ML20116G479
| ML20116G479 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Neely Research Reactor |
| Issue date: | 06/24/1996 |
| From: | AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | |
| References | |
| REN-I-GANE-053, REN-I-GANE-53, NUDOCS 9608080125 | |
| Download: ML20116G479 (4) | |
Text
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A CURRENT AFFAIR NY DATE 11/15/95 06:00PM KBJECT GEORGIA TECH NUCLEAR FACILITY BROADCAST EXCERPT JON SCOTT:
An unguarded nuclear facility; a terrorist's dream.
Is there one near you?
SCOTT:
It's in the center of one of the largest cities in America and the home of the next Olympic Games, a nuclear reactor with a potential for disaster, a terrorist target, with its doors wide open.
BOB DISNEY (SIGMA GROUP INTERNATIONAL) : What happens if we--a terrorist walked in there? It's kind of nightmarish to think about what could have happened.
SCOTT:
Today our cameras catch a security meltdewn.
SCOTT:
An exclusive A CURRENT AFFAIR investigation has uncovered a nuclear nightmare, a threat that puts the '96 Olympic j
Games at great risk.
What is it? A nuclear reactor, wide open to terrorists.
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Investigative reporter Mike Salort has our story.
MIKE SALORT (REPORTER) :
Atlanta, population, 3 million.
In 1
just 8 months the city will host the '1996 Olympic Sum:ter Games.
But with all the excitement comes fear of terrorism.
The FBI and CIA are already planning for the worst.
So, why, then, is this building unprotected?
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11/16<95 11:25 9212 309 1493 RADIO TV REPORT
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I'm walking into an unguarded nuclear reactor right in the heart of Atlanta.
I can walk anywhere I want to go, even near lethal, radioactive material that can kill you in seconde at close range.
I can even get near high-grade uranium like this, the same material used.to make atom bombs, like the one;s that devastated Japan in World War II.
So, if this nuclear reactor at Georgia Tech University is loaded with so much deadly material, making it a prime target for terrorists, why have we been allowed to walk through the front door and down hallways, without ever being stopped?
Why isn' t this building protected?
DISNEY:
Somebody is asleep at the switch.
SALORT:
Bob Disney is a retired general, who is now a security consultant for private industry and the government.
He was alarmed by our videotape and by what we've been hearing from insiders at the Georgia Tech reactor.
Former technicians say they're afraid the reactor is ripe for a terrorist attack, since it's smack in the middle of what will be the olympic village for the 1996 Summer Games.
]
l DISNEY:
Terrerists are not dumb.
They're not stupid.
And j
it's possible that they may be looking at that facility, as we j
speak.
i SALORT:
When we visited the Georgia Tech reactor with cur hidden cameras, we found a building that was a terrorist's dream.
There were no gates, no guards, no cameras protecting the outside, i
and no one was watching the entrance or the hallways.
We had no problem walking in and getting within striking distance of nuclear material. I stood in a third-floor observatien room, where a thin glass windows was the only barrier between me i
and the main reactor that houses the bomb-grade uranium.
I scaled the fence to leave the compound to see if anyone was watching. But when I climbed it and then walked back through the front entrance through the building, no one seemed to notice.
I even walked on the roof of the reactor complex and stood near air vents hanging above areas where hazardous material is kept. No one spotted me.
DISNEY:
What happens if a terrorist walked in there?
It's kind of nightmarish to think about what could have happened.
SA* ORT :
The theft of the bomb-grade uranium by terrorists would be nightmarish. But the reactor poses opportunities for less ambitious terrorists.
Experts say a carefully placed conventional bomb in this-room or outside the-wall would cause disaster.
The
l 11<16'95 11:25 G212 309 1493 RADIO IT REPORT
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93 room holds a tremendous amount of Cobalt 60, one of the most deadly materials known to man.
An explosion near the Cobalt 60 that's just behind this wall could send dangerous radioactive particles throughout the campus and the surrounding area.
Nuclear experts who have worked inside the facility fear thousands of students and Atlanta residents could receive a massive dose of irradiation.
GLEN CARROLL (GEORGIANS AGAINST NUCLEAR ENERGY) : Cobalt is to i
- hot, radioactively, that if any organism is exposed to a
significant quantity of it, it would die immediately.
i SALORT:
Glenn Carroll is e member of Georgians Against Nuclear Energy.
The group has been pushing for tighter controls for the Georgia Tech facility after a series of damning inspection reports.
Her reaction to our videotaped visit to Georgia Tech?
CARROLL:
I'm horrified.
I'm dumbfounded.
2 BOB LANG (SECURITY):
Well, we obviously are concerned, just like everyone else relative to the reactor.
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SALORT: Bob Lang oversees security on the Frank Neely Reactor at Georgia Tech. We showed him how easy it was for us to go almost anywhere inside.
Lang made no excuses. He promised to take immediate action to protect Atlanta and the 96 Gamea.
LANG:
The systems that we're going to put in shortly will address all those issues.
And this won't be, this tape should not happen again.
SALCRT:
As a result of our investigation, officials say they've now beefed up security at the complex, and they've announced they'll completely shut down the reactor by the end of this week and eventually remove all of the nuclear material.
'{
Security experts like Bob Disney hope the university is true to its word.
He hopes whoever was asleep at the switch at Georgia Teth will wake up in time to prevent a nuclear tragedy.
DISNEY:
One life, if we could save one life, it's much more important than all the money in the world that you'd have to put in to putting in a sophisticated security program.
SCOTT:
Mike, that is truly terrifying.
SALCRT:
It's shocking.
SCC T:
This is not just a Georgia problem?
SALORT:
It's not.
There are 33 other university reactors in pla es across the country, like Washington, D.C.; Boston; Austin,
11/16/95 11:26 Q 212 309 1493 RADIO TT REPORT
@005/005 g4 Texas; and like i'n Atlanta, believe it or not, thosa places are not watched very closely by government agencies.
SCOTT:
So, it's up to the universities themselves?
SALORT:
It certainly is.
They're on their own.
SCOTT:
Wow!
Thanks, Mike.
(END)
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