N-Plant is ideal 'Dirty Bomb'

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WAR ON TERRORISM: N-PLANT IS IDEAL 'DIRTY BOMB'

PONDS of radioactive waste at a nuclear plant are lying open to an attack which could devastate Scotland, the Sunday Mail can reveal.

An estimated 2000 cubic metres of waste is held in open ponds at Sellafield nuclear power station in Cumbria.

And yesterday one of Britain's leading nuclear scientists Dr John Large admitted: "If terrorists hit those ponds it would be devastating."

He wants to expose what he claims are serious security flaws at UK nuclear sites.

British Nuclear Fuels, which runs the stations, insists it is taking extra security measures to prevent terror attacks.

But Dr Large believes terrorists like bin Laden could target the radioactive ponds to create a huge, "dirty" bomb which could devastate Scotland, northern England and Ireland.

American security services believe the most likely terror device would be a standard lorry bomb - but packed with barrels of radioactive waste, which would be scattered for miles.

Dr Large said: "The threat of turning Sellafield into a dirty bomb is real. We really do not have any defence against aerial attack."

He identified six possible terrorist targets at the plant, including tanks with huge amounts of highly-radioactive caesium 137.

After September 11, Britain imposed no-fly zones around nuclear plants.

Dr Large said other plants in the UK were also at risk. He said: "Scotland is in a vulnerable position because it has nuclear power stations like Chapelcross, Hunterston, Torness and Dounreay plus military installations such as Faslane, Rosyth and Coulport."

A BNFL spokeswoman said: "In the light of the World Trade Centre attacks, BNFL has been reviewing safety plans."

http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/shtml/main.shtml

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 11, 2001


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