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As nuclear industry materials proliferate, the threat of nuclear terrorism is real

More than 1600 tonnes of highly enriched uranium and 500 tonnes of plutonium are estimated to have been produced worldwide for civilian and military use – enough material to build 120,000 nuclear bombs. Estimates vary as to how much of it remains unsecured and at risk of falling into terrorist hands……

Obama wrestles with nuclear nightmare that won’t go away Sydney Morning Herald ,SIMON MANN IN WASHINGTON, April 10, 2010 So, what if terrorists did get their hands on a nuclear weapon? It doesn’t bear thinking about. Except, thousands of people are thinking about it now.

As the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, once observed: ”Every senior leader, when asked ‘What keeps you awake at night?’ agrees it’s the thought of a terrorist ending up with a weapon of mass destruction, especially nuclear.”….

…..The consequences of a 10-kiloton bomb being detonated in the centre of Manhattan, for example, would be catastrophic: perhaps 500,000 dead, thousands more terminally ill or wounded and world economic chaos, according to an analysis by the Managing the Atom Project at the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at Harvard…….
More than 1600 tonnes of highly enriched uranium and 500 tonnes of plutonium are estimated to have been produced worldwide for civilian and military use – enough material to build 120,000 nuclear bombs. Estimates vary as to how much of it remains unsecured and at risk of falling into terrorist hands……

The international gathering in Washington on Monday and Tuesday is expected to endorse a communique that has probably already been drafted, and while some players will hope to encourage – or pressure – nations to add their imprimatur to key agreements – the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, for example – the key goal is to establish a consensus that the threat of nuclear terrorism is real.

Obama wrestles with nuclear nightmare that won’t go away

April 10, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive