9/11: What if the hijackers crashed the planes into Nuke plants instead?

[Woosta]

More mass + surface area would mean the wall would have a much easier time absorbing the plane.

There has to be some weak point which they can target... there's no way that wall can absorb 2 jumbo size planes.

 

[Bateluer]

F4 video is cool.

 

[RPD]

There has to be some weak point which they can target... there's no way that wall can absorb 2 jumbo size planes.

And why can't it, because you said so?

 

[McLovin]

It is scary really how fragile it is , one engineer said it was held together with shoestrings and duct tape. Here in NC progress energy is putting up 400 miles worth of new high tension lines but will not invest in lines outside their area because it doesn't benefit them. Nobody wants to spend money on something that gives the other power company the ability to sell power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGdfbovPCFc&feature=related

:-O

 

[JTsyo]

A jumbo jet is basically the same as an empty soda can. It's not penetrating feet of concrete. There's videos on youtube of them testing planes and crashing them into walls that are only 2 or 3 feet thick, nothing happens to the wall. Though in those the planes are on the ground not flying at 600 mph. Look at how the plane looks after a "slow" crash in this snopes article.

 

[Rubycon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELbExW8wAso

 

[Jeeebus]

I wonder what model treadmill they had that F4 on to prevent it from taking off at 500 mph?

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

1) The actual reactor is about 30 feet below surface level
2) Everything is triple redundant
3) The cement walls are 6 feet thick, steel re-enforced

Any questions?

The only risk is that the shaft from an engine (made of titanium) would go through that cemement like a hot knife through butter. There are no tests that I know of that test this. But even if it did, the reactor would easily be safe and it would immediately be shut down. Everything would in fact be contained.

What is sad is that new reactor designs are tons safer than 30 years ago. And they are now the same thing. There are not custom for each plant. mking them cheeper to make and even safer as iissues are found. Fixes can be made to all plants since they are identical. This country needs to pull it's head out of it's a$$ and get educated on the matter.

 

[Evadman]

As I pointed out the best target would have been dams due to massive flooding.

The concrete slab in that vid is 10 feet thick. The hoover dam is 43' at the minimum, and more than 600 at the bottom. A plane hitting it would be the equivalent of peeling some paint off the outside.

 

[eits]

a plane crashing into a nuclear power plant won't result in anything except a scratch on the power plant and a destroyed plane.

my mom is a senior project manager for a few nuclear power plants and works for the nuclear regulatory commission (nrc).

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

a plane crashing into a nuclear power plant won't result in anything except a scratch on the power plant and a destroyed plane.

my mom is a senior project manager for a few nuclear power plants and works for the nuclear regulatory commission (nrc).

Read two posts up. She is correct but it could be more than a scratch.

 

[lord_emperor]

Better to crash into the spent fuel pool building or exposed dry cask storage, which might be less spectacular but burning nuclear waste would sure have caused a lot of cancer and ruined a lot of land.

 

[eits]

Read two posts up. She is correct but it could be more than a scratch.

i was being hyperbolic

 

[QuantumPion]

Better to crash into the spent fuel pool building or exposed dry cask storage, which might be less spectacular but burning nuclear waste would sure have caused a lot of cancer and ruined a lot of land.

The spent fuel pool would be an extremely hard target to hit, and even if you did hit it, it's unlikely it would do any substantial damage.

The casks are even less likely to sustain damage - they are 150 tons of solid steel and designed to withstand being hit head on by a freight train, dropped from 1000 ft in the air, or burn in a fire for days.

 

[rcpratt]

my mom is a senior project manager for a few nuclear power plants and works for the nuclear regulatory commission (nrc).

What department/office?

 

[eits]

What department/office?

senior project manager, plant licensing branch ii-2, division of operating reactor licensing, office of nuclear reactor regulation

 

[SunnyD]

WTC wasn't "symbolic". They were designated as targets due to the amount of commerce centralized in one location there. Al Quesadilla has always been interested in trying to cripple the US's financial infrastructure. I'm not sure blowing up a few buildings is a good way to do it, but they have pretty much succeeded in their overarching goals anyway.

 

[rcpratt]

Ah, close. I work with the Office of New Reactors, Division of New Reactor Licensing folks a lot. Does she work at HQ in Rockville?

 

[SlitheryDee]

That's just a puny F4 though. What if 2 jumbo airplanes crashed into that thing on both sides?

I dunno, but sneaking a jumbo jet inside a nuclear power plant just seems like wasted effort to me.

 

[eits]

Ah, close. I work with the Office of New Reactors, Division of New Reactor Licensing folks a lot. Does she work at HQ in Rockville?

yup, her name is brenda mozafari. if you ever run into her that her oldest son, bobby, is very proud of her.