WINTERSBURG (Arizona), Nov 3: Security officials at America’s largest nuclear power plant detained a contract worker with a small pipe bomb in the back of his pickup truck, authorities said.
The Department of Homeland Security said there was no known terrorism link to the incident at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix.
The worker, Roger William Hurd, told investigators he did not know how the bomb got in his truck and was released on Friday afternoon.
Palo Verde officials said they pulled Hurd’s security clearances and will not allow him back until they know more about what happened.
Hurd, 61, was stopped and detained at the entrance of the nuclear generating plant, about a half kilometre from the containment domes where the plant’s nuclear material is stored, said plant spokesman Jim McDonald. Security officials then put the nuclear station on lockdown for a few hours, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving the facility until Friday afternoon.
Authorities described the device as a 15-centimeter capped explosive made of galvanised pipe that contained suspicious residue. Tom Mangan, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said it was likely homemade.
“If this thing went off in the bed of the truck, it certainly would put a hole in it,” Mangan said. “It was rather crude in construction, but it could certainly injure somebody.”
Capt. Paul Chagolla with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said the pipe was not hidden. He said Hurd normally drove a motorcycle to work but was in a truck Friday because of the cool weather.
Sheriff’s officials rendered the device safe.
Hurd later told investigators the bomb was not his, and he had no idea where it came from, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.
Arpaio said investigators searched Hurd’s home but found nothing helpful. Hurd was not arrested, and Arpaio said he expects Hurd to help with the investigation.—AP
