THE scenario is scary enough. An attack by a terrorist group succeeds in draining the water from a pond full of nuclear waste somewhere in the US. It overheats, bursts into flames and belches out eight times as much radioactivity as the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
But is it realistic? The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the nuclear industry say it is not. But a group of critical scientists say it is, and their allegations are now being taken seriously enough for the country’s National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to launch an investigation.
Bob Alvarez, a senior energy adviser…
