Texas Nuclear Reactors Vulnerable to Terror Attacks

"Based on what the NRC has told us, there is no way to assure adequate safety at the country’s nuclear power plants," said Erin Rogers of the Sierra Club. "The best thing we can do now to protect the health and safety of those living around the plants is to shut them down as soon as it is feasible."

On March 25, US Congressman Edward Markey released a set documents and responses to questions of nuclear security from the NR. An analysis of the documents by the Lone Star Sierra Club reveals that Texas' two nuclear power plants are vulnerable to attack in many ways, and pose serious risks to the health and safety of those living downwind.

"The risk of a meltdown or fire spreading radioactive smoke far and wide should be taken very seriously," said Rogers. "These reactors might be the next big target—and none of them were designed to withstand the impact of even a small plane, much less a jetliner with a full load of fuel."

According to NRC documents given to Congressman Markey, neither of the Texas nuclear utilities even considered the probability of an accidental aircraft impact when the reactors were designed, built, and licensed. The Texas reactors were among 60 other plants nation-wide (out of 103 total) that do not include any design features whatsoever to help withstand a plane crash.

The NRC estimated in 1982 that the following fatalities and injuries would occur if there a core meltdown occurred at one of the Texas nuclear plants: 6,000 deaths and 14,000 injuries within a 25-mile radius of Comanche Peak; 22,000 deaths and 10,000 injuries within 25 miles of South Texas Nuclear Project. These are conservative estimates because they are based on 1982 population figures.

According to NRC documents, not only are the cores of the reactors (under hardened, concrete domes) vulnerable, there are several other less-protected parts of a reactors that, if destroyed by a plane, could lead to a core meltdown.

For example, if a plane crashed into a reactor’s power generating system, the time it would take for damage to occur to the reactor core would be a mere two hours, according to the NRC. The NRC also revealed that support systems for the reactor, such as crucial cooling systems, are "not designed to withstand the direct impact of a large commercial aircraft."

The spent uranium/plutonium fuel rods that are frequently kept in pools or casks onsite at nuclear reactors are thermally hot and contain millions of curies of deadly radiation. The NRC has no theoretical or experimental data showing how long the spent fuel containers could withstand a fire fueled by thousands of gallons of jet fuel. As of 1998, the Comanche Peak plant in Somervell County had 765 fuel assemblies stored in its spent fuel pool. The South Texas Nuclear Project in Matagorda County had 828 fuel assembles stored on-site in 1998.

The NRC will not make public how well the four Texas reactors responded to mock terrorists in tests conducted between 1991 and 2001. However, NRC revealed that in 46 percent of the tests the attackers succeeded in simulating sabotage that would lead to core meltdown.

The Nuclear Control Institute reveals yet another important reason to shut nuclear power plants down as soon as possible. Twenty days after a reactor is turned off, "a severe accident with containment failure will result in approximately 50% fewer latent cancer fatalities within 50 miles of the plant, and approximately 81% fewer acute fatalities within 10 miles of the plant, for the generic model considered," says Edwin S. Lyman, PhD, Scientific Director for the Nuclear Control Institute.