WHY NUCLEAR POWER SUCKS NEXT TERRORIST TARGET: SPENT FUEL RODS
PEACH BOTTOM AND HOPE CREEK REACTORS 9/11 Flight 93 and its full tank of fuel could have collided with the containment building of operative Three Mile Island Unit 1, located near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at a speed of 450 miles per hour. But Three Mile Island had one of the most robust containment buildings of any nuclear reactor, with three feet of concrete and six inches of steel protecting the reactor, due to the fact that it was located in the flight path of planes landing at Harrisburg Airport.1 In September 2002 nineteen prominent nuclear experts concluded that a reactor containment building could withstand a jetliner crash. A test was performed in 1988 by mounting an unmanned plane on rails and “flying” it at about 480 M.P.H. into a test wall.2 The engines penetrated only about two inches and the fuselage even less. The International Atomic Energy Agency, however, had to admit that no commercial reactor in the world was designed to withstand the impact of a large jetliner at high speed with a full load of fuel. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission reluctantly was forced to say the same. It was not the terrorists mission to settle this
1. In September 2002 a cooler holding metal containers linked with the Three Mile Island nuclear plant was found at the Flight 93 crash site, spurring an FBI investigation. Investigators weren’t sure what to make of it and said they discovered no explosives, radiation or other threats. It was reported the FBI summoned a hazardous-materials unit from Philadelphia to further examine the cooler that held two stainless-steel containers roughly the size of a coffee cup that in some way indicated that they were from Three Mile Island but police would not say exactly how they made that connection. When the Philadelphia Hazmet people were contacted they denied having been dispatched. The containers have not yet been opened. Police said it’s possible that anything could be inside – including a forgetful visitor’s stale coffee. “We don’t know if someone left it here as a prank, or whether it’s misplaced property.” 2. Matthew Wald “Experts say Nuclear Plant can Survive Jetliner Crash.”New York Times September 20, 2002.
dispute as they could have hit a “softer” target such as the spent fuel rods at the Peachbottom or Hope reactors. Built in 1968 on a 620-acre site on the banks of the Susquehanna River, just north of the Maryland state line the Peach Bottom Nuclear Facility had its spent fuel rods stored on top of the reactor: Certain types of reactors, called Mk. 1 and Mk. 2, keep their spent fuel five stories above the reactors. This is a particularly vulnerable situation and at Peach Bottom there was nothing between the spent-fuel pool and a direct hit from an airliner except for corrugated steel.3 Once the water escapes from the fuel pool, the spent fuel rods will become red hot since the fuel rods still generate heat, even years after being removed from a reactor and the water is needed to prevent meltdown. Water also provides radiation shielding. But the pool requires additional systems: heat exchangers to keep the water from boiling away, and filtration systems to pick out the radioactive material that builds up in the water. A jet airliner’s fuel, once ignited, will put an abrupt end to the fuel pools functionality. The NRC has never performance tested a power plants ability to protect spent fuel pools from an aerial attack. In October 2000, the NRC started to recognize the problem of spent fuel fires in a study of the effects of accidents. However, in over 100 pages of analysis, they never considered a jetliner filled with fuel flying into it. The spent fuel pools are so dangerous that a jihadi with a knapsack filled with explosives could attack it. This would allow him to blow a sizeable hole in the reinforced concrete bottom or wall of a spent fuel pool. At nuclear plants that have boiling water reactors (like Peach Bottom and Hope Creek) things could be even better for the terrorists. In these cases where the spent fuel pools are above ground and not inside the containment building, a certain kind of explosive could be launched from outside the fence line into the side of the pool – the terrorist would not even have to enter the secured area. According to an unclassified study by Brookhaven National Lab, under certain conditions the pool would start draining immediately.4 This could result in the immediate release of high levels of radiation, quickly turning into an uncontrolled radioactive fire, and the plant could do nothing effective to stop it. This report found that a severe fire in the spent fuel pool could render about 188 square miles uninhabitable, cause as many as 28,000 cancer fatalities, and cost $59 billion in damage. It could also destroy the containment building underneath it, cause a nuclear meltdown and result in the formation of a radioactive cloud. Following the Islamist terrorists airbourne commando attacks of September 11, 2001, the NRC commissioned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to examine potential effects of sabotage directed at spent fuel pools. The Corps conducted several 3. Faye Flam “Scientists Debate Terror Risk At US Reactors” Phillynews.com September 20, 2002 http://www.ecopravda.km.ru/nute/nn21s.htm 4. Danielle Brian “Nuclear Plants and Terrorism” Counterpunch June 5, 2002. http://www.counterpunch.org/brian0605.html
computer-based analyses of the potential effects of armor-piercing weapons and high explosives on typical spent fuel pools. The analyses found that the penetration of armorpiercing weapons and high explosives could vary considerably, depending, among other things, on the size of the weapon or explosive and the sophistication of the attacker.5 The neat grid of 3,819 spaces at the bottom of the pool where the Peach Bottom plant stores its spent fuel has steadily filled with fuel rods. New Jersey State Assemblyman Gary Guear said he received information from a reliable National Guard source that a map of the Hope Creek plant was found by U.S. military forces inside a cave in Afghanistan.6 The Hope Creek is a General Electric Mk. 1 boiling water reactor, where the spent fuel pool is situated above the main reactor – outside of the main containment area—in the upper third of the reactor’s building. Though Public Service Electric and Gas Nuclear Power Company nuclear spokesmen say the spent fuel pool are protected by hardened concrete and steel-reinforced structures, they are not fortified to the same extent as the main reactors. Since the pool lounges above ground, it is easier to drain. The Commander and Chief of the United States’ “Zionist-Crusaders” said this in his State of the Union Message “And the depth of their hatred is equaled by the madness of the destruction they design. We have found diagrams of American nuclear power plants [in their safehouses].”7 Had al-Qaeda targeted Peach Bottom, it would have caused the greatest panic America had ever seen. Millions of people would have had to leave the Washington, Maryland, Virginia area, government employees such as FBI and CIA would have been dislocated, the American economy would have collapsed, cancer rates in all of America would soon have increased rapidly and the revenge of the Palestinians and other Muslims would never be forgotten. There were nuclear reactors that were closer Washington like Calvert, but Calvert’s was not a Mk. 1 or Mk. 2 type reactor. One day, by Allah, this will happen! The terrorist scum will not make the same mistake again. THE PRECEDENTS FOR AN ATTACK ON AN AMERICAN NUCLEAR FACILITY Attacks on nuclear facilities have figured into many terrorist communiqués. The Liberation Army Fifth Battalion, the group of imprisoned lice who carried out the first World Trade Center Event, had this to say: If our demands are not met, all our functional groups in the army will continue to execute our missions against military and civilian targets in and out the United States. This also will include some potential nuclear targets. For your own information, our army has more than 150 suicidal soldiers ready to go ahead. 5. GAO Report July 2003 “Spent Nuclear Fuel – Options to Further Enhance Security.” http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03426.pdf 6. Dennis Thompson and Adam Taylor “Lawmaker Stirs Up Nuclear Plant Worries” Wilmington Delaware News Journal April 5, 2002. http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/660146/posts 7. Jim Garamone “The Price of Freedom Is High, but Never too High” American Forces Press Service February 1, 2002 15:05:21 – 0800
