Debating at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency the likelihood of terrorists using nuclear or radioactive materials, experts agreed Friday in Vienna that the need to protect such materials has become urgent.

"The only strategy is to protect the material where it is," said Morten Bremer Maerli of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, adding that no such program yet exists.  Maerli and other experts criticized the lack of control at nuclear facilities in several countries, especially Russia, and expressed concern about the possibility of theft.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States has spent billions of dollars on nonproliferation programs in the region, but up to 60 percent of Russian nuclear material is still inadequately secured, according to Matthew Bunn of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. "Preventing proliferation in Russia is a threat that we know how to fix, and it's a matter of writing checks," said Bunn, who has criticized the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush for cutting funding for such programs.

One speaker at the meeting quoted the late Luis Alvarez, who was a researcher with the Manhattan Project.  "Most people seem unaware that if (highly enriched uranium) is at hand, it's a trivial job to set off a nuclear explosion," Alvarez once said.  "Even a high school kid could make a bomb in short order."

The IAEA has reported 175 cases of trafficking in nuclear material since 1993, but experts could not say if that number represents the whole problem or only a small part. In the 175 cases, law enforcement agencies seized trafficked material, but records at the facilities where the material originated did not show any material missing (Peter Finn, Washington Post, Nov. 3).

Despite many experts' concerns about inadequate security at nuclear facilities in several countries, Roger Hagengruber, senior vice president for national security and arms control at the U.S. government's Sandia National Laboratories, said the United States and Russia have worked hard to safeguard their weapons.  "I just don't think Russians are missing weapons.  They care about this. ... They care about safety and security about theirs as we do about ours," he said (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Nov. 4).

Experts said countries should control various sources of radioactive material in addition to nuclear material. They said radioactive materials used in daily civilian activities, such as preservation of foodstuffs, radiotherapy and x-rays, could be used to create a "dirty" bomb -- a conventional bomb laced with radioactive material to contaminate an area.

"There are few security precautions on radiotherapy equipment, and a large source could be removed quite easily, especially if those involved had no regard for their own health," said Abel Gonzalez, IAEA director of radiation and waste safety (Sonya Yee, Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 5).

An incident of stolen radioactive material in Goiania, Brazil, in 1987 could provide a model for the impact of a dirty bomb attack.  Scrap scavengers broke into a radiological clinic, stole about one ounce of highly radioactive cesium 137 and spread about 100 pieces of the material to family and friends. "Fourteen people were overexposed to radiation out of 249 contaminated," according to the IAEA.  "Four subsequently died, and more than 110,000 had to be continuously monitored. To decontaminate the area, 125,000 drums and 1,470 boxes were filled with contaminated clothing, furniture, dirt and other materials; 85 houses had to be destroyed" (Pincus, Washington Post).

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