[chimera]

The problem is that unlike the reactors, which are semi-safely behind several feet of reinforced concrete, the waste pools are almost all unprotected, and therefore an attractive target.

Not all that attractive. The source term (look that one up) is very low for decayed fuel, which most of it is, relative to in-core inventory, which is what everyone thinks of when this scenario is raised in the press. The dispersion mechanisms for external impacts are not as efficient as for those where significant stored energy is present (e.g., Chornobil accident, or nuclear explosions). I'm not saying such an event would not be a significant on-site cleanup problem, but the hysteria I see being generated about this scenario (Millions of people die! Thosands of square miles of territory uninhabitable for billions of years! Oh, my God! You know, kind of like the BAS hysteria...) just doesn't match up with the physics.

[ignatz_q]

I don't see a lot of people claiming that the energy release would be all that great from a waste pool attack (including BAS). Mostly, the argument is that radioactive material would be spread quite far, with disatrous consequences. It's not analagous to a nuclear weapon, but the analogy to a radiological weapon (popularly called the "dirty nuke") is quite appropriate.