What if Al-Qaeda's intended target was Three Mile Island with flight 93?

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So doing research into Three Mile Island as a part of my research into nuclear viability and I came across the information that during 9/11 it was feared that the nuclear power plant was a probable target, given its location and the flight path of 93 it's pretty easy to see why.
UA93_path.svg

R.b54e7cbf7f73b65c6667eee395f99782


This crossed me as a nightmare scenario that I felt needed to be discussed and debated so I have a few scenarios.
  1. Everything goes mostly the same as OTL except for the fact that Three Mile Island is the target before the plane is bought down in the struggle.
  2. The Hijackers take control of the plane much earlier and secede in hitting Unit 2 and destroying its containment.
  3. The same but Unit 1 is struck with minimal damage to unit 2.
  4. One or the other is hit causing a fire which destroys both unit 1 and 2.
Where do things go from here?
 
The concrete shell should be able to withstand a hit by a jet. It was one of the construction requirements, as I recall they tested the design with decommissioned jet fighter on rails.
 
Scottty said:
How tough is the containment vessel?
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The reactor itself is protected within a six-inch steel solid steel vessel. The problem is that the reactor within unit 2 is already leaking radiation and its containment dome is the only thing keeping it contained.

According to the Washington post the dome is.
Washingtonpost.com: Three Mile Island

DOME: The top of the structure that houses the core. The core of the Three Mile Island dome structure has 8.4- inch high-strength carbon-steel walls. It is housed in the "containment building" with walls 4-feet-thick made of prestressed concrete and steel reinforcing rods.
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The ultimate question thus is can the plane take out the dome or rupture it? Keep in mind Maintenance on Unit 2 probably hasn't been as good structurally as it could be given its age and the fact that radiation makes it more difficult than otherwise like on Unit 1, the direct strike of a plane at top speed could perhaps at the very least cause a rupture to happen even more so if the force was to hit the roof straight in a dive as that is where radiation has collected.
 
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Rusty Shackleford said:
The reactor itself is protected within a six-inch steel solid steel vessel. The problem is that the reactor within unit 2 is already leaking radiation and its containment dome is the only thing keeping it contained.

According to the Washington post the dome is.


The ultimate question thus is can the plane take out the dome or rupture it? Keep in mind Maintenance on Unit 2 probably hasn't been as good structurally as it could be given its age and the fact that radiation makes it more difficult than otherwise like on Unit 1, the direct strike of a plane at top speed could perhaps at the very least cause a rupture to happen even more so if the force was to hit the roof straight in a dive as that is where radiation has collected.
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A strait dive would cause the wings to shear off and send the plane off course. The best you can do is a shallower dive towards the top at high speed. But even then, you will probably have only superficial damage. Far better target is the actual control rooms which would potentially cause core meltdowns due to lack of control of the reactors.

Whether it would be enough to cause a Fukushima event I will leave to people with better knowledge of how 3 Mile Island works.
 
Chiron said:
A strait dive would cause the wings to shear off and send the plane off course. The best you can do is a shallower dive towards the top at high speed. But even then, you will probably have only superficial damage. Far better target is the actual control rooms which would potentially cause core meltdowns due to lack of control of the reactors.

Whether it would be enough to cause a Fukushima event I will leave to people with better knowledge of how 3 Mile Island works.
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Fukushima was a different design, with no big containment dome IIRC. And the problem was that the cooling systems were destroyed, leading to the reactor overheating, despite it being hastily shut down.
 
This would be an attempted nuclear attack on US soil. I think Bush would be obligated to at least threaten to nuke Kabul if everyone taking credit for the attack wasn't extradited.
 
Atarlost said:
This would be an attempted nuclear attack on US soil. I think Bush would be obligated to at least threaten to nuke Kabul if everyone taking credit for the attack wasn't extradited.
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Give the Taliban an ultimatum, if they fail nuke Kabul, nuke Tora-Bora, let whatever idiots are left standing sort shit out.
 
