Shearon Harris Powers Up Security Measures

Shearon Harris representatives liken the plant entrances to the secured access taking place at North Carolina's military bases. The plant has also been tested in mock terrorism drills supervised by the federal government.

"We have participated in those mock intruder tests, and I can tell you that the Harris plant has always done very well on those," says spokeswoman Jeanne Bonds.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission documents indicate Shearon Harris did well in the last mock terrorism drill it supervised in 1998.

Progress Energy, which owns the plant, says it also conducts its own terrorism drills at Shearon Harris once a year.

Meanwhile, Progress Energy plans to test its 81 sirens in the four-county vicinity of the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant. The tests will be conducted over the next several weeks, and cover sirens in Wake, Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties.

Bonds says the tests will be conducted at low volume and that some of the sirens will be upgraded.