Nuke plant

[JPmunson]

As a former guard at a nuke plant on the mississippi river in illinois, I will be the first to tell you, that any and every boat is watched until gone regardless if there is prior incident or not. Our goal was to not have an incident at all. The NRC and Homeland security want every hypothetical angle covered to stop incidents. There should be signs on the river about the situation and if you do not adhere, the dnr or police will be called to remove you. We can not do anything to you unless you are threatening to enter the facility and to cause harm and if that were the case, it would be up to the guard to make the decision of pulling a weapon and "neutralizing" the threat and I must say, there is no wound shots, there is only head and chest and they are trained to do so. Airplanes are also not allowed to fly over the plant at a certain altitude also and the law enforcement will be called for that also. If the guard can read the lettering with binocs on a boat or an airplane, you are too close and adviced to move along. The nuke plants do not mess around my friends!

[JPmunson]

9-11 was what caused the heightened awareness and it will take years and years for them to lay off. Yes there are laws that state you can not be there. I guess you can say they do own that part of the river.

[skee0025]

hence the reason for no magazine?? ;>)

I think you'll find that those without magazines were all former Army. I saw the same thing in Kuwait. An Army detail was doing security for some General that had just flown in and all their mags were in a sealed ammo can in the rear of one of the HMVEE's...

[MSRiverdog]

OK, someone has to ask the question. Why carry a gun as a guard and defender of people and property if you have to say to the perp.

"Hang on a minute, I have to go get bullets for my gun."

[JPmunson]

I dont know what kind of jack punkers work at this plant... But when I worked at my nuke plant, we were fully loaded at all times. Both on the person and in the towers. All I would have to do is pull the charging handle and aim and I would not run out of ammo for a long time and this is if I was on the ground walking! In the tower, I would have even more.

[eyeguy 54]

yikes, hopefully the guards all have good common sence and don't go postal. ;>) While I was in the Army we went on alert one time and they gave us an M16 and no magazine and we had to patrol around the barracks. On a mountaintop in Alaska! lol it was strange

[JPmunson]

Is that where you got the not carrying bullets from? They dont just give ANYONE guns (yes there is more than one) WHen I worked the nuke plant, we carried an AR-15 and a .357 at all times.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I guess I am going to be in the minority here and not saying this to sound offensive, but its a nuclear power plant and it should be securely guarded. I guess I am of the opinion that it needs to be guarded, either pre or post 9/11, it is a nuclear power plant after all.

I'm going to also add that prior to reading this post I had no idea about river access near the plant, guess I never thought of it despite driving by on the HWY 10 side and the 94 side knowing that the river runs past it

Now, in fairness to you guys fishing it, I agree with one of the earlier posters about that there should be some sort of postings both up river and down river from the plant that informs boaters of the rules, no anchoring, continued and controlled speed of xMPH or whatever.

[mrklean]

I guess I am going to be in the minority here and not saying this to sound offensive, but its a nuclear power plant and it should be securely guarded. I guess I am of the opinion that it needs to be guarded, either pre or post 9/11, it is a nuclear power plant after all.

I'm going to also add that prior to reading this post I had no idea about river access near the plant, guess I never thought of it despite driving by on the HWY 10 side and the 94 side knowing that the river runs past it

Now, in fairness to you guys fishing it, I agree with one of the earlier posters about that there should be some sort of postings both up river and down river from the plant that informs boaters of the rules, no anchoring, continued and controlled speed of xMPH or whatever.

Great post pink

[Brad B]

I guess I am going to be in the minority here and not saying this to sound offensive, but its a nuclear power plant and it should be securely guarded. I guess I am of the opinion that it needs to be guarded, either pre or post 9/11, it is a nuclear power plant after all.

I'm going to also add that prior to reading this post I had no idea about river access near the plant, guess I never thought of it despite driving by on the HWY 10 side and the 94 side knowing that the river runs past it

Now, in fairness to you guys fishing it, I agree with one of the earlier posters about that there should be some sort of postings both up river and down river from the plant that informs boaters of the rules, no anchoring, continued and controlled speed of xMPH or whatever.

to give you the idea of were the access is, it is located in montissippi park and the park land borders excels property. once you put in at the access at montissippi you head up river like no more then a 1/4 mile and the plant will be right there. like I said in a earlier post here 20+ years ago you could drive to the guard shack and sign in and give them your license plate number and they would let you drive down to the discharge area and fish.

[JPmunson]

THere should be all sorts of postings if it was posted properly and it should be buoyed off. THen the closer you get the signage should get more serious including armed guards on property and anyone who trespases will be fataly wounded... or something along the lines of that.

