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| Car Crashes at Nuclear Weapons Plant |
| 2007-07-30 |
| OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) - A driver ran a checkpoint at a nuclear weapons plant early Monday and crashed into a barrier, then fled on foot, authorities said. Guards at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, a primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium, said the man "appeared to be impaired in some way" when they stopped him around 5 a.m. at a security checkpoint near a rear entrance, spokesman Bill Wilburn said. They asked him for identification, but the man hit the gas and drove through the checkpoint, then crashed into security barriers a short distance away, Wilburn said. "When he hit that, he jumped out of the car and ran away. He left the car there with the engine still running," Wilburn said. He said the guards told him the car had been hot-wired. Oak Ridge police were searching for the driver. Wilburn said he had no other details. Steve Wyatt, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration in Oak Ridge, which oversees the Y-12 plant, downplayed the crash, saying it was "next to nothing." The plant makes and dismantles uranium parts in nuclear warheads. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #23 or "seeking" even....jeebus |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-07-30 22:33 |
| #22 Skynet ethanol-seking robots confirm kill...er...interrogation and release |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-07-30 21:47 |
| #21 Lost astronaut, no doubt. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2007-07-30 21:11 |
| #20 How the suspect's last name is spelled and his place of birth will probably tell the whole story. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-30 19:54 |
| #19 what I don't understand is how he got away. I would have expected a facility like this to have at least a few guards that can run and jump and stuff. ** Mike, Yer talkin about DOE renta-cops. Fat, un-atheletic renta-cops. They're prolly just like, if not related to the perp. It's a toss up as to wether they will shoot and run, or just run if attacked. I have some interesting child-hood memories of when these lumps would go on strike, and saleried Phd types like my parents would be pressed into guard duty. The sad part is, the nuclear physicists actualy made better guards. Expensive guards, tho. |
| Posted by: N Guard 2007-07-30 19:32 |
| #18 Actually, in that particular formation, Ian Fleming (by way of Auric Goldfinger) *is* the source. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-07-30 18:43 |
| #17 'Once is happenstance, ... First time I ever came across it was a James Bond novel. I rather suspect it has a more traditional origin. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-07-30 18:37 |
| #16 Even if he did have someone putting words in his mouth. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-07-30 18:36 |
| #15 Well, certainly said by a very well off gentleman. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-07-30 18:36 |
| #14 Hyde Park, no doubt. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-07-30 18:30 |
| #13 Its an old saying from Chicago... :-) |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-07-30 18:27 |
| #12 Wasn't this the site last week that reported the theft of some classified material by an employee? What's that old line: 'Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence and the third time it's enemy action?' bonus points for the source..... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-07-30 15:03 |
| #11 I would have expected a facility like this to have at least a few guards that can run and jump and stuff. There are. The ones at the first gate probably are allowed to leave their post. And its what OldSpook said, the deadly force is reserved to other parts of the "Campus". |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2007-07-30 14:57 |
| #10 "Facility" = the entire area. That much I understand, what I don't understand is how he got away. I would have expected a facility like this to have at least a few guards that can run and jump and stuff. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-07-30 14:29 |
| #9 No worries. First he would have to get by the giant killer robots, then the lair of the fire breathing dragon Gnargh, and the valley of the flesh eating trolls, before even getting near the 2nd checkpoint. If the radioactive zombies didn't get him. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-07-30 14:13 |
| #8 Maybe he met with Deadly Force and they just said he ran away. (/tinfoil) |
| Posted by: eLarson 2007-07-30 14:12 |
| #7 "Facility" = the entire area. This was the outer perimeter fence, with barriers behind it, then probably a bit of a drive to get to anything that matters, which would be behind another set of fences, etc, with the "Deadly Force" signs around them. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-07-30 14:02 |
| #6 He got away?????? WTF is going on in my country! If some drunk can crash into a nuke facility and just run away, we are all in very deep shiat. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-07-30 13:15 |
| #5 stopped him around 5 a.m. at a security checkpoint near a rear entranc I know exactly where this happend. Unless the perp is named mohammed, he's a local boy who was trying to get home on a sunday night after a wild weekend. One of the bars down the road near the interstate was this guy's most likely point of origin. Knew he was way past the legal limit, made a wrong turn onto bear creek road, and you can fill in the rest. It is an easy mistake to make on that road, if you are either new to the area, or mentaly impared in some way. |
| Posted by: N Guard 2007-07-30 13:03 |
| #4 I s'pose there could be more than one reason for the car to be hot-wired... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-07-30 12:53 |
| #3 I been there. If you make a wrong turn you dont know a checkpoint is down the road. There's no place to turn around with being obvious. Might have just had a panic attack (drug induced or not). |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2007-07-30 12:27 |
| #2 Steve Wyatt sounds like a man doing a fine job. Hope this didn't interrupt his nap... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-07-30 12:02 |
| #1 I see he wasn't drunk enough to elude and evade capture, after that incident. God, I hope this wasn't some kind of orchestrated 'dry run' on this facility to gauge reaction and probe weak points. I hope they catch this guy! |
| Posted by: smn 2007-07-30 11:55 |