Protecting U.S. Nuclear Facilities from Terrorist Attack

"Protecting U.S. Nuclear Facilities from Terrorist Attack: Re-assessing the Current 'Design Basis Threat' Approach"

The Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project of the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin has released a working paper entitled, "Protecting U.S. Nuclear Facilities from Terrorist Attack: Re-assessing the Current 'Design Basis Threat' Approach" . Authored by Lara Kirkham and with editing and contributions by Prof. Alan J. Kuperman, the paper examines potential threats to military and civilian nuclear facilities and surveys the various risk assessment methods used by government agencies. Amongst the threats examined are the theft of nuclear weapons, theft of special nuclear material such as highly enriched uranium (HEU), sabotage of reactors, sabotage of spent fuel ponds, and the insider threat. The authors then survey the threat assessment methods of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of Defense (DOD) with most focus placed upon the NRC.

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