Nuke Facility Raid An Inside Job?

Eyewitness Talks To 60 Minutes About Brazen Assault On South African Nuclear Facility

(CBS)  The assault on Pelindaba would make quite a movie. But it's a thriller that is all too real, with consequences that might have threatened the world. It was a daring break-in at a heavily guarded nuclear plant that holds enough weapons grade uranium to build a dozen atomic bombs. The story is little known, but after months of reporting, 60 Minutes can tell the tale, for the first time, through the eyes of the one man who stopped the plot. What happened at Pelindaba is the kind of thing that keeps presidents awake at night.

---

Pelindaba is nestled in the African bush, not far from the capital of South Africa. It is where the former Apartheid regime secretly built nuclear weapons. In the 1990s, South Africa chose to disarm. The bombs were dismantled, but the highly enriched uranium, known as HEU - the fuel for the bombs - is still there. South Africa assures the world that Pelindaba is a fortress. But, last year, on the night of Nov. 7, it was the scene of the boldest raid ever attempted on a site holding bomb grade uranium.

"It happened just after one o’clock at night. We heard a sound inside the building," remembers Anton Gerber, who has worked at Pelindaba for 30 years and is the chief of the plant’s emergency control center.

He was in the control room when masked men broke in. "There's a crack in the door. And I looked through this and I saw this four armed gunmen entering the passages is coming straight to us in the control room."

Gerber says all four were armed.

The men had breached a 10,000 volt fence, passed security cameras, and walked three quarters of a mile to the control room that monitors alarms and responds to emergencies. Gerber called the security office, just three minutes away.

"I immediately said to them they must come and help us. We're under attack. There's four armed men inside our building. The first guy who stepped into the office, he said to me, 'Why do you phone?' He was shouting at me, 'Why do you phone? Why do you phone?'" Gerber remembers. "And I was still so surprised, you know. My first words to them, 'Is this a joke?'"

The only other employee in the control room was Ria Meiring. "And he grabbed me at my hair and pull me out. And he put a gun to my head while the other three guys were fighting with Anton," she remembers.

But the attack on the control room was just the start. A second group of gunmen, on the other side of the plant, was cutting through the fence and opened fire on a guard.

Asked if he thinks the gunmen were after the HEU, Matthew Bunn of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government tells correspondent Scott Pelley, "That's certainly the most valuable single thing that's at that site."

Bunn has studied the attack and has written a classified report for the government on atomic security. He says highly enriched uranium is extremely difficult to make, and would be worth millions of dollars on the black market. And if terrorists get a hold of it, it would not be hard to build a crude atomic bomb. "Making a nuclear bomb with highly enriched uranium basically involves slamming two pieces together at high speed. That's really all there is to it," he explains.

Asked how much highly enriched uranium a terrorist group would need to build a weapon, Bunn says, "The amount of highly enriched uranium metal would basically fit into the cans of a six pack."

And handling the material, according to Bunn, isn’t very dangerous. "Unfortunately not. Highly enriched uranium is only very weakly radioactive. You can handle it with your hands."

Pelindaba holds more than a thousand pounds of HEU, and it uses some of it to make medical products. South Africa calls the plant is a "national key point," a facility with the highest security.

"This is the first time that this has ever happened on site," says Ari Van Der Bijl, the general manager.

Van Der Bijl brought 60 Minutes to the place where the gunmen got through the electric fence.

[missingamerica]

Huh...does sound like an inside job.

Which immediately makes me consider the possibility that it was a fake - to cover up the sale of uranium to some entity that would displease one power or another.

[j0hnwi11iams]

This is exactly the kind of security we need immediately, not some sandbag goldbrick missile defense shield. Conservatives blame liberals while sitting on their fat *****.

[pensacola98]

These type of news releases are first filtered through channels in either the White House, or the NSA before we ever see a glimpse of the story, and then when we do get the story, it is usually pretty watered down.

The purpose is to control or maniplutate public sentiment especially critics of the Iraq War who want to pull out troops.

Nuclear safety is an ongoing issue and has been since the 1950''s. Break-ins and attacks used to be highly classified, but are now seemingly publicized.

Four masked gunman could walk out of a nuclear facility with handfuls of high grade uranium, but to do it safely, would require more than they could carry on foot. A safety containment device for high grade uranium is heavy and impractical for any sizable quantities. Radiation burns would kill unprotected humans in less than 3 days.

Under the scenario where one steals urannium and builds a bomb, and attempts to detonate one, the results are highly unlikely to do more damage than conventional explosives, but will leave a radiation residue that would require a significant containment effort to remediate.

[spinproof]

It''s shocking how many expensive assets are protected and guarded by the lowest wages and the lightest or poorest security!

[pensacola98]

When the fall of the USSR occurred, the NSA operations went into triple overtime seeking the protection of the nuclear missiles known to exist in the independent republics, because Soviet guards actually walked off their posts and left their missiles unsecured.

A news team from the USA was actually able to meet the new independant leaders of the republics and requested to see the "Nuke Button" and some were granted their request and shown the "Nuke Button" while the journalists had their cameras rolling. They were also able to see the handbag that carried the classified arming codes. It was passed off as a casual event that angered the KGB and GRU to no end. Back in the USA, the jaws of the CIA and NSA operatives fell to the floor at the sight of journalists seeing what few intelligence employees ever could.

The current challenge for the USA and Russian relations is keeping Bush 41 and Putin as far away from accessing political control as possible. Those two are the greatest threat that all people in the world should be wary of. They both advocate use of force and war making efforts for certain scenarios.

Former Presidents are entitled to current intelligence reports under the current guidelines. I seriously believe that Obama should find ways to put an end to that practice. Bush 41 is not a man to be trusted with any political power, much less, any intelligence reports.

[karela33]

If they couldn''t carry it off, what would happen if they had a way to deonate it on site? And/or what would happen if they held the site hostage with the threat of detonation? No one would find much advantage in trying to steal the makings of nice, safe, clean wind and solar energy. Why do we mess with things like this if we don''t have to? Solar experts now say that a solar system ninety two miles on a side set in the Nevada desert would supply all the electricity the U.S. needs. Now, we need a new smart power grid that can handle the job of moving it where it''s needed. And that''s good too because it will create a lot of jobs and save of some of the $700 billion a year we spend on foreign oil.

[wardoglrs]

Little physics here, folks.

ALL reactor fuel, with "added purification", can be used in a nuclear weapon.

It is the "added purification" which is the issue.

Is Iran actually doing "Added purification"? The IAEA says no. And it is not as trivial as the article implies. Nuclear fuel (what Iran is making) is enriched to 3%. Weapons-grade uranium needs to be enriched to 95% or higher. The required equipment, energy, and time needed to go from 3% to 95% is enormous, orders of magnitude larger than that needed for reactor fuel. And impossible to conceal (except under the Dimona reactor, which is, unlike Iran, safe from IAEA inspections.

[alphaa10000]

Pensacola98 said, "The current challenge for the USA and Russian relations is keeping Bush 41 (43) and Putin as far away from accessing political control as possible. Those two are the greatest threat..."
---

Thanks for a vital post, and warning to those who believe Bush 43 and his damage is over.

Putin, for example, put Medvedev in power and keeps him there, but for only appearances. Putin runs the show, and none in this "KGB rogue state" will challenge Putin on any grounds. Legally and effectively, there are few left.

Likewise, while Bush busies himself cleaning out his desk drawer, he also is pushing bales of taxpayer dollars toward his friends in Wall Street circles as fast as he can.

Meanwhile, this "environmental president" has spent the last three months or so gutting the scant remaining protections against drilling around our national parks.

As if that were not enough, Bush also is in process of nullifying the federal species protection act. By removing requirement for expert scientific commentary from agency recommendations, no Bush federal agency will be required to consult biologists in regard to any threatened species.

As far back as 2004, America''s "Bush problem" was apparent to many in the federal community. Nation Magazine depicted the consensus of many in US military and intel circles regarding Bush and his handling of national security. It has become only worse, since then. See http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040628/kvh

[connapa]

If it was an inside job, it had to have been planned by someone with low level clearance. Otherwise, they would have been able to get further into the facility. The Uranium would be in relatively unformed, basic pieces stored in such a way to make sure that radioactive decay would be slow to preserve the purity until it could be made into any type of weapon. It would take weeks to months- even with the right equipment- to form the material into any useable shape. They would also have needed the technology and equipment to turn a subcritical mass into a critical (or supercritical) mass. Given the economy of the continent, it was likely just an attempt to steal material and try to sell to the highest bidder.

[joule18]

I sure do hate bush and his greedy, rich friends. A nice civil war in which all Republican rich are imprisoned would be fun. We could send them to Palestine and let the Arabs there move here. Then stop sending money to Israel. Well... Let''''s go! Really... I''''m waiting.

Posted by timothyone at 06:50 AM : Nov 21, 2008

It would be nothing less than you deserve to have the Arabs in the Palestenian territory be your neighbors. If we could do a swap where all the people that live there vacate and I could go live there I would. Israel is a wonderful, vibrant country and they could then annex the Gaza and West Bank and make it wonderful too.

As far as your situation, your property values would immediately plummet and you could live in intimidation and fear as they lob rockets into your backyard on a daily basis.

[buttonjockey]

This is one of the fundamental problems with nuclear power that will drive up its cost even further while the cost of solar and wind falls. According to a 2006 government study, wind is already cheaper than nuclear power when you analyze the costs of construction, fuel, operation, SECURITY, maintenance and decommission. Solar is still a lot more expensive than nuclear but its cost is expected to fall below nuclear when large scale production and implementation happens (as it will in the southwest US). Wind will come down a little in cost due to efficiency improvements. Nuclear, on the other hand, is facing skyrocketing construction costs and increasing security considerations so it will only increase in price. Power generation by coal, oil and natural gas (all cheaper than nuclear) will become more expensive due to fuel cost increases and environmental concerns.

In about 10 to 20 years, we will see that solar is the way to go because it will be cheaper than nuclear, it will employ heat retention systems to produce power overnight, it will be far too decentralized to suffer much from terrorist activity, and it will produce no dangerous waste of any kind. Wind will be viable as a cheaper supplement.

What''s ironic is that all the fuss of the environmentalists will not be the key to widespread use of solar and wind for power. It will be simple economics.

[markavelli2]

buttonjockey,

Wind is cheaper than nuke power? That''s a no brainer. But how much land must be peppered with windmills to create the output of one nuke plant.
You are also forgetting the environmentalists refusal to compromise on ANYTHING. They will not tolerate windmills all over our mountains, and open plains. They won''t allow anything that isn''t perfect in their eyes.

Who wants to see windmills all over the place anyways.
Nuke power is still the best way to go. But the enviros put a stop to that back in the 70''s.....

[amysdad76]

Adam thinks it''s a case of "random criminality".

Is it somehow safer if random criminals have radioactive materials?

[evian_ycnan]

Posted by Amysdad76 at 12:27 PM : Nov 21, 2008

You`re assuming that the were there to steal radioactive materials.

Maybe they came there just to shoot this Gerber fellow.

[antizion]

Sounds like an intelligence service wanted an untraceable source of nuclear material for a false flag terror attack and the plant operator was involved.

I would look at those that specialize in false flag attacks - Israel and the US.

[redbds]

Sounds like an intelligence service wanted an untraceable source of nuclear material for a false flag terror attack and the plant operator was involved.

I would look at those that specialize in false flag attacks - Israel and the US.

Posted by AntiZion at 01:10 PM : Nov 21, 2008

And away we go with the conspiracy theories! Idiot!

[tianl05]

The report completed glosses over the fact that the dismantling of South Africa''s nuclear arsenal was a key negotiating point for the transition to democratic ''Native African'' rule.

It would not be allowed that a ''Black'' African nation have access and control over nuclear weapons. It is also no suprise that 98% of the employees at the facility are still white Afrikaaners.

[tianl05]

The report completed glosses over the fact that the dismantling of South Africa''s nuclear arsenal was a key negotiating point for the transition to democratic ''Native African'' rule.

It would not be allowed that a ''Black'' African nation have access and control over nuclear weapons. It is also no suprise that 98% of the employees at the facility are still white Afrikaaners.

[tianl05]

The report completed glosses over the fact that the dismantling of South Africa''s nuclear arsenal was a key negotiating point for the transition to democratic ''Native African'' rule.

It would not be allowed that a ''Black'' African nation have access and control over nuclear weapons. It is also no suprise that 98% of the employees at the facility are still white Afrikaaners.

[cbswhiteout]

Who really produced this story? Black country Nuclear Technology? 60 min looks like the tool of the "economic hitman"

[clathrate]

Sounds like more wild conspiracy theory blather from Scott Pelley.

He seems willing to claim just about anything for his Israeli and corporate masters.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by MikeTotten1

Right....nuke facility housing HEU is raided by gang of armed men who defeat multiple layers of security and they get away with God knows what. Right, nothing to be concerned about at all...

[clathrate]

Sound more like desperate Muslims hoping to see those 72 virgin boys they''''re promised when they kill.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by jbrown88881

Actually it sounds more like a Russian mob plot to steal the stuff and sell to the highest bidder, whoever that may be. They''ve tried for years inside their own country, what''s to prevent them from going international?

