|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Report Says New Steps Needed to Stop Nuclear Terror By David Francis WASHINGTON — A recent report claims negotiation of a treaty to ban the production of fissile materials used in nuclear weapons and improved intelligence efforts are needed to prevent a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon (see GSN, June 28). Dirty Bombs and Primitive Nuclear Weapons, written by Frank Barnaby and published last month by British think tank Oxford Research Group, also recommends reprocessing weapon-grade plutonium into mixed-oxide fuel for nuclear power reactors, funding for research to find alternative uses for radioactive materials and the expanded use of radiation detection systems. London’s Independent newspaper highlighted the report Sunday following last week’s bombings that left 50 people dead and more than 700 injured (Independent, July 10). Barnaby called for a crackdown on nuclear smuggling networks through cooperation between international agencies and increases in money and manpower dedicated to patrolling the nuclear black market. Emphasis should be placed on securing materials from the former Soviet Union, he said. Securing nuclear materials, while difficult, must become a priority, Barnaby said. “At the very least establishments using large radioactive sources should apply security measures such as keeping strict inventories, providing securely locked storage facilities and security guards,” he wrote. Finally, Barnaby called for improved intelligence on possible acts of nuclear terrorism. Terrorist group communications must continue to be monitored, but that needs to be supplemented by human intelligence from within the groups. Barnaby urged intelligence agencies to work to penetrate terrorist groups with undercover or double agents. Without these changes, Barnaby warned that terrorists could be capable of executing an attack with a radiological “dirty bomb” or a primitive nuclear weapon. Barnaby estimated that a dirty bomb attack in central London would result in some deaths but would not cause as many casualties as a standard nuclear device. While many people would be exposed to radiation, levels would likely be low enough not to cause any long-term harm. However, Barnaby said a dirty bomb attack would cause “enormous social, psychological and economic disruption. … It would cause considerable fear, panic and social disruption, exactly the effects terrorist wish to achieve. The public fear of radiation is very great indeed, some say irrationally so.” Complicating these disruptions and adding to public fear would be decontamination following the attack, which could require destruction of buildings near the blast site and cost millions of dollars. Sources for radioactive materials that could be used in a dirty bomb are plentiful, Barnaby said. He noted that thousands of British facilities, including hospitals and blood banks, house radiological materials that could be used in a weapon. Fallout from an attack using a primitive nuclear weapon would be much more severe, Barnaby said. Casualties would likely be high, and decontamination could take years. Barnaby argued that Russian nuclear weapons are not secure and could be obtained by a criminal organization for sale on the black market. Also worrisome is Russian nuclear material, which could be sold illegally. Once materials for a weapon are secured, terrorists would only need to fashion a crude weapon easy to produce with guidance from nuclear scientists. “The military demand that their nuclear weapons are highly reliable and explode with an explosive yield that can be accurately predicted,” according to Barnaby. “They want to be sure that their nuclear weapons will go off and to know the explosive power of the weapon. A terrorist group would be much less demanding and satisfied with a relatively unsophisticated device, much easier to design and fabricate than the very sophisticated nuclear weapons required by the military.”
| ||||||||||
Back to top
