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While dirty and salted bombs may exist mostly in theory, the possibility that a non-state actor may use an actual nuclear facility to expose a target population to radiological material is very real, as can be evidence from several close calls in the recent past. In 1981, a disgruntled employee shut off a valve to the reactor’s emergency cooling system at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania. The Superphénix reactor in France was the target of a 1982 attack by anti-nuclear activists while it was under construction. A backup generator at the San Onofre nuclear plant in California was tampered with in 2012. Had an emergency occurred before the tampering was discovered, the reactor would most likely have experienced a meltdown.

Several terrorist groups have allegedly considered staging attacks on nuclear facilities. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, al-Qaeda reportedly cased

HEIGHTENED THREAT

The 9/11 attacks raised concerns that terrorists might use airplanes to strike nuclear facilities just as they had used them against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon building, and since then extensive safeguards have been employed to keep such an attack from happening. Less sophisticated methods of nuclear sabotage, such as commando-style raids, insider collusion, truck bombs, or cyber- attacks, are distinct possibilities. In addition to large nuclear power plants, other nuclear facilities including storage sites housing spent reactor fuel or high-level waste, reprocessing plants, and certain research reactors could be targeted.

A successful act of nuclear sabotage would probably be more difficult that detonating a dirty bomb or other RDD, but it would also be substantially easier than an attack involving a nuclear weapon. A terrorist would require extensive knowledge of a nuclear facility’s design and operations in order to carry out a successful attack on that facility, making collusion between terrorists and nuclear facility employees a concern.

Nuclear power plants in the United States are built to withstand the worst natural disasters, including hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. They can also endure many man-made accidents, such as small plane crashes. They are surrounded by “containment walls” made from two to five feet of reinforced concrete lined with steel. However, both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have stated that U.S. nuclear plants were not designed to withstand the impact of a major attack, such as a major plane crash. The same experts insist nonetheless that an attack on a nuclear power plant, heavily guarded

Sabotage as Terrorism

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