I have spoken about the dangers to nuclear reactors of war as well as the danger of nuclear materials falling into the hands of terrorists. Three reports this week are examples of these concerns.
Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip lately. Israel has retaliated with bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. On Wednesday, seventy four Hamas rockets fell on cities across Israel. Three of those rockets were long range M-75s. They were targeted to hit the nuclear reactor at Dimona. One was destroyed by the Iron Dome, the Israeli missile defense system. The other two missed the reactor and exploded nearby. Had they succeeded in hitting the reactor, clouds of radioactive particles would have been released into the atmosphere and might have been blown back into the Gaza Strip. This would pose a threat to the Palestinians but the fanatic faction of Hamas that launched the missiles does not seem to be particularly concerned about that possibility.
The forces of the ISIS Sunnis have erupted out of Syria and are rampaging around in central Iraq. They drove the central government forces out of Mosul before the Kurdish rebels took control of the city. They stole hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Mosul Central Bank. They have also seized eighty eight pounds of uranium compounds from a university research lab in Mosul. The uranium has not been enriched to weapons grade. Experts say that these compounds do not pose a significant threat. ISIS has made claims that they have nuclear weapons that they will use against Israel but experts doubt these claims. They acknowledge that a nuclear exchange with Israel would contaminate the land and require decontamination following the hostilities.
The French police just announced that they broke up an Islamist plot to attack targets in Paris last year. The plot was uncovered when the French authorities decoded encrypted messages between an Algerian in France and al-Qaeda organization in North Africa. Al-Qaeda asked the Algerian to suggest targets in France and the Algerian suggested the targeting nuclear reactors, planes taking off, and French landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum. The Algerian also suggested gatherings of large crowds in public places. Al-Qaeda asked the Algerian to travel back to Algeria for training. The Algerian was arrested while the attacks were still in the planning stages.
The recent conflict in Ukraine raised serious concerns about the fourteen nuclear reactors in Ukraine. There are a number of ways that a spreading military conflict could have breached containment at the reactors. Fortunately, this has not happened so far but it illustrates how dangerous it is to have nuclear reactors near cities that may experience armed conflicts.
The danger to civilian populations of countries at war posed by nuclear reactors is another reason that nuclear energy is not a good idea.
Dimona nuclear reactor in Israel:
