Nuclear fallout

In a stunning – and frightening – report, ABC News revealed Thursday that numerous national universities lack sufficient safety for their on-site nuclear reactors. On the list is the University of Wisconsin, and the story related by the news outlet is one of two graduate students, working undercover, cozying up with a professor and gaining unauthorized access to the facility – tote bags in hand, unchecked.

UW has issued a statement in response to the report that amounts to a non-denial denial. The University appears to have been caught completely off-guard by this report (though The Daily Cardinal, to its credit, seems to have caught wind of it before their Wednesday night deadline) and comes across looking outright foolish.

I’ve never much been a believer that terrorists of the foreign breed would take an interest in Wisconsin. There are no major international cities in the state (Milwaukee doesn’t quite stack up to New York, Los Angeles or even Chicago), this is the middle of America and, frankly, dead cows don’t have that much political value. While UW is a large school and Camp Randall Stadium seats 80,000 people, the reality still remains that in terms of symbolic targets, Madison would appear to be quite low on any foreigner’s list of political opportunities.

Still, one must question if an easily-accessible nuclear reactor doesn’t serve to enhance the vulnerability of UW to an exponential degree. ABC News needed only two 20-something students with friendly dispositions to gain access to the facility and apparently UW’s website even offers a virtual tour for anyone looking to do homework in advance of a visit. More frightening yet, while ABC’s operatives were able to gain access through charisma alone, the report condemns Madison for lacking security. In other words, uninvited guests with a touch of brute force might not need such personable attitudes.

UW needs to, very quickly, invest in some solid security mechanisms – both physical and human – to protect this vulnerable facility. While ABC News has done the public a great service by exposing this threat, the reality is that the network has also served to make it public knowledge and such only works to heighten the urgency of the matter at hand.