Terrorist Attack On Nuclear Facility
Topic: International Affairs
| Subject | TERRORIST ATTACK ON NUCLEAR FACILITY |
| DateCreated | 11/25/2008 9:49:00 AM |
| PostedDate | 11/25/2008 5:07:00 PM |
| Body | On Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes broke the story about a terrorist attack on a South African nuclear storage facility which occured last year.
On Nov. 7, 2007, a team of four intruders breached an electric security fence on the perimeter of a weapons-grade uranium storage facility at Pelindaba, South Africa. One intruder made his way under the fence, then cut the power on the fence and disabled the alarms. The intruders then made their way -- over a mile past security cameras -- to the control room. The control room was manned by a female employee and her fiance, who was keeping her company that night. When the intruders were seen coming down the hallway with guns the fiance called the onsite security force for assistance. Security was 3 minutes away from the control room, but no help came for over 20 minutes. During that time the terrorists made their way into the room and subsequently beat and shot the fiance. At this time a second team of terrorists breached the security fence in a different location. The coordinated terrorist attack at Pelindaba is said to have netted nothing of value.
The South African response to this attack has been one of denial. Officials won't admit that the two teams of intruders were working together; or even that the attack was aimed at gaining the weapons-grade uranium held at the facility -- when, in fact, the uranium is the only thing of value there. Two guards who were supposed to be watching the security cameras on that Nov. 7th were fired. However, it took the South African police ten months, and a 60 Minutes investigation, before they showed up and questioned the witnesses (the employee and her fiance who survived the shooting). South Africa has also rejected U.S. offers of assistance with securing the material (Click here for the full story).
To sum it all up, South Africa has weapons-grade nuclear material; has problems securing that material; is vulnerable to terrorist attacks on their nuclear stockpile; has had their stockpile attacked by terrorists; and yet refuses help to secure that material. One of these days that kind of logic will lead to a lot of people dying needless deaths. If countries are going to make nuclear weapons, or stockpile weapons-grade material, then they need to be able to take care of it. I really don't feel like dying due to someone else's stupidity or irresponsiblity. |
