John Large, an independent engineer based in London, said that claims the future European Pressurised Water (EPR) reactors could resist the impact of a commercial airliner were "misleading" and warned terrorists were skilled at devising unexpected modes of attack.

"Nuclear plants were never designed for that ingenuity," said Large, speaking at a press conference organised by the environmental group Greenpeace.

The first EPR is being built at Olkiluoto in Finland, and a second is expected to be start shortly at the French nuclear plant of Flamanville. It is also considered a leading candidate for the next generation of N-plants in Britain.

The EPR has been under development since 1992 by Germany's Siemens and France's Framatome-ANP, which is part of the state-owned group of nuclear corporations, Areva.

Large was responding to a leaked document sent from France's state-owned electricity provider, Electricite de France (EDF), to the French nuclear safety regulators.

In it, EDF contended that the consequences of any 9/11 attack would be low.

It based this on existing design standards, under which reactors are built to withstand the accidental crash of a military jet, which weighs five tonnes.

As most of these jets comprises the engine, which is also the heaviest and hardest part of a commercial airliner, this standard is also relevant for bigger planes, EDF argued.

EDF also argued that the fuel spewed out by a commercial airliner in a crash would be consumed within two minutes and suggested that, in any case, hijackers would find it hard to steer an aircraft towards such a low target, according to the leaked document.

Large, a partner in a London firm called Large & Associates, said the EDF claim was "flawed in a number of important respects."

He noted a huge difference in mass between a small warplane and a commercial airliner that could weigh some 250 tonnes, and said a conflagration caused by up to 100 tonnes of kerosene might compromise the safety of the reactor's concrete safety shell.

Large also noted that the 9/11 hijackers had trained extensively in flying at targets. One of the teams crashed their plane into the side of the Pentagon.

The EDF document "reflects what seems to be an almost total lack of preparation to defend against the inevitability of terrorist attack," Large said in his rebuttal.

France derives more than three-quarters of its electricity from nuclear power, which is supplied by EDF through a huge network of reactors.

The leaking of the document sparked a police raid on May 16 on the home of Stephane Lhomme, a campaigner with the anti-nuclear group Sortir du Nucleaire. The group has now widely distributed the paper on the Internet.

Large added that terrorists did not necessarily have to target the reactor, the most hardened part of a nuclear site, as fuel and waste are stored in far more vulnerable positions.

Last month, British nuclear experts warned of the consequences of any terrorist attack on highly-radioactive caesium liquid waste, stored at Windscale, northwestern England.

In a reaction to Large's allegations, Areva said Friday the EPR was designed to withstand an airliner crash.

While the initial concept of the EPR took into account the possible impact of a military aircraft, at the demand of French and Ferman safety authorities, the design was modified post 9/11, it said.

"The thickness and resistance of the reinforced concrete protective shell were consequently revised. The initial concept of the project allowed such a modificiation without affecting the basic design."

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