Tampabay: Regulator: Nuclear facilities are secure

"These facilities are secure and our defense capabilities are where they should be to protect the public from any potential harm," said Diaz, appointed this week to head the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The former University of Florida professor said a major burden of his job in these uncertain times is to ease public fear about terrorism while continuing to evaluate threats that may warrant additional security.

And Diaz, who turns 65 next week, says he's ready for the challenge.

"I probably have been preparing my whole life for this type of role," said Diaz, who splits times between Washington, D.C., and his St. Pete Beach home.

The son of an auto mechanic, Diaz grew up in Cuba and intended to pursue a career as a doctor. He began studying medicine at Villanova University, Havana, but gravitated to mechanical engineering.

He was critical of Castro's rule and spent seven months in political asylum with the Argentine Embassy. He was 22 and jobless when he arrived in Miami in October 1961.

After a stint with a laundry business, Diaz attended the University of Florida, earned a master's degree and a doctorate in nuclear engineering and then joined the faculty.

Diaz and his wife, Zena, moved to St. Pete Beach about seven years ago to be closer to their children. His son is a professor of pathology at the University of South Florida and a daughter is an occupational therapist in the area. A second daughter works in pharmaceuticals.

A Republican, Diaz joined the NRC in 1996 and was recently appointed to a second term. President Bush picked him as the chairman this week after Richard Meserve left for the Carnegie Institution, a research center in Washington, where the NRC is also based.

In the past year, the NRC has issued a series of notices to the 103 nuclear plants calling for additional security.

Many of the changes remain secret but they generally include more armed guards, additional barriers and increased screening of employees and visitors.

At Progress Energy's plant in Crystal River, a guard post has been moved farther from the reactor and a retractable steel wedge has been embedded in the road to stop dead any vehicles that make it pass the checkpoint.

This week, the NRC issued another order that seeks to minimize fatigue felt by security guards, who have complained they are overworked and underpaid. In addition to better guard rotation, the NRC has called for more training.

The process is evolving, Diaz said. "We have done what needed to be done, but as we learn more, we will do whatever it takes to protect the people of this country."

In the coming months, Diaz said, the NRC will have completed extensive studies that look at various threats to nuclear facilities, such as an attack by a jetliner similar to those used by terrorists to topple the World Trade Center.

"We're not saying a major jumbo jet will not crack a containment building," Diaz said. "The issue is will a jet crashing into a plant cause significant health hazards?"

Previous estimates showing the dispersal and effects of radioactive material were overly conservative, Diaz said, adding he wants to produce studies that are more realistic and less doomsday.

One government study in 1982 estimated a nuclear disaster in Crystal River could cause 1,160 cancer deaths within a year of exposure, 6,630 injuries and $53-billion in damage.

Some radiation might escape, "but people aren't going to be keeling over," Diaz said. He has made similar comments in speeches, saying the emergency system is prompt and well equipped.

"Make no mistake, America will deliver the necessary responses to protect public health and safety, and therefore, there will be no "American Chernobyl,' " he said in November 2002.

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