Posted on 04/30/2003 4:43:39 PM PDT by FairOpinion
April 30 — The FBI is warning law enforcement officials around the country to be on the lookout for potential terrorist activity around nuclear power plants.
In its weekly intelligence bulletin to 18,000 police agencies, the FBI says law enforcers should be on the lookout for any suspicious activity around the power plants, including people photographing the facilities and small planes flying in the area. Nuclear plants "are a vulnerability target which could have certain consequences" if attacked, one official said.
The bulletin does not mention a specific threat.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has assured the public the 103 nuclear plants across the country are protected from terrorists, although the agency declined to specify how they are protected.
Power plants and other pieces of public infrastructure such as tunnels, bridges and railroads have long been considered potential terrorist targets, and many experts consider nuclear plants the prime target.
New Security Measures for Nuke Plants
Today's bulletin came the day after federal regulators imposed tougher security measures on nuclear plants, including more training for private guards and limits on guards' work hours.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a formal regulation Tuesday that broadened the type of armed attack that nuclear power plant operators and their private security guards must be prepared to defend against.
Details of the new security measures were classified, but the NRC officials said they require power plants "to implement additional protective actions to protect against sabotage by terrorists and other adversaries." Security at nuclear power plants was enhanced by an interim NRC order a year ago amid concern that terrorists might be targeting nuclear reactors.
If the improbable happened and terrorists managed to attack and penetrate a nuclear reactor core at a plant, it could trigger an explosive meltdown that could spread radiation for hundreds of miles and trigger lethal health problems, if not immediate death among large populations.
An undercover intruder could wreak similar havoc by sabotaging a plant from the inside.
She has asked for millions of dollars for security at these plants and now that she is beginning to be hot on the campaign trail we will see more stories which benefit her agenda.
We will be hearing more and more from her troops among the NYC elite-reporter ranks in coming weeks/months.
Never gonna happen. The physics of LWR technology preclude any kind of explosive energy release, much less an "explosive meltdown" (whatever that is). Maximum credible accident scenarios involve sudden loss of coolant and overheating of the core, which results in radionuclide release in the containment, but not outside.
Nuclear plants are the "hardest" of "hard targets". They have on-site security 24/7, well trained and armed. With so many other, much "softer" targets out there, some without even a trace of protective security, why would any self-respecting terrorist shoot their wads on something that is so well protected and robustly designed?
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