[doxtdm]

Nuke Facility Attack:
Is it really necessary that the news media report every aspect of what they consider news? Don''t you care that anti-Americans watch your reports? To think that you actually showed where they could get in the fencing, how they got in and told them that the alarm had to be shut off and then even proceeded to tell them how much uranium is needed and how it can be used to blow most of us off the face of the earth. I think there are times that the public does not need to know every detail and have it explained to them. This is not the first time or for that matter the only station that I have seen present things of unfavorable taste.

[royrun99]

I have seen used car lots with better security than these incompetents have put together. Based on their evasive answers, i am convinced they, the management of the facility, are part of the plot.

How''bout the girl bringing her boyfriend in to the facility to keep her company.
Roy Hall

[robaldrich]

clathrate wrote: ''Right....nuke facility housing HEU is raided by gang of armed men who defeat multiple layers of security and they get away with God knows what. Right, nothing to be concerned about at all...''
-------

I''m not concerned, I live in America -- not Africa. Even if I live next door to Pelindaba, I still wouldn''t worry.

You can''t just take enriched uranium, throw it at someone, and have any real damage other than from the weight of Uranium-235. Uranium-235 alpha decays.

No need to discuss the virtual impossibility that a ''gang,'' that had to steal it''s enriched uranium from someone else, could build a device (bomb) to make Uranium-235 go prompt supercritical.

[cbswhiteout]

I grew up watching Walter Cronkite and 60 minuets with my dad. I believed it all.

Now I watch and wonder "what was the reason for that piece of propaganda?

[cbswhiteout]

I grew up watching Walter Cronkite and 60 minuets with my dad. I believed it all.

Now I watch and wonder "what was the reason for that piece of propaganda?

[antizion]

"Sounds like an intelligence service wanted an untraceable source of nuclear material for a false flag terror attack and the plant operator was involved.
I would look at those that specialize in false flag attacks - Israel and the US. "--Posted by AntiZion



And since Israel and the US can both produce all the fissionable materials they want without accounting to anybody, why would they need to steal it from South Africa? Duh?

Sound more like desperate Muslims hoping to see those 72 virgin boys they''''re promised when they kill.

******************************************

Funny thing about an isotope, they are like a fingerprint and quite traceable. Hope that answers your stupid question/comment.

[wizardjuan]

Yeah..South Africa has always been truthful about what their military has been doing-NOT. I am less worried about S. Africa than what is our country doing about security at Nuclear Power Plants. The state I live in wants to import waste from around the world

[btreib]

Give me a break, we''re supposed to believe no weapons grade material was taken? They went to all that trouble and then just walked away?

[robaldrich]

clathrate wrote: ''Actually it sounds more like a Russian mob plot to steal the stuff and sell to the highest bidder, whoever that may be. They''''ve tried for years inside their own country, what''''s to prevent them from going international?''
-------------------

Hi again.

The answer to your question is Physics.

You operate from a false premise. While how to build a nuclear bomb is a relatively simple process, actually doing it is complex, exacting, and expensive. The reality is that an entity (countries) with the wherewithal to build an atomic bomb that will actually detonate can enrich its own uranium.

That is why the, alleged, Russian Mob plots are to steal an Atomic Bomb, NOT fissile material.

[mikezembill]

THE REPUBLICANS ARE AT IT AGAIN

[mikesarcbs]

Why was it never a Headline in my newspaper?
How did "they know what they were doing"?
Why do S.A. officials react so passively?
Why do our officials react so little?
---
Either, it was an attempt to test their security,
(I dontblivet),
or, it was a "friendly" nation that bungled the job.
Noticed nobody got killed? Trade Mark of Friendlies.
Did S.A. test an Atom bomb already?
I expect they upgraded security, even if we pay for it, like we did for Russia and elsewhere.

[rwsmith29456]

Why should anyone listen to a reporter and a couple of eyewitnesses? It was just like the S. African officials said, "It depends on how you interpret this". Makes a lot of sense to me. Heh, heh, heh. What that really means is "We don''t have to tell anyone about this."

