The recently foiled terrorist strike at an oil-processing plant in Saudia Arabia highlights al Qaeda's long-term strategy of attacking the global energy infrastructure.
Three and a half years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. has failed to address the risk that a passenger plane flying at high speed could be deliberately crashed into a commercial nuclear plant, setting off fires and dispersing large amounts of radiation according to a new report from the National Academy of Sciences.
Fred Kaplan argues that the recent blackout in the U.S. clearly indicates a problem with the archaic energy grid but it also reveals "the system's?and society's?resilience" to terrorist attack.
There is little chance that terrorists could cause enough damage to a U.S. nuclear power plant or spent-fuel shipment to pose a threat to public health, according to a panel of 19 nuclear experts.
The computers that control the electric power system around the nation have been probed from the Middle East, and terrorists may have inspected the physical equipment, said experts at a conference on the security of the electric system.
Nuclear plants are vulnerable to attacks by terrorists, according to a stark new warning by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Plutonium, uranium and even medical radiation sources are now much more likely to be targeted by terror groups seeking to cause mayhem, the IAEA believes.
A government study indicating that a direct, high-speed hit by a commercial jetliner could penetrate a nuclear reactor's protective dome was available to the public for nearly 20 years until it was removed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, regulators confirmed yesterday.
After initially playing down the chance that a falling jetliner could disable or destroy a nuclear power plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now planning to study whether a plant could survive such a disaster.
Security is being tightened at the world's nuclear power plants, an international watchdog agency said Monday, but it conceded that little can be done to shield a nuclear facility from a direct hit by an airliner.
Increased anti-terrorism security at nuclear power plants, refineries and along thousands of miles of pipelines is likely to have long-range impact on the nation's energy systems, industry officials say.