A communiqué found on the hard-drive of first World Trade Center bombing asswipe Ayyad’s computer, read: We will attack Swedish targets for granting asylum to two women who denounced Islam and Muslims. This action by Sweden made it become an unfavorable country against Islam, Muslims and their prophet. This is a warning to the American Government in the event it does not stop its assistance to Israel they will suffer the consequences of revenge inside and outside of America. The consequences will include attacks on nuclear facilities…8 When the FBI interviewed Ramzi Yousef he said: I came to the United States in September 1992 to obtain an American passport and look for targets. I wanted an American passport so that I could freely travel in and out of the U.S. The targets are possible bombing sites in the U.S. and I looked at potential bombing targets in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey. My goal was to select a bombing site and return to Pakistan to recruit funds for the bombing operation. This message was found on the hard drive of Brother Yousef’s computer: All people who support the U.S. government are our targets in our future plans and that is because all those people are responsible for their government’s actions and they support the U.S. foreign policy and are satisfied with it. We will hit all U.S. nuclear targets. If the U.S. government keeps supporting Israel, then we will continue to carry out operations inside and outside the United States to include…” The text ended here. During the Bojinga trial FBI Agent Pellegrino stated that Ramzi Yousef and Murad had talked about possibly bombing a nuclear facility in the United States: MS. BARRETT: Your Honor, I have an objection to certain testimony that was just given by Agent Pellegrino about alleged plans by Mr. Murad to bomb nuclear facility and Northwest Airlines – I believe that was the testimony. Those are evidence of uncharged crimes and it is also 404(b) material that I don’t remember receiving any notice with respect to plans to bomb a nuclear facility in America... THE COURT: I was surprised that nobody objected at the time it came out, but it is a little late to object now. If I tell the jury to take it out of their minds it will be like telling them to go sit in a corner and not think of pink 8. USA v Ramzi Yousef Lab# 50120018 D BY Q1
elephants or white elephants or whatever the hell that is. So I am going to let it stand. MR. GREENFIELD: My problem particularly is with the nuclear facility. I had a hard time hearing. It was something about nuclear. Objecting to something like that in front of the jury is also a problem. You bring it to the jury’s attention. We discussed it after it happened and we all had the same feeling. It certainly was something I was going to object to. THE COURT: Unfortunately, or fortunately, the rules provide that you are supposed to object at or about the time, not now. The jihadi who were part of the Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman’s Gama’a cell in New York City and New Jersey had cased Three Mile Island after having tested a bomb9 in the vicinity of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Siddig: Do you remember the garbage bags? Salem: What? Siddig: Garbage bags (UI) we go out at night, all dark, I am showing you what I have, I dress (UI) I have a janitor uniform (UI) and the other one for night operations, it is called re-con (UI) you bring information and you come back from behind the enemy line, we use to go out, Emad (UI) Emad in New York, I mean Harrisburg Pennsylvania,10 there was an electric power station, three times the size of this building, it was guarded by soldiers. It was under heavy protection they said today, we are going to conduct reconnaissance, God, we want to get good reconnaissance report, everything. Between our lease and its location are 18 kilometers. There are fields between us and station, and valleys. And trees, spiders and crawling animals. Snakes, there are narrow streets, people ride cars, like this, they gave us exactly to reach it, fifty minutes you reach it, they told us that we will return by car. (UI) our man, our commander, is a Marine; he is still in the marines. He said that he is a Marine, see how the Marines going to be. On God’s blessing he outbursted, dark, you can’t see, they are creators in what? Because at night it is dark, so the outfit must be black-grey, they took the outfits and dyed them, so that it won’t be like this (UI) do you know who was with them? Abdul-Rahman Haggag. Also there was Hamdi Ali…I use to direct all the people, the most important thing, we got there then, when a car use to pass by, the area was a military zone. Salem: Yeah.
