Nuclear plant worker with bomb stopped

WINTERSBURG, Ariz. -- Security officials at the nation's largest nuclear power plant detained a contract worker with a small pipe bomb in the back of his pickup truck Friday, and investigators were searching his apartment, authorities said.

It didn't appear to be an act of terrorism, authorities said, but they were still trying to determine why the device was in the truck.

The worker, identified as Roger William Hurd of Goodyear, Ariz., was stopped at the entrance of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, about half a mile from the containment domes where the plant's nuclear material is stored, plant spokesman Jim McDonald said.

Security officials put the nuclear station on lockdown, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving the facility. The lockdown was lifted a few hours later.

Authorities described the device as a six-inch capped explosive made of galvanized 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."

Maricopa County Sheriff's Capt. Paul Chagolla said the pipe was not hidden in the truck. He said Hurd normally drove a motorcycle to work but was in a truck Friday because of cool weather.

Hurd was interviewed and authorities were searching his apartment in Phoenix with his consent, but he but had not been arrested, Chagolla said.

"There's no information to indicate that there's domestic terrorism at hand," he said.

In Washington, the Department of Homeland Security also said there was no known terrorism link.

Sheriff's officials rendered the device safe, Chagolla said.

"Our security personnel acted cautiously and appropriately, demonstrating that our security process and procedures work as designed," Randy Edington, the chief nuclear officer for plant operator Arizona Public Service Co., said in a news release.

The detention was considered an "unusual event" -- the lowest of four emergencies the plant can declare, said Jim Melfi, an inspector with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

There was no threat to the public, McDonald said.

Doug Walters, the senior director of security for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry group, said Palo Verde's response was "exactly what you would expect it to be."

"We have a checkpoint for this reason," he said. "They were able to identify a suspicious item in the truck. I don't know what they could have done differently."

Everyone who has access to the plant must submit to a background check, McDonald said.