Disturbing details of June’s Esquire Magazine article, “Mercenary,” by Tom Junod, requires a full federal investigation of security at Palisades nuclear power plant on the Lake Michigan shoreline and other U.S. nuclear plants, the Michigan Environmental Council said today.

The article suggests a grievous security breach at Palisades. The plant’s security chief, William Clark, may have faked much of his résumé and security clearance to get the job and spun bizarre and probably false tales about his past as a covert government assassin, according to Esquire.

Read the article online here: http://www.esquire.com/features/mercenary0607

A federal investigation should encompass security screening at nuclear waste storage sites, including the former Big Rock Point site, where radioactive spent nuclear fuel sits indefinitely under armed guard near Charlevoix.

“Public safety is dependent on vigilant protections by both the companies and government regulators who oversee these nuclear plants,” said Lana Pollack, president of the Michigan Environmental Council. “This individual told Esquire of deep emotional problems and stories of a violent past, stories which appear mostly to be untrue.”

“Either way, the idea that he had full access to the Palisades plant and a fully-armed team of guards who answered to him would be a stunning security lapse,” she said.

Palisades was acquired by Entergy Corp. from Consumers Energy Co. earlier this year. Clark was hired a year-and-a-half ago, according to Esquire.

A spokesman for Palisades said Tuesday that Clark recently went on medical leave and has resigned from his job.

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