9. John Miller The Cell 10. USA v Rahman TT 1598
Siddig: All of it is Aryan Nation, white, KKK who wears white robes. Salem: Of course! Siddig: When a car goes by everybody hits the ground on the street, ha, the car passes by, we conducted this reconnaissance 4-5 times Sheik and we executed the operation means if we had something to place it there ha (UI) whispering. Salem: What? Siddig: No God, but God. Salem: You could have hunted them? Siddig: We could have done a catastrophe. Salem: Huh. Siddig: We reached the guard, Sheik, there was between me and him this much, we were crawling, (UI) there was somebody with him (UI) I will have to meet him, (UI) of the Hambaka too.11 During a meeting in Spain, Shaheed Mohamed Atta mentioned that he had considered targeting a nuclear facility he had seen during familiarization flights near New York - a target they referred to as "electrical engineering." According to Brother Ramzi bin al-Shibh, the other pilots did not like the idea. They thought a nuclear target would be difficult because the airspace around it was restricted, making reconnaissance flights impossible and increasing the likelihood that any plane would be shot down before impact. Moreover, unlike the approved targets, this alternative had not been discussed with senior Al-Qaeda leaders and therefore did not have the requisite blessing. Nor would a nuclear facility have particular symbolic value. Atta did not ask Ramzi bin al-Shibh to pass this idea on to bin Ladin, Atef, or Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and bin al-Shibh says he did not mention it to them until after September 11th Raids. KHALID SHAIKH MOHAMMED’S DISINFORMATION The transcripts of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s interrogation are prefaced with a warning that Mohammed “has been known to withhold information or deliberately mislead.”12 In an assessment of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s reporting, the CIA concluded that protecting operatives in the United States appeared to be a "major part" of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's resistance efforts. For example, in response to questions about U.S. zip codes found in his notebooks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed provided the less than satisfactory explanation that he was planning to use the zip codes to open 11. USA v. Rahman June 23, 1993 CM-62 12. http://www.washtimes.com/world/20040330-120655-9785r.htm
“new email accounts.” This according to CIA report, Intelligence Community Terrorist Threat Assessment, "Khalid Shaykh Muhammad’s Threat Reporting-Precious Truths, Surrounded by a Bodyguard of Lies," April 3, 2003. Although Khalid Shaikh Mohammed gave up a number of shitheads he deliberately misled the Americans in regard to the jihadi insects interest in striking a nuclear reactor so that America would remain off guard and not place surface-to-air missiles around them. Even in 2006 the United States General Accountability Office reported, The Design Basis Threat (DBT) for radiological sabotage applied to nuclear power plants identifies the terrorist capabilities (or “adversary characteristics”) that sites are required to defend against. The adversary characteristics generally describe the components of a ground assault and include the number of attackers; the size of a vehicle bomb; and the weapons, equipment, and tactics that could be used in an attack. Other threats in the Design Basis Threat include a waterborne assault and the threat of an insider. The Design Basis Threat does not include the threat of an airborne attack. However, according to Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials, Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations do require nuclear power plants to implement readily available measures to mitigate against the potential consequences of such an attack.13 MI-5 Thanks to the free-press of the West, word of terrorist intention to target a reactor did leak out after the FBI sent a report to the British Intelligence Agency MI-5 saying that a “credible source” had said that the terrorists might have been planning to hit a nuclear plant. This was based on their analysis that Pittsburgh is near several power stations including Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, Hope Creek in New Jersey, and Peach Bottom in Maryland14 for they had no credible source within Al-Qaeda at that time. Later Salahuddin Khaled, jailed in Afghanistan, said that the September 11th Raiders should have flown into a U.S. nuclear power plant.15 Nizar Trabelsi boasted in a radio interview that he had intended to bomb an air base that is believed to house American nuclear weapons.16 In November 2003 the news media in Australia carried reports that al-Qaeda operative Willie Brigitte may have been plotting attacks against Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor. Brigitte's interest in nuclear sites was discussed at length at a government hearing. In March 1999, Brigitte was charged and imprisoned in Yemen for his involvement in an attempted kidnapping of a Western diplomat but was released three
13. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06388.pdf 14. Nicholas Rufford, David Leppard and Paul Eddy “Terrorism Mission Aborted: The Downed Plane's Flight Path Took It Close To Five Nuclear Plants Nuclear Mystery: Crashed Plane's Target May Have Been Reactor” The London Times October 21, 2001. 15. “Terrorist Says Go For The Nukes” Washington Post October 30, 2001. 16. Desmond Bulter New York Times November 16, 2002 “From Belgium Jail Man Brags About His Plot to Bomb Air Base.”
