>Hello, > >Last summer we were talking about nuclear energy in >this BIOFUELS newsgroup. >Somebody told that (most or all?) nuclear powerplants >have been designed so that they are able to withstand >fighter aircraft which falls onto the dome of the >powerplant. >But can the domes withstand to a falling full-loaded >passenger plane? >Or to a falling helicopter with 5 tons of explosives >onboard? > >If some nuclear plants are really resistant to such >attacks, can we say the same about all plants? > >Mati Kokk
... Mr. Clements said threats from the air -- such as missile attacks and crashing airliners -- haven't been given much thought, and that these installations are just as defenceless to such an attack as the Pentagon and other office buildings. "Aerial attack is not really considered and we think that the plants are vulnerable, even though they have a thick containment dome," he said. Nuclear reactors labelled sitting ducks By MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT Thursday, September 13, 2001 - Page A5 If the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center caused havoc and possibly killed thousands, just think of another frightening scenario: assaults on atomic-power plants. Nuclear stations are vulnerable to terrorists, who could cause panic far more severe than an attack on an office building if they succeeded in breaching reactors' containment systems, warns a prominent U.S. nuclear expert. Tom Clements, head of the Washington, D.C., Nuclear Control Institute, an independent non-proliferation watchdog, says the security systems at atomic-power facilities can easily be breached by determined terrorists. "Potentially, it could be many times worse than what we've seen [in New York] because it could result in radiation and fallout over a vast area that would have a devastating economic effect," Mr. Clements said. Mr. Clements said threats from the air -- such as missile attacks and crashing airliners -- haven't been given much thought, and that these installations are just as defenceless to such an attack as the Pentagon and other office buildings. "Aerial attack is not really considered and we think that the plants are vulnerable, even though they have a thick containment dome," he said. In Canada, all four of the utilities that operate reactors took their stations to higher security levels after the attacks, according to an official. Jim Leveque, spokesman for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federal nuclear watchdog body, said the country's four nuclear operators -- Ontario Power Generation, Hydro Quebec, New Brunswick Power, and Bruce Energy -- all instituted additional security measures in response to the U.S. attacks. Although authorities express confidence in their security measures, most of which are classified information and not public, some independent critics are not so sure. Mr. Clements says one worrisome development is that in simulated attacks at U.S. reactors, security systems are frequently breached. "It's quite apparent that the facilities are very difficult to defend," Mr. Clements said. "I mean [terrorists] can just go right in, over the fence, take out the guards and get in." In the simulations, security systems failed at about 50 per cent of the plants tested, meaning the mock attackers would have been able to disable enough plant systems to cause significant core damage. Mr. Clements said Canadian reactor security may be even more lax than in the U.S., which is considered to have the world's best safeguards. He said he was stunned by the low security levels he observed in Canada during a tour of Atomic Energy of Canada's Chalk River research facility in Ontario. "I was appalled by the lack of security in that control room," he said. http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/ common/FullStory.html&cf=tgam/common/FullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/ config&vg=BigAdVariableGenerator&date=20010913&dateOffset=&hub=nationa l&title=national&cache_key=national¤t_row=1&start_row=1&num_rows =1 US urges nuclear plant precautions after attack http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12378/story.htm USA: September 12, 2001 WASHINGTON - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday recommended that all U.S. nuclear power plants and nuclear fuel facilities go to the highest level of security as a precautionary measure in response to devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. [more] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> FREE COLLEGE MONEY CLICK HERE to search 600,000 scholarships! http://us.click.yahoo.com/47cccB/4m7CAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
