Mr. Mobley had cleared all federal background checks to gain access as a contract worker to the nuclear power stations. The Baltimore office of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened a case. Nuclear power plant authorities and the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission are reported to be collaborating in the investigation.

Regardless of any finding of the investigation into the allegations against Mr. Mobley, the news stories underscore the concern that nuclear power plants are vulnerable pre-deployed weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear power plants have been identified by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States in its the 911 Commission report, as high profile targets because of the potential far reaching radiological consequences of successfully sabotaging a reactor and/or the tremendous amounts of highly radioactive waste stored onsite in vulnerable pools and dry casks.  The original al-Qaeda attack plan was to hijack ten commercial aircraft and fly two into US nuclear power stations. Mohammed Atta is reported to have surveilled the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester County, New York during his flight training.

Clearly, a sophisticated enemy of the state can introduce a would-be saboteur or an inside informant penetrating  even the most thorough criminal background checks if there is no prior record on such an individual.  A determined, knowledageable and well trained adversary can render large portions of the United States uninhabitable if successful.

Beyond Nuclear presents a new fact sheet on tritium discussing where it comes from, how it acts in the environment and humans and what the health hazards of exposure are. References are included.

Ralph Nader says “Just recently, a well-designed and documented pamphlet from Beyond Nuclear summarizes the case against nuclear power as ‘Expensive, Dangerous and Dirty.’ The clear, precise detail and documentation makes for expeditious education of your friends, neighbors and co-workers.”   

Please download and reprint the pamphlet for free or contact us for multiple hard copies to educate your community and to take to events.

It could be the beginning of the revelation of a giant shell game involving limited liability corporations and the accounting for billions of dollars in decommissioning “trust” fund shortfalls. The nuclear industry is required to adequately accrue and set aside money for the environmental clean up of shuttered nuclear power plants. But when the bottom fell out of Wall Street market many of the invested decommissioning funds experienced steep losses and have yet to recover. Meanwhile, the final cost of deconstructing and cleaning up after a nuclear power plant is determined to be about as reliable as the cost to build a new one.

Paul Gunter, Director of Beyond Nuclear's Reactor Oversight Project  participated in a meeting with the Commissioners of the NRC on February 23, 2010 along with two representatives from the nuclear industry, a state regulator and an industry consultant on the issue concerning decommissioning fund shortfalls for the massive and costly radioactive cleanup of shuttered nuclear power plants.  The meeting was covered in the Brattleboro Reformer where the embattled Vermont Yankee nuclear power station, now scheduled for closure on March 12, 2012 is presently more than $500,000,000 short in its decommissioning trust fund.  The Beyond Nuclear testimony focused on the uncertain and escalating costs of decommissioning caused by uncontrolled radioactive leaks from buried pipe beneath the reactors.