Editing Nuclear terrorism (section)

==== Nuclear power plants ====
After 9/11, [[nuclear power plant]]s were to be prepared for an attack by a large, well-armed terrorist group. But the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]], in revising its security rules, decided not to require that plants be able to defend themselves against groups carrying sophisticated weapons. According to a study by the [[Government Accountability Office]], the N.R.C. appeared to have based its revised rules "on what the industry considered reasonable and feasible to defend against rather than on an assessment of the terrorist threat itself".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2011/03/28/110328taco_talk_kolbert |title=The Nuclear Risk |author=Elizabeth Kolbert |date=28 March 2011 |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=20 February 2020 |archive-date=1 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101032648/http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2011/03/28/110328taco_talk_kolbert |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Daniel Hirsch et al.  The NRC's Dirty Little Secret, ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'', May 1, 2003, vol. 59 no. 3, pp. 44-51.</ref> If terrorist groups could sufficiently damage safety systems to cause a [[core meltdown]] at a nuclear power plant, and/or sufficiently damage [[spent fuel]] pools, such an attack could lead to widespread [[radioactive contamination]]. The [[Federation of American Scientists]] have said that if nuclear power use is to expand significantly, nuclear facilities will have to be made extremely safe from attacks that could release massive quantities of radioactivity into the community. New reactor designs have features of [[passive nuclear safety|passive safety]], which may help. In the United States, the NRC carries out "Force on Force" (FOF) exercises at all Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) sites at least once every three years.<ref name=fas12>{{cite web |url=https://fas.org/pubs/_docs/Nuclear_Energy_Report-lowres.pdf |title=The Future of Nuclear Power in the United States |author1=Charles D. Ferguson |author2=Frank A. Settle |name-list-style=amp |year=2012 |work=Federation of American Scientists |access-date=2016-01-05 |archive-date=2017-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525170528/https://fas.org/pubs/_docs/Nuclear_Energy_Report-lowres.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The peace group [[Plowshares]] have shown how nuclear weapons facilities can be penetrated, and the groups actions represent extraordinary breaches of security at [[nuclear weapons]] plants in the United States. The [[National Nuclear Security Administration]] has acknowledged the seriousness of the 2012 Plowshares action. [[Non-proliferation]] policy experts have questioned "the use of private contractors to provide security at facilities that manufacture and store the government's most dangerous military material".<ref name=bas12>{{cite web |url=http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/columnists/kennette-benedict/civil-disobedience |title=Civil disobedience |author=Kennette Benedict |date=9 August 2012 |work=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |access-date=30 October 2013 |archive-date=25 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425104945/http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/columnists/kennette-benedict/civil-disobedience |url-status=live }}</ref>