Report by Y-12 contractor shows alarms triggered

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

photo Aerial photograph of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge.

OAK RIDGE - Documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request show three different types of alarms were triggered by nuclear weapons protesters during an incursion at an Oak Ridge plant.

The Knoxville News Sentinel obtained the documentation that Y-12 plant contractor B&W Y-12 sent the government in response to the incident on July 28, 2012. The three protesters cut through a fence and managed to reach the storage facility that holds weapons-grade uranium before they were confronted.

The 102-page report states the triggering of multiple alarms "suggested a pathway was being followed."

The newspaper reported protocol required a patrol team to be sent to the point of the break-in, but the protesters weren't confronted before reaching the so-called "protected area" of the plant.

The protesters face a May 7 trial.