>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&current_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]


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