Basic HTML Version
"It
would be a suicida! misswn.
They'd get irradiated. And to prop–
erly plant charges is notas simple as
it might appear on the surface," he
added. Another reason San Onofre
is safe from terrorism, Baskin said,
is that it is part of the Camp Pendle–
ton military enclave, and the U. S.
Marines are just 15 minutes away.
But others are not so sure about
other power plants. At the !40th
meeting of the Association for the
Advancement of Science in San
Francisco, Thomas Coc hran
charged tha t " the nuclear
safeguards program is a sham."
Pointing out that men have illegally
fiown helicopters into the high-secu–
rity White House area, he severely
criticized present Atomic Energy
Commi ss ion (AEC) safeguard s
against the threat of sabotage.
Atomic Energy Commission offi–
cials admit that a group of highly
trained terrorists, with knowledge of
nuclear power plants and their op-
1
eration, could conceivably launch
an all-out assault on a power plant,
take it over and imperil the safety of
a nearby city.
As nuclear power insta llations
proliferate, and assuming terrorists
become more sophisticated and bet–
ter armed, the threat of nuclear
sabotage grows. Even
if
a plan t is
ideally engineered and considered
absolutely safe , a few dedicated sub–
versives could probably seize it any–
way.
U. S. Senator Mike Mansfield has
pointed out that any country having
nuclear power puts itself in a vul–
nerable position vis-a-vis sabotage.
It has, in effect, bui lt potential
weapons for its enemies within its
own borders!
Theft of nuclear material to man–
ufacture homemade bombs is an–
other threat that h as led to
increased security around nuclear
facilities. A report to Congress in
1973, by the comptroll er general of
the United States, brought out the
fact that a crude nuclear bomb
could be made from 17 kilograms of
uranium or 6 kilos of pluton ium -
roughly 40 pounds and 13 pounds,
respectively.
lnvestigators for the Government
Accounting Office have found that
security at sorne plants has been lax
- fences with huge holes, ineffec–
tual guard patrols, poor alarm sys–
tems, lack of automatic detection
devices. A GAO report earlier in
1973 further stated that between
1972 and 1985, annual shipments of
radioactive materials
in
the United
States are expected to increase
nearly eighteenfold.
Nuclear Waste -
"Hottest"
Problem
In addition is the problem of
waste management. Nuclear gar–
bage is by far the most hazardous
material mankind has ever had to
dispose of.
Mike Hendrickson - Plain Truth
WORTH
THERISK?