weeks later and deported to France.17 The French became aware of his connections to al-Qaeda when two Brothers suspected of masterminding the bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia gave him up under torture. Brigitte fled to Australia where he married Melanie Brown, an Arabic interpreter for the Australian military and an Anglican convert to Judaism and presumably a lesbian (she belonged to a group of Jewish gays) before turning to the Muslim faith.18 “I am not a terrorist. I am not a criminal. I never prepare a terrorist action against a nuclear place in Australia. The media and the Australian Government lie on me for justifying my arrest for extradition or expulsion. I am innocent. May Allah help you and protect you.” THE WHITE HOUSE VERSUS THE CAPITOL American intelligence agencies claimed, “The plotters argued about everything, including whether to target the White House or the Capitol. The conflict apparently wasn’t resolved before 9/11 when the fourth hijacked jet, headed for Washington crashed…”19 The 9/11 Commission reported, Bin Ladin told Ramzi bin al-Shibh to instruct Atta and the others to focus on their security and that of the operation, and to advise Atta to proceed as planned with the targets discussed before Atta left Afghanistan in early 2000 - the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the White House, and the Capitol.” According to Ramzi bin al-Shibh, bin Ladin said he preferred the White House to the Capitol, asking bin al-Shibh to confirm that Atta understood this preference. Destroy the White House? It is a two-story building surrounded by much taller buildings filled with many Jack Abramoff’s and would have been a very difficult target. Brother bin alShibh told his captors that bin Ladin had given the same message to Shaheed Mohlad Alshehri for conveyance to Atta earlier that spring. When Atta received these messages he said he understood bin Ladin's interest in striking the White House. Atta said he thought this target too difficult, but had tasked Brothers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Hanjour to evaluate its feasibility and was awaiting their answer. Atta said that the two jihadi had rented small aircraft and flown reconnaissance flights near the Pentagon. Atta explained that Hanjour was assigned to attack the Pentagon, Jarrah the Capitol, and that both Atta and Shehhi would hit the World Trade Center. If any pilot could not reach his intended target, he was to crash the plane. If Atta could not strike the World Trade Center, he planned to crash his aircraft directly into the streets of New York. Atta told Ramzi bin al-Shibh that each pilot had volunteered for his assigned target, and that the assignments were subject to change. On August 3, 2001 Atta and bin al-Shibh discussed several matters, such as the best way for the jihadi to purchase plane tickets and the assignment of “muscle” 17. Martin Chulov, “Brigitte's N-reactor bomb plot” The Advertiser November 10, 2003. The Advertiser November 8, 2003 “The butcher who became a terrorist.” 18. Charles Miranda, “Synagogue bombing led French to Brigitte” The Daily Telegraph November 13, 2003 19. New York Post Vincent Morris, Andy Geller June 17, 2004
hijackers to individual teams. Atta and bin al-Shibh also revisited the question of whether to target the White House. They discussed targets in coded language, pretending to be students discussing various fields of study: "architecture" referred to the World Trade Center, "arts" the Pentagon, "law" the Capitol, and "politics" the White House. Ramzi bin al-Shibh reminded Atta that bin Ladin wanted to target the White House. Atta again cautioned that this would be difficult. When bin al-Shibh persisted, Atta agreed to include the White House but suggested they keep the Capitol as an alternate target in case the White House proved too difficult. Atta also suggested that the attacks would not happen until after the first week in September, when Congress reconvened. Abu Zubaydah told investigators the intended target of United Airlines Flight 93 was the White House. THE AMERICAN TALIBAN’S REPORT John Walker Lindh, once a mere Taliban foot soldier told the American military that the word in the lower ranks of our army was that: “The original plan was separated into three phases totaling twenty different attacks.” The first phase “consisted of five attacks,” but he cited only four; two on the World Trade Center, one on the Pentagon and one aimed at the White House. Usama bin Laden’s associate, Hakeen At-Taizzi, told Lindh that, “there should have been five planes used” on September 11th, “the fifth targeting the White House.”20 Lindh: “The second phase of attacks could involve the use of unspecified biological agents, possible attack on natural gas resources, or nuclear weapons facilities in the United States. (Field Comment: Source was making assumptions and conjectures based on talk among his colleagues.) The second phase was supposed to make the United States forget about the first phase. And the third phase would finish the U.S.” Lindh said that and that he had heard that fifty al-Qaeda jihadis were sent to commit twenty suicide operations, and that “fifteen more operations were pending.”
20. US Army memo regarding Lynd interrogation JPWL-000391