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CNN Live At Daybreak

Nuclear Power Plants Could Be Terrorist Targets

Aired February 01, 2002 - 06:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Back here in the United States the nation's nuclear power plants have been warned that terrorists may be planning to launch an attack using a commercial jetliner, but a senior FBI official says the information is old and cannot be verified. Our Steve Young has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to a senior source at the FBI, the warning was first put out by the bureau in December. The FBI says it was then reissued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission just last week. It went to the 103 nuclear power plants around the nation.

The advisory contained a chilling possible scenario -- quote -- "during the briefings of an al Qaeda senior operative, he stated there would be a second airliner attack in the U.S. The attack was already planned. The plan is to fly a commercial aircraft into a nuclear power plant to be chosen by the team on the ground. The plan included diverting the mission to any tall building if a military aircraft intercepts the plane". No significant timeline or location was given for the attack.

PAUL LEVENTHAL, NUCLEAR CONTROL INSTITUTE: It's incumbent upon the public to realize that these plants are not adequately protected against an air attack, much less an assault from the ground or the water.

YOUNG: The FBI says it has not been able to verify the information. Some who worry that security at nuclear plants is inadequate are disturbed that the advisory says no additional actions are requested at this time. That's because while the FAA has asked commercial airliners and private planes operating on visual flight rules to stay away from nuclear plants, it hasn't made that an order.

RALPH BEEDLE, NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE: The fact that the aircraft collided into the World Trade Center and brought that trade center down, does not suggest that same kind of collision would cause a catastrophe that some people have postulated on the part of these nuclear plants.

YOUNG: If any of nuclear power plant was hit by a fully-fueled jumbo jet and the reactor fuel widely dispersed, the result could be eventual fatalities from radiation far worse than the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon back in September.

Steve Young, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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