Atarlost said:
This would be an attempted nuclear attack on US soil. I think Bush would be obligated to at least threaten to nuke Kabul if everyone taking credit for the attack wasn't extradited.
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No it would not. And trying to make it out to be would brand the US a rogue nuclear state if it actually nuked Kabul which wasn't even the Capital then.

In truth it changes nothing. Things go as OTL.
 
Chiron said:
No it would not. And trying to make it out to be would brand the US a rogue nuclear state if it actually nuked Kabul which wasn't even the Capital then.

In truth it changes nothing. Things go as OTL.
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No nuclear nation (meaning having reactors even if they don't have weapons) can afford to have an attack on a reactor treated with kid gloves. Pakistan might think they're safe because they're Muslim, but other nuclear powers will support extreme retaliation that makes further nuclear terrorism unthinkable out of self preservation. And non-nuclear nations don't really have a vote.
 
Atarlost said:
No nuclear nation (meaning having reactors even if they don't have weapons) can afford to have an attack on a reactor treated with kid gloves. Pakistan might think they're safe because they're Muslim, but other nuclear powers will support extreme retaliation that makes further nuclear terrorism unthinkable out of self preservation. And non-nuclear nations don't really have a vote.
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I guess that's why Israel nuked Gaza when Hamas hits its reactor... Oh wait...

Sorry but precedent doesn't support your position.

There are no real changes, it's not a nuclear strike and no real damage was done. Things go as OTL.
 
Atarlost said:
This would be an attempted nuclear attack on US soil. I think Bush would be obligated to at least threaten to nuke Kabul if everyone taking credit for the attack wasn't extradited.
Click to expand...
This scenario would result in every country that has a Nuclear reactor go "oh hell no, you didn't just do that!" and prepare to pimp slap the perpetrators.

Iran might say "we'll set our differences aside and help you get them" to the US in this instance and they're not particularly pleased with decades of US sanctions and really don't like it when the Israelis damage their nuclear stuff while everyone else sorta pretends it didn't happen.
 
Chiron said:
I guess that's why Israel nuked Gaza when Hamas hits its reactor... Oh wait...

Sorry but precedent doesn't support your position.

There are no real changes, it's not a nuclear strike and no real damage was done. Things go as OTL.
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Israel nuking Gaza would basically be them nuking themselves. That's asumming they have nukes. According to the Israeli government, they don't have nukes.
 
bintananth said:
Israel nuking Gaza would basically be them nuking themselves. That's asumming they have nukes. According to the Israeli government, they don't have nukes.
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Which we all know is a lie. That and an Airburst 1 Megatron, center of Gaza would gut central Gaza without affecting the rest of Israel itself.
 
Chiron said:
Which we all know is a lie. That and an Airburst 1 Megatron, center of Gaza would gut central Gaza without affecting the rest of Israel itself.
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A 1MT airburst would basically be the US sending a B-52 to drop a "dial-a-yield" M83 gravity bomb set to "max" with a parachute deployed so the B-52 can get out of the blast radius before it goes "BOOM!".
 
Rusty Shackleford said:
So doing research into Three Mile Island as a part of my research into nuclear viability and I came across the information that during 9/11 it was feared that the nuclear power plant was a probable target, given its location and the flight path of 93 it's pretty easy to see why.
UA93_path.svg

R.b54e7cbf7f73b65c6667eee395f99782


This crossed me as a nightmare scenario that I felt needed to be discussed and debated so I have a few scenarios.
  1. Everything goes mostly the same as OTL except for the fact that Three Mile Island is the target before the plane is bought down in the struggle.
  2. The Hijackers take control of the plane much earlier and secede in hitting Unit 2 and destroying its containment.
  3. The same but Unit 1 is struck with minimal damage to unit 2.
  4. One or the other is hit causing a fire which destroys both unit 1 and 2.
Where do things go from here?
Click to expand...
Right near Harrisburg YIKES.
 
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