Sabotage at Nuclear Power Plants
Abstract
Recently there has been a noted worldwide increase in violent actions including attempted sabotage at nuclear power plants. Several organizations, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, have guidelines, recommendations, and formal threat- and risk-assessment processes for the protection of nuclear assets. Other examples are the former Defense Special Weapons Agency, which used a risk-assessment model to evaluate force-protection security requirements for terrorist incidents at DOD military bases. The US DOE uses a graded approach to protect its assets based on risk and vulnerability assessments. The Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation conduct joint threat and vulnerability assessments on high-risk US airports. Several private companies under contract to government agencies use formal risk-assessment models and methods to identify security requirements. The purpose of this paper is to survey these methods and present an overview of all potential types of sabotage at nuclear power plants. The paper discusses emerging threats and current methods of choice for sabotage--especially vehicle bombs and chemical attacks. Potential consequences of sabotage acts, including economic and political; not just those that may result in unacceptable radiological exposure to the public, are also discussed. Applicability of risk-assessment methods and mitigationmore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 9593
- Report Number(s):
- SAND99-1850C
TRN: US0103165
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: INMM, Phoenix, AZ (US), 07/26/1999--07/29/1999; Other Information: PBD: 21 Jul 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS; 22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS; MITIGATION; NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS; RECOMMENDATIONS; RISK ASSESSMENT; SABOTAGE; SECURITY; VULNERABILITY; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
Citation Formats
Purvis, James W. Sabotage at Nuclear Power Plants. United States: N. p., 1999.
Web.
Purvis, James W. Sabotage at Nuclear Power Plants. United States.
Purvis, James W. 1999.
"Sabotage at Nuclear Power Plants". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/9593.
@article{osti_9593,
title = {Sabotage at Nuclear Power Plants},
author = {Purvis, James W},
abstractNote = {Recently there has been a noted worldwide increase in violent actions including attempted sabotage at nuclear power plants. Several organizations, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, have guidelines, recommendations, and formal threat- and risk-assessment processes for the protection of nuclear assets. Other examples are the former Defense Special Weapons Agency, which used a risk-assessment model to evaluate force-protection security requirements for terrorist incidents at DOD military bases. The US DOE uses a graded approach to protect its assets based on risk and vulnerability assessments. The Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation conduct joint threat and vulnerability assessments on high-risk US airports. Several private companies under contract to government agencies use formal risk-assessment models and methods to identify security requirements. The purpose of this paper is to survey these methods and present an overview of all potential types of sabotage at nuclear power plants. The paper discusses emerging threats and current methods of choice for sabotage--especially vehicle bombs and chemical attacks. Potential consequences of sabotage acts, including economic and political; not just those that may result in unacceptable radiological exposure to the public, are also discussed. Applicability of risk-assessment methods and mitigation techniques are also presented.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/9593},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jul 21 00:00:00 EDT 1999},
month = {Wed Jul 21 00:00:00 EDT 1999}
}