Kansas to let nuclear plant guards "shoot to kill" [!-- END HEADLINE --] [DIV id=ynmain][!-- BEGIN STORY BODY --] [DIV id=storybody] [DIV class=storyhdr] [EM class=timedate]Wed Mar 22, 6:42 PM ET[/i]
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Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a bill on Wednesday authorizing security guards to shoot to kill to protect the state's lone nuclear power plant.
"There's no doubt that nuclear facilities are a potential target for terrorists," said Sebelius in a press statement. "Kansas has one nuclear plant, Wolf Creek, and we must make sure it's properly protected. Allowing guards to use deadly force in certain circumstances increases the security of the plant, and of our state," said Sebelius.
The law is called the "Nuclear Generating Facility Security Guard Act."
Texas and Arizona have similar laws and the Kansas measure grew out of the legislature's joint committee on campus security, according to the Kansas governor's office.
The Wolf Creek nuclear power station generates 1,200 megawatts of electricity, which can power about 1 million homes.
A spokesman at the governor's office was not able to say whether there had been attacks on the Wolf Creek plant since it began operation in 1985 in Burlington in Coffey County, about 100 miles southwest of Kansas City.
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