EU reactors can't take plane hit

[kristopher]

Expert: EU reactors can't take plane hit

By STEFAN NICOLA, UPI Europe Correspondent


BERLIN, April 19 (UPI) -- Most European nations lack safety standards that would protect nuclear power plants from terrorist attacks involving aircraft, the head of Germany's reactor security commission said Tuesday.

"A majority of countries have very low safety requirements for the scenario of a plane crashing into a reactor," Rudolf Wieland told the foreign press corps in Berlin.

Wieland heads an independent reactor security commission that was appointed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to check all 17 nuclear reactors in Germany for their safety.

There have been reports that some of Germany's seven oldest reactors -- built during the 1970s -- wouldn't withstand a direct hit from a large passenger plane. Merkel last month decided to shut all seven down for the duration of the moratorium and possibly for good.

The commission is conducting...

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2011/04/19/Expert-EU-reactors-cant-take-plane-hit/UPI-96491303228852/#ixzz1KkTqQRNj

[Phlem]

1. Can any

nuclear reactor take a plane hit?

-p

[MineralMan]

2. Yes. Some plants were designed to withstand that.

However, the planes used in creating the designs weren't jumbo jets, so they may have been underdesigned for today's planes.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. The heck with airplanes - can they withstand a direct hit by a tornado?

Just how close was last week's tornado to the Shearon-Harris plant in New Hill - which was specifically mentioned in the warnings I heard.

[FBaggins]

4. A tornado can shut down a reactor by cutting the power supply.

I think the design basis for that part of the country requires the ability to withstand 300 mph winds.

Might be a good idea to park a couple mobile homes in the vicinity just to be safe, eh?

[kristopher]

5. That's right, listen to the nuclear industry - it can't happen here...

[FBaggins]

6. Still can't debate without building a strawman first, eh?

What a shock.

So stating the design basis for something is the same as saying "it can't happen here" ?

[kristopher]

7. In your case, fission apologist that you are, that is exactly what you are saying.

[FBaggins]

8. Never let reality get in the way of your position, eh?

Wouldn't want to make things too difficult on you. It's just too hard to debate actual positions.