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The U.S. General Accounting Office says in a new report that there’s a need to “reassess the consequences of terrorist attacks” on research reactors licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, including the one at UC Irvine.
The NRC evaluated reactor security after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and declared that its program is solid. But the GAO says the NRC evaluation was based on “questionable assumptions that create uncertainty about whether the assessment reflects the full range of security risks and potential consequences of attacks on research reactors.”
UCI operates a 250 kilowatt reactor that’s been used to study everything from bullets used in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to rocks brought back from the moon by the Apollo astronauts. The reactor underwent a successful NRC inspection in December. (Click here to read the NRC report.)
The GAO also says: “Although research reactors are less powerful than commercial nuclear power reactors, they may nevertheless be targets for terrorists determined to steal reactor fuel for use in a nuclear weapon or radiological dispersal device (dirty bomb) or to sabotage a reactor in order to disperse radioactive material into the atmosphere over neighboring communities …
“Furthermore, most NRC-licensed research reactors are located on university campuses; and while they have security systems in place, they are also accessible to students for educational purposes.” (Click here for NRC’s response.)
As the campus Web site notes, UCI’s Mark I TRIGA reactor is in Rowland Hall, one of the most accessible buildings on campus. School officials have said that the NRC has assured them that Irvine’s reactor is not vulnerable to a car bomb. But for a period of time after 9/11, large barriers were kept in front of a key access point to the reactor to keep vehicles away.
Cathy Lawhon, director of media relations at UCI, said in an e-mail: “Among the specific concerns about research reactors on campus are lack of emergency evacuation plans and first responders who are unarmed. To address those two main concerns:
– The UC Irvine campus reactor has an emergency response plan that was updated within the past 2 months and this plan includes procedures for evacuation.
– Our campus police are the first responders to an alarm at the reactor and they do provide an armed response. As far as any other specifics about our security arrangements are concerned, we are in full compliance with current policies and regulations, and have been inspected to assure this by NRC. Concerned people may contact NRC with questions. We are not, by law, at liberty to disclose our security arrangements to anyone who is not specifically authorized by the FBI to be so informed.”
STORY UPDATE:
After this blog item was published today, we received the following e-mail from Lawhon:
I was a little surprised by your treatment of the nuclear reactor blog item today. The headline seemed alarmist. Giving the location of the reactor (which is not on our website anywhere, by the way) and saying it’s easily accessible was unnecessary. And not clearly differentiating a small researcher reactor like UCI’s from a commercial San Onofre type can imply the existence of a much larger threat than what exists.
No one here is blase about the risks (which is why George Miller removed reference to the reactor’s location months ago) and people here believe you know that. Also they believe you to be an accurate and responsible reporter. But this bloig item caused some dismay.
Its amazing that you could be living in close proximity to these reactors, and have no idea. I think the residents in the area should be warned of the potential danger “questionable assumptions that create uncertainty about whether the assessment reflects the full range of security risks and potential consequences of attacks on research reactors”, and also be given an emergency plan.
You are living in ‘close proximity’ to chlorine tanks,
toxic volatile industrial chems, etc. You are also
under a flight path. And, you live in a geologically
unstable area, in a desert dependent on
electricity and aqueducts to keep you alive.
The reactor is less dangerous than the UCI chem lab
that burned last year, or the radioisotopes used
and trashed (and sometimes used to poison
UCI colleages) in bio labs daily.
But you’re an american, so you see the word
nuclear and lose whatever reason you had.
Besides the terrorist threat…
How about the fact that they don’t produce enough energy to be worth the money it takes to build and sometimes maintain a nuclear power plant.
We have little idea what to do with the nuclear waste and I fear that it’s been dumped in some 3rd world country.
Nuclear has failed.
Help support solar, wind, ocean current, geothermal and natural gas!
This reactor has been around since the early 70s and it’s no secret. If a resident didn’t know about it, then they didn’t research the area they were moving to.
Nobody around here ever believes me when I tell them UCI has one of these. They aren’t uncommon at larger universities though. I think there are around 30 similar university reactors in the US.
Hate to tell you, the UCI reactor is for research, not power.
Also hate to tell you that 80% of france’s power and something
similar for japan is nuclear.
But I’m fine burning coal when the oil gets too hard to find. We
and china have lots of coal. India has lots of thorium.
The rest of the solar etc are sometimes useful, but they’re not dense enough.
Sorry to let physics intrude on your reality®
Note from Sciencedude: We noted that the UCI reactor is a research reactor.
What a shame that the period we live in has made us afraid of science, and has put such things out of the reach of students or the public.
When I was student at UCI in the early 70’s, it was one of my favorite pasttimes to go to the reactor and see what they were up to. If I were lucky, one of the professors would be there and could be persuaded to let into the reactor room to get a closer look. I remember the excitement the first time they were able to “pulse” the reactor.
There are a lot of wonderful things on a University campus, and keeping them locked up and secret only serves to smother public interest in science.