Breaking: Guard at ‘terror target’ Belgian nuclear site killed, access badge stolen

a reply to: MysterX

Or target the mothballed graphite reactor cores? This is crazy. I'd actually like to see aggressive armed patrols on footpaths I occasionally walk on. Thank you nuclear industry.

a reply to: burgerbuddy

I think it's a red herring about gaining access. They just want to off the emergency response team before the event.

a reply to: DerBeobachter

Those belgium nuclear power plants, as the ones in france, are that insecure, that there maybe something might happen without terrorists involvement.

Isn´t it better then, if something happens, they can say it was terrorists? Just a thought, living nearby those ruins, knowing what they are!

Thousands more cracks found in Belgian nuclear reactors, Belgian regulatory head warns of global implications

. . .

As we approach the fourth anniversary of the Fukushima-daiichi nuclear disaster, evidence has emerged that demands immediate action to prevent another catastrophe. Thousands of previously unknown cracks in critical components of two reactors point to a potentially endemic and significant safety problem for reactors globally. Continuing to operate any reactor with such cracking would be an absolutely unacceptable risk to public safety.

www.greenpeace.org... f-global-implications/

a reply to: TheBwaap

We've got plenty of dangerous material in decrepit concrete tanks here. A seagull with a suicide vest could set this off.
www.theecologist.org...

a reply to: Rocker2013

I was told by a friend of one of the government advisers. The cheaper option was always chosen over the recommended safer version. This left the government advisers wondering what they'd been hired for.

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: TheBwaap

We've got plenty of dangerous material in decrepit concrete tanks here. A seagull with a suicide vest could set this off.
www.theecologist.org...

I think it's important to maintain a level head when talking about these things.
There is a lot of bs and propaganda from the environmental lobby, a lot of extremes and scaremongering.
I consider myself to be an environmentalist in thinking, but even I recognize that while there are significant problems which haven't been properly dealt with, there is a hell of a lot of exaggeration out there.

good thing charleroi doesn't have a nuclear power plant.
bit odd that only the russian press and right wing british rags picked up on this non story.

Having worked in the nuclear industry, here's a few nitpicks about common misconceptions in this thread.

When a reactor is critical, that isn't a bad thing - it's a normal operational mode and means that the nuclear reaction is self sustaining and the reactor is at a stable power. Even supercritical doesn't have to be a bad thing, it just means power is increasing. Uncontrolled supercriticality would be bad though...

Control rods are usually spring loaded so that upon a loss of control power (or if actuated by the operator) they will be fully inserted into the reactor to shut down the nuclear reaction. In order to tamper with the control rods one would likely have to enter a part of the reactor where they would be very quickly killed by the radiation of an operational reactor - and that's assuming you could even access that part of the facility.

Regarding Chernobyl: The design of many (all?) Russian reactors is inherently unsafe because they use a positive temperature coefficient. What this means is that as temperature of the reactor increases, fission reactions also increase. So as fission reactions increase, temperature increases, reactions increase, etc and this could more easily lead to an uncontrolled situation. US nuclear power plants (And many others I'm sure) use a negative temperature coefficient so that as temperature goes up, the nuclear reactions decrease. This is an inherently much safer design...
Here's a more detailed and better EXPLANATION.

Someone mentioned blowing up the fuel rods - this would be near impossible as the amount of explosives needed to blow up the reactor vessel which contain the fuel would be massive and again, in order to get close enough you would be killed by the radiation of the running reactor.

And it hasn't been mentioned yet, but another common misconception about nuclear reactor is that they could explode as a nuclear bomb. The nuclear fuel in commercial rectors in not enriched enough to create a nuclear explosion.

As to the security badge, it all depends on how their security is set up. Every job I've had in the last 15 years (non nuclear) has required a security badge. Often just showing the badge is enough to get on site or through the first area, but some places do require you to scan or swipe the badge. After that I've always had to scan my badge to access further areas. Hopefully they will change the visual layout of their badges and reissue new badges to everyone as an added measure of security.

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: TheBwaap

We've got plenty of dangerous material in decrepit concrete tanks here. A seagull with a suicide vest could set this off.
www.theecologist.org...

That is amazingly dangerous and frankly criminal that it's been allowed to happen.

Yet, also amazingly...it hasn't become a target for a terrorist seeking to create the worlds most massive and destructive nuclear dirty bomb...yet.

originally posted by: stinkelbaum
good thing charleroi doesn't have a nuclear power plant.
bit odd that only the russian press and right wing british rags picked up on this non story.

This non-story is not actually a non-story.
Obviously you haven't been paying attention, AQ and IS had both been attempting to secure radioactive materials for a long time, this is no secret and various intelligence agencies know about it, it's been reported on numerous times in the last ten years.

Once again it seems the mentalities of these psychopaths is being underestimated. They have one goal - to kill as many as possible and cause as much terror as possible. It's only logical that these deranged individuals would seek out radiological, chemical and biological weapons.

Believe me this story would have been massive in the UK, the US and across Europe too if people had known. The fact that this was only seen on the BBC today, and only mentioned by an Israeli paper and RT suggests more than this story was suppressed.

For the reactions on my posts, read this again pls.
I only have a simple basic understanding of nuclear industry , and common sense was enough to come to my conclusion.

Thanks Commandojoe for the info.

originally posted by: CommandoJoe
Having worked in the nuclear industry, here's a few nitpicks about common misconceptions in this thread.

When a reactor is critical, that isn't a bad thing - it's a normal operational mode and means that the nuclear reaction is self sustaining and the reactor is at a stable power. Even supercritical doesn't have to be a bad thing, it just means power is increasing. Uncontrolled supercriticality would be bad though...

Control rods are usually spring loaded so that upon a loss of control power (or if actuated by the operator) they will be fully inserted into the reactor to shut down the nuclear reaction. In order to tamper with the control rods one would likely have to enter a part of the reactor where they would be very quickly killed by the radiation of an operational reactor - and that's assuming you could even access that part of the facility.

Regarding Chernobyl: The design of many (all?) Russian reactors is inherently unsafe because they use a positive temperature coefficient. What this means is that as temperature of the reactor increases, fission reactions also increase. So as fission reactions increase, temperature increases, reactions increase, etc and this could more easily lead to an uncontrolled situation. US nuclear power plants (And many others I'm sure) use a negative temperature coefficient so that as temperature goes up, the nuclear reactions decrease. This is an inherently much safer design...
Here's a more detailed and better EXPLANATION.

Someone mentioned blowing up the fuel rods - this would be near impossible as the amount of explosives needed to blow up the reactor vessel which contain the fuel would be massive and again, in order to get close enough you would be killed by the radiation of the running reactor.

And it hasn't been mentioned yet, but another common misconception about nuclear reactor is that they could explode as a nuclear bomb. The nuclear fuel in commercial rectors in not enriched enough to create a nuclear explosion.

As to the security badge, it all depends on how their security is set up. Every job I've had in the last 15 years (non nuclear) has required a security badge. Often just showing the badge is enough to get on site or through the first area, but some places do require you to scan or swipe the badge. After that I've always had to scan my badge to access further areas. Hopefully they will change the visual layout of their badges and reissue new badges to everyone as an added measure of security.

I honestly don't know why we're even talking about nuclear power plants in this thread, the guy was a senior security operative at nuclear research facility, nowhere near any reactor.

The threat of terrorism as it relates to nuclear material has always been in two forms:

1. External attack of a sensitive site by plane or weaponry.
2. The use of radioactive materials to create a dirty bomb.

It's pointless talking about the prospect of terrorists getting into a nuclear power plant, none of this has happened and that isn't the risk being posed by the potential murder of this man.

If there is a link between this murder and terrorism, it's entirely related to creating a weapon using dirty materials and nothing to do with power plants, nuclear explosions or a meltdown.

New Hotness, the next mass media fake, makes the whole terrorthing more believable, doesn´t it?

I couldn´t find an eglish source yet, but her is a german newspaper article:

Belgien - Wachmann eines Atomkraftwerks erschossen aufgefunden

The public prosecutor's office of Charleroi denied the terrorists/passport report.
There is no evidence for any terrorists involvement!
It is an ongoing investigation of a normal murder case!
No passport was stolen!
The victim even didn´t work at a nuclear power plant, but in a medicinal institute in Fleurus that works with radioactive stuff for using it in medicinal cases.

But yeah, terror everywhere...

a reply to: Rocker2013

I have information from a friend of Ross Hesketh. That's as close to the horses mouth as you can get. He's the man who exposed the use of magnox material in weapons manufacture. I'm aware the environmental lobby is not reliable.

a reply to: MysterX

www.abovetopsecret.com...

originally posted by: Chadwickus
a reply to: projectvxn

According to the article above the military sent 140 soldiers to guard 5 facilities..

But the government soon changed its mind and on March 4 approved the deployment of 140 soldiers to guard five nuclear facilities.

The guard who worked at this facility was hired by a security company called G4S.

a reply to: projectvxn

We're safe, the professionals have it under control.

Scandal-hit G4S-run Medway youth jail resumes taking inmates www.theguardian.com...

The Wackenhut Corporation, now G4S, ran Tinsley House and developed the idea of “dynamic security”. This was allegedly to create a relationship of trust between guards and detainees.

This model has been adopted across the British prison service. G4S’s operations in the US offer a stark warning about the privatisation of the prison and detention system.

Its employees have been convicted in cases that have included rape and murder. The detention centres and prisons it runs in the US have been wracked by scandal after scandal. socialistworker.co.uk...

Who can forget summer 2012? A parachuting Queen and just one loser among all the gold medallists— G4S, the outfit that screwed up the London Olympics security contract. www.thetimes.co.uk...

G4S is being overhauled by chief executive Ashley Almanza who took over in 2013 following a troubled period including a prisoner tagging overcharging scandal and failing to provide adequate security for the London Olympics.
It expects to sell more businesses, with combined revenues of £400m, in the next 12 to 24 months, as it plans to exit UK children's services and US youth justice services. uk.finance.yahoo.com...

Private firms’ involvement in children’s social work should be rethought after G4S scandal www.communitycare.co.uk...

G4S, the endlessly scandal-hit global security firm www.theguardian.com...

a reply to: Kester

I was going to take a contract with G4S when I left the army. Then I did a bunch of research on these guys.

Not exactly the most professional group of people out there for sure.

I've since taken other jobs.

a reply to: MysterX

Exactly.

The "useful idiots" aren't the real danger, it's the guys doing the planning, doing the facilitating.

As you say, those are the ones who need stopping. They only have to be successful once on a scale like this...whereas, the security folks can't miss once.

a reply to: Kester

A seagull with a suicide vest could set this off.

Hey!

I'm not so empty headed as that...though some here may contest that. Sorry, a bit of attempted levity.

It's actually rather a terrifying scenario.