[janetla]

This is not only extremely disturbing, but the South African Gov. seems to be trying to treat this as if it is "no big deal" we are counting on them to help protect the entire world from terrorists getting hold of this very dangerous uranium. They not only should be embarrassed, and ashamed, but should swallow their pride and allow the US to aid in protecting it. Oh, and one more thing, I completely believe there were those on the inside being paid off...otherwise it wouldn''t have even been attempted by only 4 people to get through the first security point...my guess is the person paid off for the second security check point decided against being a traitor and decided against endangering the entire world...good reporting 60 minutes and please...keep up the uncomfortable pressure on the South African Government.

[tsc307]

Hilarious and Disturbing

Scott Pelley spends the entire segment trying to prove that it would take sophisticated terrorists to pull off an invasion of a weapons-grade nuclear facility, while all the South Africans keep saying that any yokel could do it. Weren%u2019t rolls reversed?

It%u2019s very scary if well-funded and well-organized terrorists can come so close. It is fill-your-underpants, call-the-State-Department TERRIFYING if some hicks can drive by and say %u201Cbet there%u2019s something valuable behind that fence over yonder; let%u2019s rob it%u201D and almost succeed. The South Africans made the strongest case for why they shouldn%u2019t have highly enriched uranium.

[bear8819-2009]

Regarding the disabling or the fence controller alarm by "cutting the cable", sophisticated alarms constantly communicate with sensors, so cutting or shorting will trigger the alarm. They can only be defeated by monitoring the communication and building something to emulate it. Clearly not possible in this case, suggesting security is primitive.

[bear8819-2009]

Regarding the disabling or the fence controller alarm by "cutting the cable", sophisticated alarms constantly communicate with sensors, so cutting or shorting will trigger the alarm. They can only be defeated by monitoring the communication and building something to emulate it. Clearly not possible in this case, suggesting security is primitive.

[bear8819-2009]

Regarding the disabling or the fence controller alarm by "cutting the cable", sophisticated alarms constantly communicate with sensors, so cutting or shorting will trigger the alarm. They can only be defeated by monitoring the communication and building something to emulate it. Clearly not possible in this case, suggesting security is primitive.

[shakehill]

Anton Gerber is a hero who is being ostracized by his government. How sad. Why didn''t 60m ask him who he thought it was, what nationality, what dialect? He fought with 4 of them, he knows. Once again, not politically correct. SA''s arrogance appalls me.

[sensiblejack]

maybe we should all pitch in and pay for a communications class for the South African government maybe something like "How to not look like a complete idiot when trying to deny the patently obvious"

Armed Burglars tring to steal laptops and copy machines, break into two teams and move to take out the command center after disabling sophisticated security systems.

riiiggghht

They would have been better off just saying no comment... as my mother used to say better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it and remove all doubt?

[usnrcmoron]

This could easily happen to a U.S. commercial nuclear power plant or other commercial plant such as the 2 which make heu navy fuel. The vulnerability which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission fails to address is that the local police, who ultimately have responsibility and jurisdiction to neutralize and/or apprehend the intruders, are not subject to adequate background psychological, drug and alcohol checks. Any small town ''Barney Fife'' can have automatic access to a nuke plant under 10 CFR 73, the NRC nuclear security regulations. And for that matter, any domestic terrorist like McVeigh can join the local police force.
Sincerely,
NRC Moron

[inketolstoy]

And handling the material, according to Bunn, isn%u2019t very dangerous. "Unfortunately not. Highly enriched uranium is only very weakly radioactive. You can handle it with your hands."

Until you die very slowly twenty years later from cancer caused by exposure from the uranium. Too many people in this country are learning science from movies like the incredible Hulk.

[mrvolleyba11]

Any small town ''''Barney Fife'''' can have automatic access to a nuke plant under 10 CFR 73.
Posted by usnrcmoron

Bu11sh*t, NO local police have "AUTOMATIC" access to a nuclear plant or facility. They may have responsibilities in case of an incident or attack at or near the facility but blanket or automatic access is not given to ANYBODY!!! Cops/police do not even have "automatic" or "blanket" access to military installations and a nuclear facility has even more restriction.

[rgheard]

As these sort of armed robberies are common in South Africa I think that it is stretching the point to try and link the invasion of the perimeter fence with nuclear terrorism. The probable reason for heading for the Emergency Centre is that there are many computers there and the theft of large numbers of computers from Corporate organisations is very common.

[bear8819-2009]

Regarding the disabling or the fence controller alarm by "cutting the cable", sophisticated alarms constantly communicate with sensors, so cutting or shorting will trigger the alarm. They can only be defeated by monitoring the communication and building something to emulate it. Clearly not possible in this case, suggesting security is primitive.