WI 9/11 original plan goes through?

That was, flying the planes into nuclear facilities along the East Coast? Would it have a greater impact than OTL 9/11?
 

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The anit nuclear movement is stronger in the US. There could maybe be a German style Energiewende under Bush. But still very unlikely.
Otherwise I'd wager there are not as many immediate death and therefore there not such a big trauma effect. Still strong enough to invade Afghanistan. Iraq you would need to decide.
 
I would say much less impact. The death toll would be limited to those on the planes and maybe a handful on the ground. Plus you wouldn't have the attack occurring on live TV from the middle of a major city since the plants are generally out away from any large populations.
 
Isn't the general theory that it wouldn't have actually caused much in the way of damage to the nuclear reactors themselves?

I'm not sure if the tests were made before or after 9/11 but they actually flew a jet into a test wall made of the same material that Nuclear reactors use and it didn't even dent it.

So yeah, from what I've heard it actually wouldn't have been as disastrous as most people assume.
 
How easy is it to hit a ground target, versus a level target? Just wondering since WW2 AA directors had a hard time guessing a plane's 3-d position, so maybe a lot of TTL 9/11 planes end long or short. Who knows what the fuel destroys.
 
9/11 becomes a completely different cultural creature, with its enduring legacy in the social mindset more akin to Lockerbie bombing meets Three Mile Island: certainly destructive and terrible for the loss of life, but with the general public more able to shake their heads and think, 'how terrible' and then go on about their day. It's just not the same traumatizing experience to see images of a few nuke plants with flaming wreckage scattered on their grounds shot from across a field. There'll be the ensuing anti-nuke power debate much like OTL Fukushima and moves to beef up security at airports and various strategically important installations, plus calls for the military to get into Afghanistan and put a stop to this Al Qaeda thing asap, but overall it just wouldn't carry the same weight on our collective conscious.
 
Massive power outages, the reactors might be sfe but every thing else is destroyed. Would people not being able to see he event live lessen the attacks impact.
 
well for one thing the Simpson's will seem a lot more awkward, and not just for the episode 'Homer Vs New York City"
 

Cook

Banned
That was, flying the planes into nuclear facilities along the East Coast?
That’s interesting; I’ve not heard that that was ever considered. The concept I’d heard of previously was that a dozen 747s were to be seized mid-Pacific and deliberately dived into the ocean. Apparently that version of the plan was abandoned when it was discovered that passengers boarding international flights going to the United States underwent more stringent security checks than those boarding domestic flights within the U.S.

Would it have a greater impact than OTL 9/11?
Substantially less loss of life; apart from the passengers on board the aircraft and the crews at the reactors, there’s very little likelihood of further deaths; the containment domes are designed to withstand just such an aircraft impact. If it entailed just the four aircraft there probably wouldn’t have been a prolonged blackout; power-plants in other parts of the U.S. and Canada would just take up the increased load on the grid.

Well the Pentagon isn't all that tall is it?
Nope, three stories tall (23 metres). But it covers a substantially larger piece of real estate than a power plant does; easier to see from a distance, which counts even when you are using a dash top GPS like the hijackers apparently were.
 
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There is an idea that has come up recently. If someone were to destroy the dam on Lake Jocassee, Oconee Nuclear Station would be flooded, which would risk compromising the three reactors on site. Among the area which would need evacuation in the event of a meltdown would be Clemson University.
Two nuclear-related targets that could get hit, and are not as well protected as reactors would be the nuclear fuel production facilities at Paducah, Kentucky and Metropolis, Illinois. Destruction of those facilities could risk contaminating not only the area around the plant but the Ohio river, as well as hindering truck and rail traffic.
 
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