 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Featured
Competition
|
|
Closing Date : 27/06/2002
|
 |
|
Win a weekend
of thrills!
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
.gif) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RADIATION TIMEBOMB
11:00 - 17 June
2002
|
Radioactive
material that could be made into dirty bombs by terror groups
is being innocently stored at hundreds of companies across the
West.
Universities, hospitals, science labs and even a
school are among organisations holding the material. And
experts warn that security is not tight enough to prevent it
being targeted by extremist groups.
Last night,
Professor Frank Barnaby, a former scientist at Britain's
Atomic Weapons Establishment, said urgent safety measures were
needed. "As far as terrorists are concerned, any contamination
will serve the purpose because the population are so afraid, "
he said.
"Security is not good enough.
Hospitals
and businesses are no more secure than your house when you
lock the door - burglars can break in." His warning came in
the wake of an admission by one of Britain's top defence
bosses that routine security checks are not being carried out
at nuclear installations.
Michael Buckland-Smith,
director of the Office of Civil Nuclear Security, confessed
that a recruitment crisis had forced him to cancel checks at
22 of the 31 nuclear power and waste reprocessing stations
which the agency oversees in the UK.
There are growing
fears that al-Qaeda terrorists could target Britain because of
its support for the US in the war on terrorism.
The
Government has already announced that security is being
stepped up at many key sites across the West, including GCHQ
in Cheltenham and nuclear power stations at Oldbury and
Hinkley Point.
Dirty bombs - which are relatively easy
to construct - are made by wrapping radioactive material
around conventional explosives.
Professor Barnaby said
tiny amounts of radioactive material, released into the air,
would lead to mass evacuations and could contaminate vast
areas of land.
Terrorism expert Dr Wyn Bowen, of
London's King's College defence studies unit, said: "The
material used in a dirty bomb could come from a variety of
sources, including radioactive material from hospitals and
nuclear fuel rods."
Nuclear regulators admit that the
sheer volume of material held at establishments nationwide
makes it impossible to say for certain that none has gone
astray.
Last night, environmentalists also criticised
bosses at the Office of Nuclear Security after they admitted
being unable to carry out security checks.
The news
surfaced in the first annual report published by the secretive
Government agency.
Richard Dixon from Friends of the
Earth, said: "If I were a terrorist, looking at this report
and scouting out what is happening with the nuclear industry,
I would be heading to Britain."
Do you have a story for
Simon Steel? Call 01934 644368 or e-mail
s.steel@bepp.co.uk
|
.gif) | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.gif)
.gif)
