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Protecting nuclear installations2006-02-02On balance I believe it will be necessary for the UK and so Scotland to build more nuclear power stations. That said I would wish that all such power stations are properly equipped to fend off a terrorist attack. Currently this is not the position as may be seen from the newspaper articles displayed below. Considering the fact that a nuclear plant houses more than a thousand times the radiation as released in an atomic bomb blast, the magnitude of a single attack could reach beyond 100,000 deaths and the immediate loss of tens of billions of dollars. The land and properties destroyed would remain useless for decades and would become a stark monument reminding the world of the terrorists' ideology. With more than 100 reactors in the United States alone, if one is successfully destroyed, just threatening additional attacks could instil the sort of high impact terror which is being sought by a new breed of terrorists. The
Current Problem
Selection
of Newspaper articles below
Sellafield terror attack warning Ministers have been warned that a determined terrorist attempt to fly an aeroplane into the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant could not be prevented because of its proximity to transatlantic flight paths. Date: 16/12/2001 Source: Observer Nuclear terrorism threat likely to come under review UK Energy Minister Brian Wilson has revealed that the vulnerability of nuclear power stations to terrorist attacks is likely to be assessed in the current energy review. Date: 28/12/2001 Source: Press-and-Journal Sellafield security slammed A Sunday newspaper has claimed a security investigation at Sellafield alleged that tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium are stored in insecure buildings that are 'not much more than a shed' at the plant. Date: 24/01/2002 Source: Whitehaven-News Sellafield asked to prove waste tanks safe from terrorist attacks Ireland's nuclear watchdog yesterday called on Sellafield authorities to hand over documents which prove the plant's radioactive waste storage tanks could withstand a terrorist attack. Date: 24/01/2002 Source: Irish-Examiner Nuclear experts rush to trace radioactive boxes Experts from the international nuclear watchdog have been dispatched to Georgia to recover two powerful radioactive containers in an urgent attempt to stop them falling into the hands of terrorists. Date: 01/02/2002 Source: Times Terror attack on Sellafield 'would wipe out the north' A terrorist attack on Sellafield could render the north of England uninhabitable and release 100 times the radioactivity produced by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986, the House of Commons defence committee was told yesterday. Date: 10/02/2002 Source: Guardian West scours Georgia for nuclear trash Leading western countries are planning a massive search in Georgia for potential 'dirty bomb' materials - highly radioactive and mobile nuclear batteries which, it is feared, could be combined with convential explosives to lethal effect by terrorists. Date: 27/03/2002 Source: Guardian £600,000 giant fire engines to help protect Sellafield Sellafield is splashing out £600,000 on some of the most powerful fire-fighting machinery in the world to help combat any possible terrorist missile attack on the sensitive nuclear site. Date: 28/03/2002 Source: Whitehaven-News MEP's warn of terror risk to Sellafield Euro-MPs warned yesterday of the danger of a terrorist attack on Sellafield, as a committee of the European Parliament was told that the nuclear reprocessing plant is one of the world's biggest polluters. Date: 19/04/2002 Source: Independent 20% rise in Sellafield Irish Sea dumping Sellafield plans to increase the amount of radioactive waste it dumps into the Irish Sea by as much as a fifth for some substances, a public hearing heard in Brussels yesterday. The head of safety at the nuclear reprocessing plant was accused of lying to the hearing by MEP Nuala Ahern over the issue of the increased emisions. Date: 19/04/2002 Source: Irish-Examiner Strike on nuclear plants threatened US intelligence officials have received threats that terrorists will strike a US nuclear power plant July 4, and are reviewing the information to determine whether it is reliable. Date: 13/05/2002 Source: Guardian Dounreay may be terror target Dounreay is one of a handful of Scottish sites which MI5 believes could be a target for terrorists. Date: 07/06/2002 Source: Press-and-Journal Nuclear breaches cause concern State inspectors have found a growing number of security problems with radioactive materials used in Massachusetts hospitals, universities and other facilities, raising new concerns about what terrorists might be able to steal and fashion into a weapon. Date: 13/06/2002 Source: Boston-Globe UK nuclear safety report discloses deficiencies Staff shortages and security problems are hampering attempts to protect nuclear plants from terrorist attack, a new report for the British government reveals. Date: 13/06/2002 Source: New-Scientist Terror check abandoned at Britain's nuclear sites Security inspections of Britain's nuclear facilities to ensure they are safe from terrorist attack have been abandoned because of a chronic staff shortage. Date: 16/06/2002 Source: Scotland-on-Sunday Nuclear disaster procedures to be overhauled The government is overhauling its emergency procedures for dealing with nuclear disasters in the wake of September 11 as part of the most wide-ranging reform of the country's civil defence programme since the outset of the cold war. Date: 22/06/2002 Source: Financial-Times Lost radiation fuels dirty bomb threat Millions of radioactive sources around the world are so badly safeguarded that they could be stolen by terrorists and made into dirty bombs, the Sunday Herald can reveal. Controls on 