UN Warns of Nuclear Terror Threat
Nov 2001
Telegraph.co.uk

THE UN's nuclear watchdog is pressing for an urgent response to new terror threats since September 11, including the risk that Islamic extremists could build an atomic bomb.

The danger that terrorists could slam an aircraft into a nuclear power plant, or build an atomic "dirty bomb" using stolen radioactive material, are also high on the agenda of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting tomorrow.

"The willingness of terrorists to commit suicide to achieve their evil aims makes the nuclear terrorism threat far more likely than it was before September 11," said IAEA chief Mohamed Eibaradei.

"There have been two nuclear shocks to the world already - the Chernobyl accident and the IAEA's discovery of Iraq's clandestine nuclear weapons programme. It will be vital we do all in our power to prevent the third."

The nuclear threat was underlined only this week when US authorities imposed an air exclusion zone around 86 nuclear power facilities, saying it had credible information that they could be targettted.

The IAEA, which monitors nuclear power facilities worldwide, says governments will have to pay to improve security, calling for an increase of up to 50 million dollars, or 15 per cent, of its annual budget.

The Vienna-based body's annual meeting in September, coincidentally only days after the terror attacks in New York and Washington, was overshadowed by the new nuclear threat.

President Bush sent a message urging the IAEA to help fight "the real and growing threat of nuclear proliferation". The threat of a terrorist nuclear bomb will be among key issues for discussion Friday.

"Although terrorists have never used a nuclear weapon, reports that some terrorist groups, particularly al-Qa'eda, have attempted to acquire nuclear material is a cause of great concern," said a report ahead of the meeting.

"While we cannot exclude the possibility that terrorists could get hold of some nuclear material, it is highly unlikely they could use it to manufacture and successfully detonate a nuclear bomb. Still, no scenario is impossible," said Eibaradei.

The IAEA appealed to the world's five formal nuclear powers - the US, Britain, France, China and Russia - as well as India, Pakistan and Israel, to "urgently review the safety and security of their nuclear weapons".

Delegates will also broach the threat of a plane attack on a nuclear plant. While playing down the immediate threat, especially given increased airline security since September 11, the UN agency insists it must be taken seriously.

"The extent of damage that could be caused by the intentional crash of a large, fully fuelled jetliner into a nuclear reactor containment or other nuclear facilities is still a matter for analysis," said the report.

A more realistic threat, according to the IAEA, is that of a so-called "dirty bomb", using radioactive material from sources like hospitals, agriculture or industrial plants. "The number of radioactive sources in the world is vast. Security of medical and industrial radiation sources is disturbingly weak in some countries," said the IAEA report.

"The effects of a dirty bomb would not be devastating in terms of human life. But contamination in even small quantities could have major psychological and economic effects."