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U.S. Considers Airplane Attacks on Nuclear Reactors
Members of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are debating the need to require designs for new nuclear power reactors to include specific protection against a strike by an airplane, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, June 20). The commission has approved two new reactor designs and is considering two more. As it stands, new facilities would not have to meet security measures more stringent than those required for existing sites. Airplanes are not among the threats that a nuclear reactor must be able to withstand. Only one of the five commission members appears to support making that a requirement in design, the Times reported. “We’ve left it in the hands of Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration and the reactor vendors, who are building these plants, to do what they think is right in the area, and to me that’s clearly not the answer,” said commissioner Gregory Jaczko. “We should be requiring they design plants to withstand such attacks.” The European Pressurized Reactor, one of the four new designs, is said to offer additional protection against airplanes. Owners of operating reactors are already required to plan for an airplane attack in order to reduce the damage and the potential release of radiation. Jaczko argued that preconstruction design improvements would limit the later need for “mitigating actions.” Commission member Edward McGaffigan Jr. said, though, “We think we’ve done enough.” There are a “terribly complex set of target sets” — various reactor parts that a terrorist would need to disable — “that makes it highly improbable that a terrorist attack would succeed,” McGaffigan said. A senior staff member said the commission was not looking to produce additional requirements, but indicated that airplanes should be considered as a threat. “We want to be able to stand up to answer the logical question: ‘Guys, did you look at the aircraft? We want to be able to say yes, and we’re confident that there is no issue, or if there is an issue, we’ve taken appropriate measures,” the staffer said (Matthew Wald, New York Times, Nov. 9).
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