IAEA: Security lax for dirty bombs
VIENNA, Austria --The U.S. and Russia have agreed with the U.N. nuclear watchdog that tighter controls are urgently needed to stop so-called dirty bombs getting into the hands of terrorists.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said more needs to be done to monitor the movement of radioactive material, during which few checks are made.
Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said security was still lax after the September 11 attacks.
No dirty bomb attack has taken place so far, but terrorists have shown an eagerness and willingness to get their hands on the material.
Russia's Atomic Energy Alexander Rumyantsev told reporters at a joint press conference that his country's security services had "no indication that terrorists have come to possess dirty bombs."
A dirty bomb uses radioactive material attached to a conventional bomb, and is intended to spread as much radiation and fear as possible.
The IAEA has put together a programme to help states take the legal, regulatory and technical steps needed to protect radioactive materials, which the U.S. is to help fund.
El Baradei said: "This is a new threat perception...We owe it to ourselves and our people to be prepared."
He added that it was worth spending time and money to beef up nuclear security.
"Our database of cases of smuggling...gives an indication that there is a market and there is an effort to obtain radioactive sources, and the obvious question is why."
More than 600 delegates, including technical specialists, customs and other law enforcement officers, are attending the three-day talks in Vienna co-sponsored by America and Russia.
ElBaradei told the conference that radioactive material disappearing from former Soviet-block countries was an acute problem.
He added there were more than 280 confirmed cases of criminal trafficking of radioactive material, but said he believed the real number of cases was probably much higher.
"In view of recent report about terrorist plans to build and deploy radiological dispersion devices and given the inadequacy of source control," ElBaradei said, "it is clear that additional security measures are urgently needed."
The conference is expected to outline the progress made by Russia and the U.S. to secure loose radiation sources in the former Soviet Union, such as the cesium, strontium and other isotopes used in medicine and industry that could be used to fashion a radiological dispersal device or dirty bomb.
But it is not just ex-Soviet countries such as Moldova and Tajikstan that is causing concern.
The U.S. government reported last year that 1,500 radiation sources were believed lost or stolen in the United States since 1996, The Associated Press reported.
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