Stray Shots From Range Strike Buildings Near Nuclear Power

Lusby, Maryland A state SWAT Team were conducting small arms training on a range located approximately .5 miles from the nuclear reactor towers on the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant when five bullets strayed from the range. No injuries were reported as the bullets hit two separate buildings and an unoccupied vehicle located thousands of feet from the range. One of the five bullets hit a window in a building causing one of its panes to shatter.

Plant security officers use the small arms range on the grounds of the power plant approximately 200 days a year. The range is also used regularly by county sheriff's deputies and by SWAT teams during a major annual training exercise. The incident occurred during the recent annual SWAT training exercise. SWAT members typically fire in a southward direction away from the plant but in one particular exercise, officers fired eastward toward the plant. When this occurred, five of the rounds fired cleared the 30-foot high berm and proceeded off-range.

Plant officials conducted an investigation and reported the incident to the NRC. At no time were the reactors in any danger of being compromised. Ballistics tests are underway to determine which officer(s) fired the shots that went astray.