- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A
hijacked commercial airliner loaded with explosive jet fuel like the one
that hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11 could not penetrate a U.S. nuclear power
reactor and release deadly radiation, according to a nuclear industry study
announced on Monday.
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- The report's conclusions are intended to calm a nervous
public and nuclear industry critics worried the nation's 103 nuclear reactors,
especially those near big cities, are susceptible to a Sept. 11 type of
attack.
-
- The study was commissioned by the Nuclear Energy Institute,
an industry trade group, which hired independent consultants to analyze
what damage would occur if a Boeing 767 airplane filled with fuel crashed
into a nuclear power plant.
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- "We think it's extremely unlikely that the aircraft
would be able to penetrate the reactor," said Stephen Floyd, NEI's
senior director of regulatory reform. "We feel very, very confident
about the containment structure."
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- Floyd announced the study's preliminary findings during
a National Press Foundation seminar on the threat of terror attacks on
nuclear power plants.
-
- The study was based on scenarios in which the wide-bodied
aircraft crashed into a nuclear reactor traveling at about 300 miles per
hour (480 kilometers per hour), the same speed as the plane that damaged
the Pentagon.
-
- It did not analyze a nuclear reactor hit by a plane traveling
at the higher speeds of the two airliners that destroyed New York's World
Trade Center.
-
- Security has been boosted at nuclear plants since the
Sept. 11 attacks, but some lawmakers and environmental activists have urged
regulators to station military personnel with sophisticated weapons at
nuclear plants to repel a hijacked plane.
-
- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said earlier this month
it would analyze what devastation could occur if a fuel-laden commercial
airliner crashed into a reactor. U.S. plants are designed to protect the
radioactive core from tornadoes, hurricanes, fires and earthquakes.
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- The industry's report used computer models to analyze
the impact of a plane hitting a reactor from different angles. Neither
the plane or its engines would be able to slice through a reactor's protective
concrete shell, which is several feet thick at the base, the study said.
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- The experts studied several scenarios, including the
reactor taking a direct hit from an airplane or being hit by the engine
under an airplane's wing.
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- A resulting fire from the airplane's jet fuel might engulf
a nuclear reactor, but would not cause it to collapse like the World Trade
Center, the industry report said.
-
- The report did not consider the scenario of a reactor
being hit by an airplane flying at more than 500 mph (800 km/hour), the
speed at which the two planes hit the World Trade Center last September.
-
- A pilot flying closer to the ground and aiming at a nuclear
reactor would not be able to control an airplane at 500 mph because of
pressure waves that would be created, it said.
-
- Hijackers also could not nose-dive a commercial airliner
into the top of a reactor where the concrete shell is thinnest, because
the plane would break apart at such a steep angle and high speed, according
to the study.
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- "The plane in all likelihood would destroy itself
before it could hit the target," Floyd said.
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- The report was viewed skeptically by other experts.
-
- Edwin Lyman, president of the Nuclear Control Institute,
questioned the methodology of the report funded by U.S. utilities and said
his group's review has found that a Boeing 767 airliner could crash through
a reactor.
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- However, Lyman's group based its conclusions on an airplane
flying at maximum cruising speed of 530 mph. Such a high speed just a few
hundred feet off the ground would make it difficult to accurately strike
a nuclear plant.
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- Lyman also reiterated his group's recommendation that
federal regulators should consider asking the Defense Department to place
anti-aircraft missiles at nuclear power plant facilities to shoot down
a hijacked plane aiming for the site.
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- The nuclear industry opposes such a plan, saying it runs
the risk of shooting down a commercial airliner that has simply strayed
off its flight path. A military commander would have only about 45 seconds
after spotting an airplane to decide if it was an attack and should be
fired upon.
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- The report will be reviewed by industry experts before
being released to the public at the end of the summer.
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