Civil Nuclear police have admitted to a series of security blunders at power stations around the country, including an incident at Hunterston B.
The Civil Nuclear Constabulary stressed that the incidents were ‘low risk’, and each breach was dealt with “swiftly and robustly”.
At Hunterston B, a warrant card went missing in December 2015, and once reported, was immediately deactivated, and the officer given “advice and guidance” by his supervisor.
The information of the loss was then circulated to all sites, and reported to local police.
The loss was one of 21 breaches of security last year around the UK, including 13 stolen or lost smart phones and identity cards.
Dr Richard Dixon of Friends of the Earth said: “Terrorists must be delighted with this catalogue of cock-ups. It seems you just have to follow some nuclear police around for a while and they’ll drop their pass in a car park, leave a work phone on the train or accidentally send secret info through Google mail. It would be laughable if it wasn’t about the safety of some of the most dangerous sites in the UK.”
The CNC has an annual budget of £100 million and 1,100 armed police officers with access to eight different weapons systems. Its latest annual report, published online, disclosed the 21 security breaches in the year to this April, compared to 13 in 2014-15.
The government watchdog, the Office for Nuclear Regulation, had stated in its 2015-16 annual report that there were areas where security arrangements at nuclear plants “did not fully meet regulatory expectations”.
Civil Nuclear police chief constable Mike Griffiths underlined that the incidents reported were low risk, and said: “CNC takes any potential security issues extremely seriously and has a robust and tested process for recording and dealing with any reported breaches.
“We encourage our staff to self-report any potential security issues,” he said.
“In the majority of these cases the incident was indeed reported by the person who was responsible for the breach. This demonstrates that our employees are committed to maintaining a secure working environment and are fully aware of the security procedures.”
“We remain committed to maintaining a security culture at CNC and ensuring any security breaches are kept to a minimum and dealt with swiftly and robustly.”
An EDF Energy spokesperson said “EDF Energy’s highest priority is the safety and security of the public, its staff, buildings and installations. All of our civil nuclear sites have strong security measures in place which we regularly review and adjust. The CNC are deployed at all EDF Energy’s nuclear sites to further enhance the already robust security arrangements. Provision was made for this by the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, 2001. 
"These officers work alongside the existing security teams at each station. 
"The Office for Nuclear Regulation is our safety and security regulator and is the independent body responsible for approving the level of security on our sites. We will continue to work with them and will act upon any instructions or recommendations.”