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The panel concluded by warning that additional study of security at the nation's nuclear plants "is needed urgently." It said twice that the review should be done by someone "independent of the NRC and the nuclear industry." That's a frightening postscript. Since 9/11, virtually everything having to do with nuclear-plant security has been in the hands of the NRC and the nuclear industry. Diaz takes offense at the N.A.S.'s pointed snub of his agency's expertise. "The recommendation was not well justified," he says. "I don't believe we need anybody to come in and do it, because nobody can do it better than we can." --With reporting by Bruce Crumley/Paris