Phoenix: Security officials at America s largest nuclear power plant have detained a contract worker with a small explosive device in the back of his pickup truck, authorities said. The Department of Homeland Security in Washington yesterday said there was no known terrorism link to the incident, and that the FBI and local law enforcement were leading the investigation. The worker was stopped and detained at the entrance of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, about a half mile from the containment domes where the plant s nuclear material is stored, plant spokesman Jim McDonald said.

Security officials then put the nuclear station on lockdown, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving the facility. Authorities described the device as a six-inch capped explosive made of galvanized pipe that contained suspicious residue. It was likely homemade, said Tom Mangan, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said. "If this thing went off in the bed of the truck, it certainly would put a hole in it," Mangan said. "It was rather crude in construction, but it could certainly injure somebody." Capt.

Paul Chagolla with the Maricopa County Sheriff s Office said the pipe was not hidden in the truck. "There s no information to indicate that there s domestic terrorism at hand," Chagolla said. Sheriff s officials rendered the device safe and investigators were interviewing the man, who was originally from South Carolina, Chagolla said.

Source : PTI