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Nuclear
Terrorism
 he
terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001 have
brought a greater awareness of nuclear terrorism to the international
community. Preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear material or
other radioactive material from power plants, research facilities,
hospitals, industry, or from insecure nuclear weapons facilities has
become a top priority for the international community. Responding to
this threat, the IAEA Board of Governors in March 2002 approved an
Action Plan to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.
During the Preparatory
Committee Sessions for the 2005 NPT Review Conference and at the Review
Conference, many states parties and the representatives from the
IAEA emphasized the importance of strengthening safeguards of
nuclear materials given the increase in the perceived threat of nuclear
terrorism.
There are several possible ways that terrorists could obtain nuclear
weapons, such as manufacturing, purchasing, or stealing them. However,
all of these are extremely difficult and involve formidable challenges
and risks, as well as resources. Nevertheless, terrorists could possibly
obtain nuclear weapons. A particular concern is that terrorists might
acquire highly enriched uranium and use this fissile material to make a
simple nuclear explosive device.
In this context, IAEA highlighted the importance of ensuring
comprehensive and effective physical protection of nuclear material. The
Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM),
which covers physical protection during international transport, and
other IAEA-issued standards provide countries with guidelines on ways to
voluntarily secure their nuclear and radioactive materials. However,
mandatory and legally binding international standards for the physical
protection of nuclear material within a state do not exist. In July
2005, parties to the Convention agreed on major changes to make it
legally binding for states parties to protect nuclear facilities and
material for states’ peaceful use, storage, and transport. In order to
bring the changes into effect, ratification by two thirds of the
states parties is required.
The increasing security concerns over nuclear terrorism demand more
international cooperation. The
G-8 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction
adopted at the Kananaskis Summit in June 2002 provides funding to
secure nuclear and radioactive materials around the world. States
parties to the NPT have generally supported this initiative. Moreover,
UN Security Council Resolution 1540 adopted in April 2004 requires
states parties to criminalize proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction and their delivery systems by non-state actors as an
essential undertaking to reduce the dangers of proliferation of WMD to
terrorist groups. Many countries, mainly from the Western Group
expressed their endorsement for the Resolution at the 2005 Review
Conference.
Another important international legal instrument to deal with nuclear
terrorism, the
Draft International Convention on the Suppression of Acts
of Nuclear Terrorism, proposed at the UN General Assembly in 1996, was
adopted by the UN General Assembly on April 1, 2005. The Convention
opened for signature on September 14, 2005. In order for the treaty
to enter into force, 22 countries must ratify the treaty.
As of October 2007, 107 countries had signed the Convention.
Since the NPT was primarily designed to deal with states, it has very
little capacity to deal with the new threat coming from non-state actors
using nuclear weapons, or material and technology to develop improvised
nuclear explosive devices. To prevent and respond to this new threat
more promptly, states parties to the NPT should pursue unilateral,
bilateral, and multilateral counter-terrorism measures to augment the
NPT regime.
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