'loose radiation' are defective in over a hundred countries. Date: 23/06/2002 Source: Sunday-Herald Nuclear sites get armed police A new independent police force is to be created by the Government to protect Britain's nuclear sites from terrorist attack. Date: 05/07/2002 Source: Times BNFL attacked over shipment of radioactive fuel from Japan The British nuclear power company BNFL faced international criticism yesterday for sailing rejected nuclear fuel back from Japan, but insisted the shipment was safe from terrorists or environmental catastrophe. Date: 06/07/2002 Source: Scotsman Team to probe Sellafield terrorist risk A powerful group of MPs has admitted it is concerned about a 'potentially catastrophic' terrorist attack on Sellafield. Date: 01/08/2002 Source: Whitehaven-News Anti-radiation pills supply rises to fight terrorist threat A national stockpile of anti-radiation drugs has been increased following a review of the terrorist threat in the wake of September 11, the government said yesterday. But it admitted the pills would be ineffectual against many of the likely components of a 'dirty bomb'. Date: 03/08/2002 Source: Financial-Times Claims of safety flaws in power plant plans A replacement power station which could succeed Hunterston B has safety flaws and is vulnerable to attack by terrorists, according to the Scottish Green Party. Date: 03/08/2002 Source: Press-and-Journal Jet launched in Sellafield terrorist scare An RAF fighter jet was scrambled in pursuit of an aircraft, feared to be a terrorist threat, flying over Sellafield. Date: 16/08/2002 Source: 2dayvk US funds transfer of nuclear material More than 100lbs of nuclear fuel rods - enough to make two fission bombs - have been transferred under tight security from Serbia to Russia to prevent them falling into terrorist or Iraqi hands, according to US intelligence sources. Date: 24/08/2002 Source: Herald Nuclear plants 'ill-prepared' for terror attack One year on from the September 11 attacks in America, the Caithness Courier can exclusively reveal a report on the doomsday scenario created by the alleged vulnerability of nuclear stations to acts of terrorism. Date: 11/09/2002 Source: Caithness-Courier 'Sellafield security has been tightened' Cumbria's nuclear power plant would not be as 'flimsy' as the World Trade Center during a terrorist attack, a BNFL chief told councillors last week. Date: 07/11/2002 Source: Whitehaven-News 'Beer and sandwiches' claim over public participation panel Dounreay's new public participation panel will amount to 'beer and sandwiches at Number Ten' while discussing one of the biggest potential terrorist targets on site, according to independent nuclear expert John Large. Date: 13/11/2002 Source: Caithness-Courier Power station protection inadequate Emergency plans at North Ayrshire Council are not enough to deal with a major nuclear accident or terrorist attack on Hunterston power station, according to a report. Date: 29/11/2002 Source: Scotsman Changes underway after nuclear alert Lessons learned from a major nuclear alert at Felixstowe have led to changes in procedure for tackling a possible terrorist weapons smuggling emergency, it was revealed today. Date: 24/01/2003 Source: Evening-Star Attack on nuclear plant 'could kill 3.5m' More than three and half million people could be killed by a terrorist attack on a British nuclear plant, concludes a series of three reports so alarming that even Greenpeace - which commissioned them - is unwilling to publish them. Date: 16/02/2003 Source: Independent Anger at alarming 'advert' to terrorists Copeland Council is demanding a showdown with government ministers over a startling report that a plant crashing into Sellafield's radioactive waste stores will cause 30,000 people to die in two days. Date: 27/02/2003 Source: Whitehaven-News Nuclear emergency plans 'Inadequate' A nuclear pressure group has raised concerns over security at a Devon Royal Navy base with the potential threat of a terrorist attack or accident. Date: 06/03/2003 Source: BBC-on-line Terrorism fears block nuclear plant tours British Energy has suspended public tours of its nuclear power stations - including two in Scotland - amid terrorism concerns. Date: 09/03/2003 Source: Scotland-on-Sunday Protestor claims Sellafield is soft terrorist target A Sellafield protestor claims that he could have caused an incident which could make Chernobyl pale in comparison, at the weekend. Date: 27/03/2003 Source: Whitehaven-News Plutonium stockpile fears are highlighted The potential danger of the plutonium stockpile held at Sellafield - including the threat of a terrorist attack - has been highlighted in a new report. Date: 03/04/2003 Source: Whitehaven-News UN body to rule on Sellafield terror threat data A United Nations tribunal is to rule next month on the Government's demand for information from the British authorities on the terrorist threat posed by Sellafield. Date: 19/06/2003 Source: Irish-Times Radioactive rabbit threat at Dounreay The strigent security measures had taken account of a threat from terrorists but not, apparently, from the local wildlife. Date: 25/06/2003 Source: Scotsman Nuclear police lack IT access The armed police protecting the UK's nuclear materials and power stations still do not have a secure IT network, two years after the 11 September terrorist attacks. Date: 03/07/2003 Source: vnunet Radioactivity alert over Dounreay rabbits Millions of pounds spent on keeping Dounreay safe from terrorists has failed to deter the humble Caithness rabbit from accessing a restricted area of the site. Date: 25/06/2003 Source: Caithness-Courier Nuclear wast shipping resumes The Department of Energy has lifted its moratorium on nuclear-waste shipments imposed after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Date: 25/07/2003 Source: Washington-Times |
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