Two hours after planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, guards at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania were still struggling to close a gate designed to stop terrorists from entering. Security problems don't stop at the front gate at nuclear plants -- but the evidence suggests that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission doesn't have safety foremost on its mind. The commission is considering a measure, backed by industry, that would allow utilities to design, administer, and grade their own security tests. Moreover, it has consistently thwarted efforts by citizens groups to mandate additional security measures, such as reinforced barriers around radioactive materials and contingency plans for attacks by land and air. In the second part of a two-part series on nuclear security, Shelley Smithson takes a look at the NRC's relationship with citizens groups and the nuclear lobby, only on the Grist Magazine website.