"Don't you know what you are doing is against the law?" shouted the Westinghouse Nuclear facility's rent-a-cop from the other side of Bluff Rd. about 10 miles outside of Columbia, SC and on the edge of the Congaree Swamp. Even though my ride just pulled off and a small group of employees of the facility have me surrounded in BFSC, I'm not intimidated by their middle school bully tactics or their ignorant Myrtle Beach hotel security guard.

Westinghouse Facility Photos

Fifteen minutes before I was standing on the shoulder of South Carolina State Route 48 waiting for my lens to defog - caused by the transition from car AC to June in South Carolina. It appeared to be a shift change at the plant as a line a vehicles flooded out from the gated entrance. I pondered my options for the assignment while I waited. The facility itself was nowhere in sight, almost a half a mile away and obscured by a thick line of trees. I could photograph the Westinghouse sign or the line of vehicles coming out of the nuclear plant. I did both.

And then people got scared.

Westinghouse Facility Photos

It started with the cameras (oh no!), even stopping in the middle of the highway to capture my beauty. I would have felt like a celebrity, except I knew their motives were different. Then the guy in the Lexus drove across the road to my side and stopped sideways in the turn lane. He was not calm. He got out and started shouting, interogating me. I told him I was a freelance photojournalist and my affiliations. He was combative and aggressive. It was not a conducive atmosphere for communication. Eventually I told him I no longer had time for his questions.

Meanwhile, a Toyota pick-up pulled up on the other side of Bluff, and it's driver yelled about calling the Sheriff's Department. Go ahead dude, I just met those guys last week on assignment.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott

And then the security guard came bumbling over the grassy knoll to shout about laws he knew nothing of.

Eventually, a rational human appeared on the knoll and addressed me in an noncombative manner to determine my intentions. He soon realized that I was neither a threat nor breaking any laws, and helped to de-escalate the situation. So, what was everybody so scared about? Below are the images I shot for the assignment. Like I said, you can't even see the facility from the road.

Westinghouse Facility Photos Westinghouse Facility Photos

For those wondering, our current laws allow for photography from any public space, like the shoulder of a road even if the photography is of something privately owned. There are a handful of exceptions to this - including some specifics regarding nuclear sites - but if you can see it from the road it's fair game. And just to be sure I checked with the Law Library of Congress to make sure there was no law specific to that location that would trump the laws already in place. They could not find one.

Read the story, by Corey Hutchins below:

The Nuke Factory in Your Backyard

How the U.S. quietly turned a civilian atomic power site into a so-called bomb facility — and what it means for the global arms race