Nuclear mattersDOE removes from its Web site a guide on nuclear plant air attacks
Since 2008 the Department of Energy’s Web site offered the public a virtual how-to manual for attacking a nuclear plant with an airplane; The document showed the areas that a plane could hit at a reactor with maximum effect, and it cited buildings or targets that a plane could strike and cause radioactive release; the document has now been removed
A document on federal Web sites since June 2008 that served as a virtual how-to manual for attacking a nuclear plant with an airplane has been removed from the sites at the request of Three Mile Island Alert, a mid-state watchdog group.
Scott Portzline, an unpaid security consultant to TMI Alert, said that while researching sabotage and terrorism targeting nuclear plants in March, he found a document available for download on the Department of Energy Web site titled “Evaluation of Air Craft Crash Hazards Analyses for Nuclear Power Plants.”
The document showed the areas that a plane could hit at a reactor with maximum effect, and it cited buildings or targets that a plane could strike and cause radioactive release, Portzline said.
Energy Department officials said the report was posted by mistake as part of an effort to make the public aware of the department’s scientific work.
Dan Miller writes in Penn Live that officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Exelon Corp., which owns the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Londonderry Township, downplayed the threat such a document poses. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said agency studies have determined “a low likelihood” that a crash would affect public health and safety because of “the inherent robustness” of plant structures.
He added that coordination between the NRC and other agencies about threats is far superior than before the 9/11 terrorist attacks and that airport security has been enhanced since then.
Still, Portzline said he was happy about the quick response to his complaint. He said that a letter dated 16 April that he received from Walter L. Warnick, the director of the Energy Department’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information in the Office of Science, did not address concerns about the document still being available on microfiche and obtainable at some public libraries.
Portzline said the report also was available for sale for $40 on the National Technical Information Service Web site maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In an e-mailed statement, Energy Department spokeswoman Jennifer Lee acknowledged that the document should not have been made available.
Exelon spokesman Ralph DeSantis said that more than $20 million has been spent on security upgrades at TMI since the 9/11 attacks and that the size of the plant’s security force has nearly doubled since then.
DeSantis cited a post-9/11 Electric Power Research Institute study that concluded that a large jet hitting a containment building would cause a fire but not breach the structure. “It would not result in a large radiation release to the public,” he said.
