Suspect in attempted murder, hit and run at South Carolina nuclear power plant taken into custody - WJCL News Savannah
South Carolina: Suspect captured in nuclear power plant incident
Suspect in attempted murder, hit and run at South Carolina nuclear power plant taken into custody
Investigators tracked the man to an abandoned home in South Carolina.
Above file video: Initial coverage of the incident
(CNN) — A man accused of driving through a fence at a South Carolina nuclear power station and trying to hit a security officer with his vehicle this week was arrested Friday evening, a sheriff’s office said.
Doyle Wayne Whisenhunt, 66, of Lockesburg, Arkansas, has been charged in connection with Thursday night’s incident at the Oconee Nuclear Station, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office said.
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Whisenhunt was taken into custody Friday at an abandoned home in South Carolina’s Pickens County, the sheriff’s office said.
Whisenhunt is accused of accelerating his Toyota Camry toward a security officer on the station’s grounds “in an attempt to cause great bodily harm or death” on Thursday, the sheriff’s office said, citing an arrest warrant.
The Arkansas man also used his car to strike gates and fencing outside of the secured area of the plant, damaging them, the sheriff’s office said Friday. The office earlier said the car had driven through a fence.
Whisenhunt was not authorized to be on the property, the sheriff’s office said. Authorities have not released details about a motive.
Whisenhunt is charged with attempted murder, malicious injury to personal property and unlawful entry into an enclosed place.
Whisenhunt also faces a hit-and-run charge stemming from a car crash near the plant on the same day, the sheriff’s office said.
CNN’s attempts to determine whether Whisenhunt had an attorney weren’t immediately successful.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: nuclear
Nuclear energy provides almost 20 percent of the U.S. electricity supply. Advocates have called for an expanded role for nuclear as an emissions-free fuel source. But the economics of building new reactors are daunting. In addition, lingering safety concerns are an institutionalized part of the calculation of nuclear regulation, and highly radioactive nuclear waste remains a can that public officials have been inclined to kick down the road. The Energy Information Administration projects a sharp decline in nuclear power generation over the next decade, as new nuclear plants — two are planned — are more than offset by anticipated retirements of several operating reactors.