WASHINGTON — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, reversing course, decided Tuesday against scrapping a program designed to test security against terrorist attacks at nuclear power plants.
The program, which was begun after the Gulf War in 1991, was quietly eliminated in September as part of a cost-cutting reorganization.
But the elimination prompted sharp criticism from some of the security specialists at the NRC and from some members of Congress after the Los Angeles Times ran a front page story about the plan.
NRC Chairman Shirley Ann Jackson ordered the reinstatement of the program Tuesday and the resumption of security evaluations that had been scheduled previously at 11 nuclear reactor facilities.
