• Brussels bombers DID plan to attack nuclear power station
    44 replies, posted
[quote]The Brussels terrorists were preparing an attack on a nuclear power plant and had recorded 12 hours of reconnaissance footage, it has been reported. The ISIS cell were spying on Belgium's nuclear power chief, possibly as part of a kidnap plan to force him to let them into an atomic facility, according to newspaper Derniere Heure. Hours of film of the home of the Research and Development Director of the Belgian Nuclear Programme were discovered in an apartment in Brussels raided by anti-terrorist police following the attack in Paris. However, its suspected the arrests of their accomplices last week may have forced them to switch targets to Brussels airport. [/quote] [url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3507417/Brussels-bombers-DID-plan-attack-nuclear-power-station-police-uncover-12-hours-footage-jihadists-filmed-outside-plant-director-s-home.html[/url]
Holy crap that is scary.
OH great, here comes the anti-nuclear, pro security parade. Whenever you bring up nuclear energy suddenly everyone has an opinion, even if they never would of managed to get into the facility anyway.
Jesus fucking christ. Nuclear power plants are amongst the most heavily fortified and guarded civilian structures in any country, but the prospect is still rather horrifying.
Nuclear energy is pretty safe, it would be almost impossible to cause some sort of explosion/meltdown this day and age especially from these ISIS idiots. If anything they would have been better off trying this because then they might have been the only ones ended up being killed.
What could they have accomplished if they got inside? I don't know much about nuclear plower plant security measures, but I imagine there are enough fail-safes in place to keep them from causing a catastrophic failure the likes of Fukushima, right?
that would not have fucking worked
[QUOTE]The ISIS cell were spying on Belgium's nuclear power chief, possibly as part of a kidnap plan to force him to let them into an atomic facility[/QUOTE] "Excuse me sir, yeah, please somehow get us inside a heavily guarded nuclear plant and train us in how to bypass all of the safety features and cause a meltdown without anyone else noticing, or better yet, help us steal some radioactive material without getting caught so we can sell it to a scientist in Hill Valley who says he'll make us a bomb. Or if you don't help us kill thousands of people, including yourself, we'll kill you!"
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49998265]What could they have accomplished if they got inside? I don't know much about nuclear plower plant security measures, but I imagine there are enough fail-safes in place to keep them from causing a catastrophic failure the likes of Fukushima, right?[/QUOTE] They probably read too many Tom Clancy novels.
Wouldn't have made it, but it shows how fucking far they're willing to go and that scares the living daylights out of me.
I wish this happened instead of the airport bombing, all of these fuckers would get shot a minute into the siege.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49998265]What could they have accomplished if they got inside? I don't know much about nuclear plower plant security measures, but I imagine there are enough fail-safes in place to keep them from causing a catastrophic failure the likes of Fukushima, right?[/QUOTE] Presumably they would of wanted to disperse a large amount of radioactivity but post-Chernobyl most European nuclear power stations are so heavily fortified and safeguarded it would take a bit more than a briefcase bomb to cause that big of a catastrophe. Even if they tried to force access into the control room the operators or even the computer would SCRAM and that's it. DailyMail (hell, I guess the press in general) are just sensationalizing something for the sake of ratings. [quote]I feel like nuclear power plants must be heavily secured, with key/pw guarded security doors and armed security staff, and it's the type of place that would get a fast armed military response if they called in an alert.[/quote] They've been like that since forever. Even in the early days nuclear energy was a high security job. Technically there isn't even a need for an extremely heavy armed presence. It just jeeps the public happy. [editline]Nerts[/editline] Did I also mention this is a [b]DailyMail[/b] article?
I feel like nuclear power plants must be heavily secured, with key/pw guarded security doors and armed security staff, and it's the type of place that would get a fast armed military response if they called in an alert. Hopefully I don't eat my words, but I think a few suicide bombers making explosive devices in their basement wouldn't have the know-how to cause a nuclear disaster. Maybe/probably harm the staff, but no vital equipment would get damaged, and then there'd be a really fast and abrupt armed military response, because it's a nuclear facility.
Yeh, with current and modernised designs it's very hard to see how they'd have been able to cause any lasting damage, but it's the sort of thing where one doesn't want to find out whether or not the extreme possibilities are possible.
They wouldn't have had to cause a meltdown or radioactive release or any of that. Headlines proclaiming that ISIS set off a bomb inside a [I]nuclear reactor[/I] would scare people shitless, even if it was like in a lobby and didn't cause any more damage than the airport bombing.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49998265]What could they have accomplished if they got inside? I don't know much about nuclear plower plant security measures, but I imagine there are enough fail-safes in place to keep them from causing a catastrophic failure the likes of Fukushima, right?[/QUOTE] Yeah, the reason Fukushima was bad is that everything got fucked at once, someone blowing up one part of the plant is just going to mean back ups/failsafes elsewhere kicking in.
[QUOTE=catbarf;49998334]They wouldn't have had to cause a meltdown or radioactive release or any of that. Headlines proclaiming that ISIS set off a bomb inside a [I]nuclear reactor[/I] would scare people shitless, even if it was like in a lobby and didn't cause any more damage than the airport bombing.[/QUOTE] yeah nuclear power plant lobbies are the insides of a nuclear reactor
The worst they could do is kill some of the workers and make headlines, really.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49998265]What could they have accomplished if they got inside? I don't know much about nuclear plower plant security measures, but I imagine there are enough fail-safes in place to keep them from causing a catastrophic failure the likes of Fukushima, right?[/QUOTE] yeah you should see some doors on modern reactors, once they seal them shut you aint opening that shit without some hugely concentrated heat. I dont think anything much would have come from a suicide bomber in a modern reactor. theres nothing huge or special about a suicide bomb, there will be systems in place for other explosion sources I can bet. I have confidence in first world modern nuclear power plant safety
How on earth would they've been able to get in? Airports and subways are public areas, a nuclear power plant is completely locked down and sometimes patrolled by armed guards if I'm not mistaken? EDIT: And even if they had gotten in, how would they have gone about in actually damaging the reactor vessel (assuming radiation leak is what they're after)? That shit will not succumb to a bomb belt.
