Sitting ducks to terrorist attack.

• Position: Nuclear Reactors

More than a decade after 9/11 hijackers considered flying a fully loaded passenger jet into a Manhattan area nuclear reactor, U.S. commercial and research nuclear facilities remain inadequately protected against two credible terrorist threats: the theft of bomb-grade material to make a nuclear weapon, and sabotage attacks intended to cause a reactor meltdown, charges a report prepared under a contract for the Pentagon by the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project at the University of Texas at Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs.

None of the 104 commercial nuclear power reactors in the U.S. is protected against a maximum credible terrorist attack, such as the one perpetrated on 9/11.

Operators of existing nuclear facilities still are not required to defend against the number of terrorist teams or attackers associated with the 9/11 tragedy, nor against airplane attacks, nor even against readily available weapons such as high-power sniper rifles.

Of particular concern, the NPPP report finds:

* Some U.S. nuclear power plants are vulnerable to terrorist attack from the sea, including Diablo Canyon in California, St. Lucie in Florida, Brunswick in North Carolina, Surry in Virginia, Indian Point in New York, Millstone in Connecticut, Pilgrim in Massachusetts, and the South Texas Project.

* Another serious terrorism danger is posed by three civilian research reactors that are fueled with bomb-grade uranium, which is vulnerable to theft to make nuclear weapons. These...