Break-In at Y-12 – the vulnerability of America’s nuclear-weapons sites

Lots of good points and good history in the article, but it's poorly organized and rambles on and on. The author was probably paid by the word.

Bottom line is that security at this particular site was laughable. E.g.:

   The Plowshares activists did set off an alarm.
   But security officers ignored it, because
   hundreds of false alarms occurred at Y-12
   every month.

After cutting thru three fences and then spray painting the walls of a building, the protesters waited around and sang religious songs for a half an hour before they flagged down a passing rent-a-cop patrol car.

The protesters were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to years in jail.

The last few sentences are a great summary:

"The prison looked like an image on an old postcard, a haunting, uniquely American symbol of state power. And a thought occurred to me: the walls of the penitentiary guarding this pacifist were taller and more impenetrable than any of the fences at Y-12."

the article reports that 80,000 were killed in the Hiroshima bombing; that's a common misconception, it was easily twice that if you include those who died of cancer in the following decades - for the most part thyroid and leukemia.