nuclear police who were armed had risen.
Brunt has been head of the Office for Civil Nuclear Security, which in April merged with the Officer for Nuclear Regulation, for the last seven years. His job has been to prevent the theft of nuclear materials to make bombs, or the sabotage of nuclear plants by people “with a malicious agenda”.
That includes ensuring that workers with access to plutonium, or other sensitive materials or facilities, don’t pose an “insider threat”. But increasing money worries caused by the banking crisis have put more of them in danger of being tempted by bribes.
The number of workers subject to national security vetting placed on “financial aftercare reviews” has “increased significantly during the period covered by this report which has coincided with the so-called ‘credit crunch’”, said Brunt.
This meant that “greater numbers” of vetted workers were being interviewed “to ensure that their current financial vulnerabilities do not pose a risk of potential financial inducement.”
A correspondingly higher number of vetted workers faced further financial reviews within the next 12 to 36 months. “Whilst it is unfortunate that these steps are necessary,” said Brunt, “I am reassured that many of those NSV [National Security Vetting] holders who are currently vulnerable financially have taken the appropriate, responsible action to prevent their clearances being placed at risk.”
Brunt’s report showed that nearly 8,000 nuclear workers across 31 sites in the UK have been vetted, or re-vetted in the last two years. But he was unable to quantify the increase in those with financial problems.
A spokesman for the Office for Nuclear Regulation said that Brunt’s comments were made “as a result of an emerging trend in which individuals highlighted their financial circumstances” during reviews of security clearances.
Brunt was also worried about the problems posed by vetting the increasing number of foreign workers applying for security clearances to work in the nuclear industry. His office was “unable to carry out the same level of background checks with applicants from overseas as we can with British citizens,” he said.
"Balancing the obligation to respect the UK’s employment laws against the need to prevent individuals gaining employment in the industry and using such opportunities to further a malicious agenda, can at times be difficult.”
Brunt has refused security clearances in a few cases. “Increasingly, I have issued clearances with strict caveats which usually reflect denial of access to particular plants, processes or sensitive nuclear information,” he added.
In 2010-11 there were “a number of procedural errors” dealing with sensitive nuclear information at an unnamed “off-site office complex”. Workers had to undergo a programme of retraining “to restore confidence that the correct procedures were being followed by all staff.”
The proportion of police guarding nuclear plants and shipments who are armed has increased in the last two years, but Brunt declined to say by how much. The Civil Nuclear Constabulary already has more authorised firearms officers than any other UK police force.
Brunt said that “on a number of occasions” since 2009, the constabulary “was unable to meet its agreed minimum staffing levels at some of the sites to which it is deployed due mainly to sickness of staff.”
He also revealed that the UK’s current security regulations don’t apply to nuclear plants when they are under construction. “In my view, this is not acceptable,” he said, and welcomed a promise by the government to amend the regulations “at the earliest opportunity”.
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