The FBI is warning law enforcement officials around the country to be on the lookout for potential terrorist activity around nuclear power plants.
In its weekly intelligence bulletin to 18,000 police agencies, the FBI said law enforcers should be on the lookout for any suspicious activity around the power plants, including people photographing the facilities and small planes flying in the area.
There have been a number of past instances in which light aircraft have flown too close to nuclear plants, and while the aircraft have turned out to be pilots who have flown off course or simply been curious about nuclear plants, all such sightings must be reported to the FAA by tail number immediately.
FBI officials say they have no specific intelligence that these plants are imminent targets of a terrorist attack. Still, says one FBI official, “It’s one of the vulnerabilities, and it’s something that’s taken very seriously.”
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has assured the public the 103 nuclear plants across the country are protected from terrorists, although the agency declined to specify how they are protected.
Today’s bulletin came the day after federal regulators imposed tougher security measures on nuclear plants, including more training for private guards and limits on guards’ work hours. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a formal regulation Tuesday that broadened the type of armed attack that nuclear power plant operators and their private security guards must be prepared to defend against.
Details of the new security measures were classified, but the NRC officials said they require power plants “to implement additional protective actions to protect against sabotage by terrorists and other adversaries.” Security at nuclear power plants was enhanced by an interim NRC order a year ago amid concern that terrorists might be targeting nuclear reactors.
If the improbable happened and terrorists managed to attack and penetrate a nuclear reactor core at a plant, it could trigger an explosive meltdown that could spread radiation for hundreds of miles and trigger lethal health problems, if not immediate death among large populations. An undercover intruder could wreak similar havoc by sabotaging a plant from the inside.
Source: AP; FBI