U.S. nuclear plants vulnerable to terrorists

[kristopher]

U.S. nuclear plants vulnerable to terrorists
NRC-licensed facilities found to be susceptible to theft of nuclear material, acts of sabotage
BY JOEL GRIFFIN
CREATED: AUGUST 16, 2013


(Photo courtesy stock.xchng/gc85)
A new report from the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project has found that nuclear facilities across the U.S. are alarmingly vulnerable to acts of terrorism.


Commercial and research nuclear facilities across the U.S. are inadequately protected against the threat of terrorism, according to the results of new study released this week by the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (NPPP) at the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs. The two biggest terror threats facing these facilities, according to the report, are the theft of bomb grade nuclear materials and sabotage attacks aimed at causing a nuclear reactor meltdown.

The study, entitled "Protecting U.S. Nuclear Facilities from Terrorist Attack: Re-assessing the Current 'Design Basis Threat' Approach," found not one of the 104 commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S. is protected against a "maximum credible terrorist attack," such as 9/11. In fact, nuclear facilities are not required to protect themselves against airplane attacks, assaults by large teams of terrorists or even high-power sniper rifles.

Some other items of concern highlighted in the report include:
Though some power plants are accessible by sea, they are not required to protect themselves against ship-borne attacks. These reactors include Diablo Canyon in Calif., St. Lucie in Fla., Brunswick in N.C., Surry in Va., Indian Point in N.Y., Millstone in Conn., Pilgrim in Mass., and the South Texas Project.
Three civilian research reactors fueled by bomb-grade uranium are vulnerable to theft and are not defended against a "posited terrorist threat." These reactors include the University of Missouri in Columbia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore suburb of Gaithersburg.
According to report co-author Professor Alan J. Kuperman, Ph.D., the coordinator of the NPPP, the study came about after the Pentagon approached UT seeking to find out whether some of their nuclear facilities were under-protected or overprotected. Kuperman said the NPPP’s role was to assess the government’s reliance on the Design Basis Threat (DBT), which is used to establish requirements for protecting U.S. nuclear facilities. The report compares the DBT approach within and across three agencies – the Pentagon, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"The Design Basis Threat varies not only between the agencies, but between facilities within each agency," Kuperman said in a press conference on Thursday...

http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/11117139/report-finds-us-nuclear-reactors-are-vulnerable-to-acts-of-terrorism

[Mnemosyne]

1. K&R, though seems no one cares much. I do. nt

[mbperrin]

2. 20 years ago, in 1993, we drove by the South Texas site, and even then,

I was amazed that it was just a few hundred yards off the road with a chain link fence and open gate, and no other security that I could see.

Of course, I get told by some people that these plants are so green that I suppose if anything were stolen, it would be good for us!

[kristopher]

3. You must have been talking to Mr. Robinson etal

Oregon's GOP Chair Wants to Sprinkle Nuclear Waste From Airplanes
—By Tim Murphy| Fri Aug. 16, 2013 3:00 AM PDT

After months of in-fighting, the beleaguered Oregon Republican Party elected a new chairman last weekend. His name is Art Robinson, and he wants to sprinkle radioactive waste from airplanes to build up our resistance to degenerative illnesses. Robinson, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress against progressive Rep. Peter DeFazio in 2010 and 2012, took over after the previous chair resigned in advance of a recall campaign over her alleged financial mismanagement.

Robinson, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry, has marketed himself for the last three decades as an expert on everything from nuclear fallout to AIDS to climate science in the pages of a monthly newsletter, Access to Energy, which he published from his compound in the small town of Cave Junction. A quick glance at his writings, which were publicized during his ill-fated challenges to DeFazio, suggest that whatever the failings of the previous party leadership—Democrats now hold all statewide elected offices and control both houses of the state Legislature—Robinson brings with him a new set of challenges entirely.

On nuclear waste: "All we need do with nuclear waste is dilute it to a low radiation level and sprinkle it over the ocean—or even over America after hormesis is better understood and verified with respect to more diseases." And: "If we could use it to enhance our own drinking water here in Oregon, where background radiation is low, it would hormetically enhance our resistance to degenerative diseases. Alas, this would be against the law."

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/08/oregon-gop-art-robinson-nuclear-waste-airplanes

[mbperrin]

4. No, it was some folks here on DU, but it's just about that idiotic.

I live 30 miles from the newest US nuclear dump, and of course, the first thing they're putting in there is the waste from all the other dumps that leaked.

Right on top of our drinking water as well.

I will be sad when 5 generations of family work will be completely wasted by leaks into our groundwater.