Die Welt

A new study released by the Öko Institute in Germany and reported in the Frankfurter Rundschau has revealed that a terrorist attack with an airliner on the Biblis A nuclear reactor in Hesse would force the evacuation of the population across a wide area.

The security study, which was presented to SPD politician Hermann Scheer in Wiesbaden reports that Germany’s oldest reactor block could not withstand the impact of a large passenger aircraft. Frankfurt, Mannheim and Ludwigshafen are so close to the reactor that radioactive material would affect them regardless of wind direction.

Last year an extension of the operational life of the Biblis A reactor block was debated, in which Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel of the SPD succeeded in securing an undertaking for the shut-down of the reactor. He drew attention to the fact that barely a month had passed since its inauguration in 1974 in which an accident had not been reported, including incidents involving two fatalities.

The environmentalist group Greenpeace has repeatedly drawn attention to the possible dangers of German nuclear plants. In 2001 and 2003 Greenpeace asked for the revocation of the operating licences of all nineteen power stations because their vulnerability to an attack by fully laden airliners. In particular the least protected are the 25-year-old Brunsbüttel and Biblis stations, which Greenpeace said could only withstand the impact of small sport aircraft.

According to Greenpeace the most serious accident at a German nuclear power station occurred at Biblis A in 1987. 107 litres of radioactive cooling water escaped through an open valve, though the radiation leak was minor. The public were informed of the incident only a year later.