German Nuclear Plants Found Unsafe Against Attacks

None of the 19 nuclear power plants in Germany is secured against a possible airplane crash, the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Tuesday. The report was based on a study by the Society for Reactor Security that was commissioned by Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin after the September 11 terror attack in New York. It found that a catastrophe like that in Chernobyl could possibly follow an airplane crash into one of the reactors. The study said it would be unrealistic to try to strengthen the power plants themselves, and instead recommended the construction of objects outside the plants that would make it impossible for terrorists to fly planes into them.