Waterford — The security gate at the Millstone Power Station has been moved about a half mile south on the access road to the nuclear power plant.

Ken Holt, spokesman for the plant, said Wednesday that the security gate, which continues to be staffed by guards, was relocated by plant owner Dominion last week to better accommodate the increased number of workers during the refueling outage for Unit 2.

The outage began on Saturday and is expected to last about a month.

During the outage, extra personnel are brought in to do maintenance and improvements on the plant that cannot be done while it is operating.

“With the extra personnel, the traffic can back up onto Route 156” as they are waiting to be checked into the plant at the security gate, he said.

The gate, which had been located near the training building, is now closer to the plant. A private contractor, G4S Secure Solutions, provides the security guards who protect the plant.

“We’ve also strengthened security around the fence line with large concrete blocks and boulders to prevent vehicles from being able to enter,” Holt said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was informed of the changes, which are “in accord with security regulations for the station,” Holt said.

Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the NRC, said agency did not have to give its approval for the changes.