[QUOTE=catbarf;49998334]They wouldn't have had to cause a meltdown or radioactive release or any of that. Headlines proclaiming that ISIS set off a bomb inside a [I]nuclear reactor[/I] would scare people shitless, even if it was like in a lobby and didn't cause any more damage than the airport bombing.[/QUOTE] Nuclear plants are about as fortified as military bases, this isn't Hollywood so they wouldn't get much further than the front gate. They gave up on the nuclear plan probably because they realized that. Public transit attacks are far easier and far more disruptive. edit: I toured SONGS before it closed, the NRC here in the US does not fuck around. My dad got a job there and they would fire people on the spot for walking through a door in an administration building and not closing it behind them. Getting anywhere near the reactor itself was essentially impossible. Armed guards everywhere (most had submachine guns, IIRC). [t]http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2014_13/285506/140328-sanonofre-0420_348e05ac28054164df87b907ed4e6311.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg[/t] Explosion-proof guard towers with what the tour guide called "high-powered rifles". If they see anyone trying to climb the fence, they have standing orders to stop them. So, well, good luck with that.
[QUOTE=catbarf;49998334]They wouldn't have had to cause a meltdown or radioactive release or any of that. Headlines proclaiming that ISIS set off a bomb inside a [I]nuclear reactor[/I] would scare people shitless, even if it was like in a lobby and didn't cause any more damage than the airport bombing.[/QUOTE] That's a fair point. However lame the actual efficacy of the attack, I can imagine the massive media response to it would do far more damage.
Good luck. Here is an example of the kind of reinforced concrete wall protecting a reactor (if that would be there target anyway) [video=youtube;RZjhxuhTmGk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZjhxuhTmGk[/video]
Honestly, I would've loved to see them detonate an explosive right at the heart of a nuclear reactor, just so the public can see that nuclear reactors are actually safe as shit and a fucking explosion in the middle of it didn't hurt anyone. Assuming, of course, no innocents died in the process.
I posted this in the other thread and no one batted an eye. Anyway, it's no secret that some of Belgium's nuclear plants are in a terrible state. There have even been fires recently, but nothing alarming. But they probably could exploit the right weaknesses and do something bad.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49998265]What could they have accomplished if they got inside? I don't know much about nuclear plower plant security measures, but I imagine there are enough fail-safes in place to keep them from causing a catastrophic failure the likes of Fukushima, right?[/QUOTE] Well, power would be out for awhile, for probably a pretty large area. You don't have to blow up to reactor to knock it out for awhile and make a huge inconvenience for everyone in the service area.
[QUOTE=OvB;49998488]Well, power would be out for awhile, for probably a pretty large area. You don't have to blow up to reactor to knock it out for awhile and make a huge inconvenience for everyone in the service area.[/QUOTE] for some reason i don't think they'd just cut the generators right off the bat like that
[QUOTE=Saturn V;49998577]for some reason i don't think they'd just cut the generators right off the bat like that[/QUOTE] I was thinking more along the lines that maybe the terrorists were smart enough to know going for the reactor itself is likely futile, so instead they target more of the surrounding infrastructure that connect the power to the grid, or steam infrastructure, and stuff like that. Though I guess they probably do have some mean backups. I don't know enough about these things. But even a small, short lasted blackout (even seconds, minutes long) caused directly by terrorism would make a huge impact.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49998265]What could they have accomplished if they got inside? I don't know much about nuclear plower plant security measures, but I imagine there are enough fail-safes in place to keep them from causing a catastrophic failure the likes of Fukushima, right?[/QUOTE] Nuclear Security, at least in the US, is taken [b]VERY[/b] seriously. It is one of the few instances where a civilian entity (namely the security firm in charge of security around the reactors) can legally purchase and posses new manufacture machine guns. It's also pretty much the only civilian entity that is authorized to shoot on sight depending on the current threat level. While it may not be as "cowboyish" in Belgium I'm sure they take it just as seriously. [editline]24th March 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=OvB;49998595]I was thinking more along the lines that maybe the terrorists were smart enough to know going for the reactor itself is likely futile, so instead they target more of the surrounding infrastructure that connect the power to the grid, or steam infrastructure, and stuff like that. Though I guess they probably do have some mean backups. I don't know enough about these things. But even a small, short lasted blackout (even seconds, minutes long) caused directly by terrorism would make a huge impact.[/QUOTE] Even just taking out transformers could have a huge impact. If they could destroy enough of them it would cause severe power outages within the area. The economic impact would be pretty big too, since most cities don't just have significant amounts of spare transformers laying around. Chances are they'd have to order them up, to which they cost thousands of dollars a piece, and while they wait for them to arrive local business would suffer significantly due to lack of power.
[QUOTE=Saturn V;49998342]yeah nuclear power plant lobbies are the insides of a nuclear reactor[/QUOTE] It doesn't matter, they're terrorists.. that's literally what they do, cause terror. Two suicide bombers blowing up a nuclear reactor's lobby, and everyone will jump to the conclusion "they almost blew up the reactor", and changing the public's opinion on that will lose the town business and possibly even force the nuclear facility to relocate / shutdown.
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