German nukes vulnerable to plane terrorists
BUND - 04.02.2004 00:27
German nukes vulnerable to terrorists
The deliberate crashing of a passenger plane into any German nuclear power station can lead to the worst assumable accident, says a year old study for the government now leaked to the media.
German nukes, Stade switched off last year.
The BUND nature protection federation has put a summaryx of the study on the Internet. The summary was done by the environment ministry. The study was done by the Society for Reactor Safety (Gesellschaft für Reaktorsicherheit, GRS) to investigate terrorism dangers and was to have been kept secret.
BUND says by putting it on the net they want to contribute to informing the public about the risks inherent in continuing to operate reactors. It says the attempt to keep it secret had failed. Excerpts were already with newspapers and had been spread by Austrian Greens politicians.
Dr. Angelika Zahrnt, BUND chair said: "Terrorists are in a position to cause a worst assumable accident at any nuclear location in Germany. Because of the higher population density in many places, the consequences could be far more catastrophic than Chernobyl. The federal government and the federal states have long known about this danger but remain owing an explanation about counter-measures they intend to take. Instead useless suggestions are made like enveloping reactors in fog when a plane is approaching. The public has a right to be comprehensively informed. If Environment Minister Trittin and the regional environment ministers don’t want to wend the secrecy about the study, we’ll have to do it now.”
The GRS study lists as especially threatened the nine older German nuclear plants: Obrigheim, Stade, Biblis A and B, Brunsbüttel, Isar 1, Philippsburg 1,
Neckar 1 and Unterweser. Even a small airliner crashin into them could cause a catastrophe, it says.
If a large plane crashed on to a reactor, the ten newer stations could also get out of control.
Zahrnt says, “Those in responsibility have always known that terrorists could unleash an atomic catastrophe, for example by placing people among the operating personnel or by destruction from outside with armour-breaking weapons or explosive. But such dangers were never made public. Precautions or reinforcement cannot eliminate these risks. The atomic power stations have to be switched off."
The summary on the net:
 http://www.bund.net/lab/reddot2/pdf/grs_gutachten.pdf
For more information: Klaus Traube, atomic expert at BUND, Tel: 06171-25815, Angelika
Zahrnt, BUND chair or Rüdiger Rosenthal, BUND press office,Tel. 030-27586-425/-489, Fax: -449, E-Mail:  presse@bund.net, Internet: www.bund.net
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