Nuclear agency: air defenses impractical

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday that nuclear power plant operators should not be expected to stop terrorists from crashing an airliner into a reactor, saying that responsibility lies elsewhere.

Plant operators instead should focus on limiting radioactive releases and public exposure from any such airborne attack, the agency said in a revised defense plan for America's nuclear plants.

"The active protection against airborne threats is addressed by other federal organizations, including the military," the NRC said in a statement.

The agency rejected a proposal by a nuclear watchdog group that power plants be required to erect a "lattice-like" device or other barrier that would prevent an aircraft from impacting a reactor containment dome.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070129/ap_on_go_ot/reactor_security

[jpak]

1. In other words - Homeland Security is not our problem

Good thing Al Queda never planned to attack unnamed California nuclear plants as part of the 9/11 operations...

:sarcasm:

Maybe Iran needs some of those "lattice" barriers at their Bushehr reactor??

[TheWraith]

2. This isn't nearly as much of a threat as it sounds like.

A nuclear reactor is, at least compared to a skyscraper, a tiny building and low to the ground. Not to mention the fact that containment buildings are designed to withstand extreme conditions, so anything less than a direct strike would likely not penetrate the protective wall. They actually tested that with a setup in Japan.

Besides which, I don't believe terrorists--if there were any in the US, which there aren't--would target a reactor. It's their mentality. They want a body count right now, not five thousand additional cancers ten years from now.

[jpak]

3. The National Academy of Sciences begs to differ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1375885

and the 9/11 Commission reported that nuclear reactors WERE on AQ's original target list for the 9/11 attacks.

Also - AQ pilots had no problem hitting the Pentagon.

Sorry to burst yer bubble...

[Zynx]

7. 767 would bounce off a containment building.

The only "easy" way to take one out is to drop a nuclear weapon on it.

[MadHound]

8. Whatever you're smoking, I want no part of it

A 767 would indeed plow right through a containment building. I've seen the walls of containment buildings up close and personal. I know how they're constructed. I've worked at a nuke plant and know the specs that a containment building is built to, and while a Cessna, helicopter, and possibly even a Learjet wouldn't break through, I guaran-goddamn-tee you that a 767 would plow right on through any containment building out there and come to rest at the bottom of the pool, thus setting off a huge catastrophe. Containment building are thick, solid, sturdy. But they aren't impermeable. Hell, look at Chernobyl.

[NickB79]

9. Chernobyl didn't have a containment structure

http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Features/Chernobyl-15/cherno-faq.shtml

"RBMK reactors do not have what is known as a containment structure, a concrete and steel dome over the reactor itself designed to keep radiation inside the plant in the event of such an accident. Consequently, radioactive elements including plutonium, iodine, strontium and caesium were scattered over a wide area."

[daleo]

4. Someone did a pretty fancy job of flying into the Pentagon

At ground level. So, I wouldn't say this is beyond the capacities of "whomever".

[Massacure]

5. The pentagon isn't a four foot thick reinforced concrete wall though.

The airforce attached a F-4 Phantom to a rocket sled once and ran it into a four foot thick concrete wall, and the wall suffered very little damage.

Here's a video of it:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5627408664316784289

[daleo]

6. I had trouble with the video, but I will take your word on it

No doubt nuclear containment vessels are built strong. I don't know if a 911 type attack would crack one, but the collapse of the towers took people by surprise. You can't really know about these things until the experiment is run, I guess (and nobody wants that).