[JPmunson]

It should be posted, but people get [PoorWordUsage] off because they wanna fish it because the water is warmer especially in the winter and some people are in the mind set that no one owns the river, but in actuality, the nuke plants stationed on the river IS IN FACT the property of the nuke facility.

[misterj1954]

Simple solution would be to correct/change the wording of the signs that are posted. Currently the sign reads something to the effect "no stopping or anchoring within 500 feet...".

Boaters slip downstream (continue moving) and the guards get all testy. Simple solution would be to place buoys marking off the 500' distance and change the signs to read "approaching within the buoy area is prohibited". No questions.....no ambiguity.

[MSRiverdog]

I think 500' would close the river there to any boat traffic. Those guys are just doing their jobs, having drifted by there at least a hundred times over the years I have only been talked to maybe 4/5 times.

Funny thing is I have never been talked to at night and have been by there at least 15 times in the dark with folks on runs from my Champlin house in RF1. We spent time just looking at the plant cause it's a really cool site at night.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I bet that would be a cool site to see MSRiverdog, like I say, I just think that we as sportsman should be able to respect the regulations of the plant like we would for any private property posting. Just my

[eyeguy 54]

Is that where you got the not carrying bullets from? They dont just give ANYONE guns (yes there is more than one) WHen I worked the nuke plant, we carried an AR-15 and a .357 at all times.

just makin a joke on the earlier post. I have no idea what they carry for amo. :>)

[blackdog1101]

Heck, I walked well upriver from the Montissippi Park 2 Saturdays ago, probably 200 yards upstream from the high tension wires, and fly fished back down to the park, and never saw another soul for 3 hours. I didn't go all the way up to the discharge area since I was fly fishing and that water is too deep and fast. Glad I didn't get any of the guards upset. I guess #2 yellow streamers are OK with them.

[RumRiverRat]

I dont know what kind of jack punkers work at this plant... But when I worked at my nuke plant, we were fully loaded at all times. Both on the person and in the towers. All I would have to do is pull the charging handle and aim and I would not run out of ammo for a long time and this is if I was on the ground walking! In the tower, I would have even more.

Why would you have to pull your charging handle if you were fully loaded?

You carried your gun with an empty chamber?

Did you work for Wackenhut?

[mainbutter]

I like to wonder what would happen if I dressed in a dark hoodie with nondescript jeans and shoes, with huge sunglasses that cover all of my face, and take lots of pictures with a high-power lens SLR as I float past.

:P

[EBass]

I understand the security issue since 9/11, but we are fishermen/fisherwomen armed with tubes, buzzbaits and dreams of catching a pig fish. It's not like I'm going to pull out a RPG from my live well as I float by.

Mainbutter - lettus know how that goes

[JPmunson]

Because we are required to have a breach block in to keep the bullet out of the chamber and all we do is pull the charging handle back to eject the breach block just like a round were to come out. Takes less than one second. For the one who responded about only having fishing tackle.... we dont know that! your as likely to pull something out as a drunk guy wandering into our area (actually happened) That is why those signs are put there...to keep EVERYBODY out! regardless if your sight seeing, chasing a deer you shot (Thats right, your deer is lost.. they will not let you in to get it) or fishing in the river. You will get one warning to leave the premises and all it takes is one guard to think your trying to get in and one bullet. There are NO wound shots, only head or center mass and we are trained to shoot long distance. I strongly advise to anyone not to mess around out there regardless if fishing or not. That stuff is put there for your protection guys!!

[JPmunson]

rum river... no I didnt work for them but have heard of their bonehead moves! lol

[blackdog1101]

That is why those signs are put there...to keep EVERYBODY out! regardless if your sight seeing, chasing a deer you shot (Thats right, your deer is lost.. they will not let you in to get it) or fishing in the river. You will get one warning to leave the premises and all it takes is one guard to think your trying to get in and one bullet. There are NO wound shots, only head or center mass and we are trained to shoot long distance. I strongly advise to anyone not to mess around out there regardless if fishing or not. That stuff is put there for your protection guys!!

That's a stupid "macho" attitude. If a person is not acting in a threatening manner, and is on a PUBLIC river - that's right, the nuke plant doesn't own the river or the river bed - then the guards should back off. As long as someone has their feet wet, and is not acting in a threatening manner, the guards have no legal recourse but to watch that person fish, wade, float, watch birds, etc.

[hockeybc69]

Macho or not.... its a nuke plant.... Do you really think its just the management of the plant making the rules??? Think again.

[eyeguy 54]

It's GWs fault...