Page - March 21, 2007
"Nuclear terrorism is still often treated as science fiction - I wish it were. But unfortunately we live in a world of excess hazardous materials and abundant technological know-how, in which some terrorists clearly state their intention to inflict catastrophic casualties."
Plutonium shipments cross France every 7-10 days.
That's not our quote, it's UN General
Secretary Kofi Annan's. He has good reason to beconcerned by the
threat of nuclear terrorism. The UN's InternationalAtomic Energy
Agency believe it is "far more likely" post 9/11 thatterrorists
could target nuclear facilities worldwide.
Because of their importance for the electricity supply system,
thesevere consequences of radioactive releases and because of
theirsymbolic character, nuclear power plants are "attractive"
targets forterrorist as well as for military attacks.
An attack on a nuclear facility can lead to radioactive releases
equivalent to several times those released at Chernobyl.Nuclear
facilities could be targets in case of war if a military use
issuspected. The spectrum of possible modes of attack is very
diverse.Attacks could be performed by air, on the ground and from
the water. Asfurther evidence shows that more and more terrorists
are consideringthe nuclear option, industry and government plans to
increase thenumber of reactors globally smacks of stupidity.
Read here to find out just how mad it is:
- Detailed plans of Britain's nuclearsites, including Sizewell,
were found in a car linked to the July 2005London bombings.
- A terrorist strike on Sellafield'sstorage tanks of radioactive
waste in the UK could kill over 2 millionpeople. Due to the type of
radioactive waste stored there theconsequences of an attack could
dwarf the effects of the Chernobyldisaster.
- During 2004-05 there were over fortycases of potential security
breaches at UK civil nuclear sites.
- During 2005 three suspected terroristswere caught by the Lucas
Heights nuclear research reactor near Sydney,Australia.
- A taped interview shown on Al-Jazeera TVon September 10th 2002,
contained a statement that Al Qaeda initiallyplanned to include a
nuclear plant in its 2001 attack sites.
- To date, there have been six knowndirect attacks on nuclear
power plants in France, South Africa,Switzerland, the Philippines,
and Spain.
- The International Policy Institute forCounter Terrorism
database includes 167 terrorist incidents involving anuclear target
for the period 1970-1999.
One direct consequence of the real threat of terrorist attack is
thatgovernments and the nuclear industry are seeking to restrict
publicaccess to information about how the industry operates. On the
groundsof nuclear safety and security, less and less information is
being madepublic, making it harder to scrutinize the operations of
thenuclear industry.
This restriction on public information, rather than guaranteeing
therewill be no terrorist attack on a nuclear facility will be
sucessful (nosuch guarantee is possible) reduces the public ability
to challenge the unsafeoperation of nuclear plants. Instead of
destroying civil liberties,government efforts to provide real
security would be better servedthrough nuclear phase-outs and
investments in renewables andefficiency. A wind turbine or solar
panel, unlike a nuclear facility, isnot an attractive terrorist
target!