[CTRL] Fwd: FTW Subscriber Bulletin 01-22 -- FOX News Confirms FTW Surface To Air M...

[William Shannon]

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In a story posted today, FOX News has confirmed fears of attacks on nuclear power plants using commercial airliners. The report, jointly written with the AP, even has a photograph of a jetliner flying directly over the Three Mile Island Nuclear Facility. FTW warned of a threat to this facility on October 19. I have received dated documents today, originating with computer expert Michael Riconosciuto, that clearly confirm that he had warned the FBI and members of Congress that Islamic terrorist groups were in possession of Strella-3 and IGLA-9 surface-to-air missiles as long ago as this February. The story follows. You may view the photo and the story at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,37157,00.html. What else aren't we being told?  Mike Ruppert - www.copvcia.com    Details of Nuclear Power Left Open AP Photo: A passenger plane flies over Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Wednesday, October 24, 2001  WASHINGTON — A study that could serve as a veritable how-to guide for terrorists interested in waging a nuclear attack on the U.S. was available to the public until a few hours ago.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission study, which details the catastrophic effects a jetliner crash could have on a U.S. nuclear reactor, remained available in spite of evidence dating to 1994 that terrorists wanted to strike nuclear power plants and continued to be available after Sept. 11. The 119-page report was available for public inspection in the NRC reading room. Moreover, the very fact that reactors are vulnerable contradicts assurances made by nuclear officials in the aftermath of last month's attacks. Ten days after the attacks, the NRC corrected assertions that American nuclear power plants could withstand the crash of a commercial jetliner, and said it could not rule out the possibility that a suicide hijacker could cause structural damage to a plant and force the release of some radioactivity. "Nuclear power plants were not designed to withstand such crashes," it said. The 1982 study by the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory detailed the likely damage that a jetliner at certain speeds could inflict on the thick concrete containment walls protecting reactors. Though it addressed only accidental crashes, it included a chart that identified the speeds at which a jetliner would begin to transfer its force into the primary containment wall and interior structure of a nuclear reactor.  And it estimated that if just 1 percent of a jetliner's fuel ignited after impact it would create an explosion equivalent to 1,000 pounds of dynamite inside a reactor building already damaged by the impact. The more fuel, the worse the explosion.  The ignition of fuel "could lead to a rather violent explosion environment and impose upon the primary containment relatively severe loads," the report said. The report added that U.S. nuclear regulators may have underestimated the potential damage from such explosions.  The report didn't estimate at what point lethal radiation might be released in a crash. But it noted, "the breaching of some of the plant's concrete barriers may often be tantamount to a release of radioactivity." The report also suggested federal nuclear regulators had underestimated the potential damage caused by subsequent fire and explosions in such a crash.  "It appears that fire and explosion hazards have been treated with much less care than the direct aircraft impact," the report said. "Therefore the claim that these fire/explosion effects do not represent a threat to nuclear power plant facilities has not been clearly demonstrated."  An NRC spokesman said Wednesday the agency has removed the document from its reading room and was also deleting from its public Web site similarly sensitive materials that could benefit terrorists.  "Clearly we've begun our effort with our Web site which we know is the vehicle through which one is most easily able to access information, technical reports and documents. That's our first priority," spokesman Victor Dricks said.  Dricks said the NRC has "had people working around the clock" to implement numerous improved security measures since Sept. 11, including some which specifically address vulnerabilities to suicide hijackers.  As for why officials hadn't taken such precautions beforehand, Dricks added:  "It was never considered credible that suicidal terrorists would hijack a large commercial airliner and deliberately crash it into a nuclear power plant."  The federal whistle-blowers group that discovered the document Oct. 3 in the NRC reading room while researching for a lawsuit said it was astonished such sensitive information was left public.  Attorney Michael Kohn, general counsel for the National Whistleblower Center, said that when he was shown the document, he was astonished that such material was still in the public domain.  "And I still can't believe it," Kohn said.  Kohn's group, which has successfully represented numerous nuclear plant workers in whistle-blower lawsuits, cited the document in a lawsuit it is filing this week.  The suit asks the NRC to order immediate security changes at nuclear plants, including deploying anti-missile weapons and posting armed guards outside spent fuel storage areas that have lesser security. U.S. officials have known at least since the mid-1990s that terrorists wanted to strike a nuclear power plant. Ramzi Yousef, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, encouraged followers in 1994 to strike such a plant, officials say. An FBI agent testified in court that one of Yousef's followers told him in 1995 of plans to blow up a nuclear plant. And in 1999, the NRC acknowledged to Congress it received a credible threat of a terrorist attack against a nuclear power facility. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a frequent NRC critic, said the report suggests the government should have prepared to guard against a jetliner crash much earlier, and urged the agency to do so now.  "This document is disturbing because it makes clear the NRC knows that a nuclear power plant can be successfully attacked by an aircraft and that information has been public for nearly 20 years," Markey said.  The Associated Press contributed to this report.  ŠAssociated Press. All rights reserved. Fox News Network, LLC 2001. All rights reserved.

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