WASHINGTON, August 15 (RIA Novosti) – Security measures at US commercial and research nuclear facilities do not provide adequate protection against potential terrorist threats, a report by researchers at the University of Texas says.
The report, prepared under a contract for the Pentagon by the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (NPPP) and released on Thursday, provides a comparative analysis of threat assessment at nuclear facilities in the United States used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of Defense (DOD).
Titled “Protecting U.S. Nuclear Facilities from Terrorist Attack: Re-assessing the Current ‘Design Basis Threat’ Approach”, the report finds that none of the 104 commercial nuclear power reactors and three civilian research reactors is protected against a maximum credible terrorist threat on a scale of September 11, 2001 tragedy.
The study singles out eight nuclear power reactors located on the US seaside as they are not required to protect against seaborne attacks.
The three civilian research reactors that are fueled with bomb-grade uranium, including the one located at the National Institute of Standards and Technology only two dozen miles from the White House, are prime targets of terrorist theft as they are not as well protected as similar military facilities, the report says.
In addition, no protection from high-powered sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades is required at any plants due to financial restraints.
The report illustrates on examples of successful terrorist attacks in the past decade that terrorists “rely on conventional, fairly low technology tools, although in creative ways to maximize their symbolic and lethal effect.”
The authors of the report argue that the risk assessment approach should be “the same for all U.S. nuclear facilities – whether public or private – that pose catastrophic risks, whether from theft of nuclear weapons or fissile materials, or from radiological sabotage of a nuclear power reactor.”
They also urge the US government to provide additional security support to private companies operating civilian nuclear reactors.
The full text of the report is available in PDF format at: http://blogs.utexas.edu/nppp/files/2013/08/NPPP-working-paper-1-2013-Aug-15.pdf
