AUSTRIA: IAEA CHIEF MOHAMED ELBARADEI AND U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY SPENCER ABRHAM SAY GREATER MEASURES ARE NEEDED TO KEEP RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS OUT OF TERRORIST HANDS

Record ID: 222784

  • Title: AUSTRIA: IAEA CHIEF MOHAMED ELBARADEI AND U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY SPENCER ABRHAM SAY GREATER MEASURES ARE NEEDED TO KEEP RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS OUT OF TERRORIST HANDS
  • Date: 13th March 2003
  • Summary: (W4) VIENNA, AUSTRIA (MARCH 11) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR HOFBURG PALACE, WHERE CONFERENCE ON DIRTY BOMBS IS TAKING PLACE; SCU SIGN READING 'INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SECURITY AND RADIOACTIVE SOURCES" (3 SHOTS) 0.14 2. LAS CORRIDOR INSIDE BUILDING WITH SECURITY; SLV DELEGATES INSIDE CONFERENCE ROOM; SCU U.S.A. SIGN; MV UNITED STATES DELEGATION (6 SHOTS) 0.45 3. MV U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY SPENCER ABRAHAM WITH HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC AGENCY (IAEA) MOHAMED ELBARADEI (2 SHOTS) 0.56 4. SLV CONFERENCE 1.00 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPENCER ABRAHAM ADDRESSING CONFERENCE, SAYING "They will employ technology never intended for use as weapons, to murder thousands of innocent and unsuspecting people in the most shocking and ruthless way. The threat they represent to people of every nation is very real." 1.44 6. SLV RUSSIAN ENERGY MINISTER AND U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY ABRAHAM 1.54 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF IAEA MOHAMED ELBARADEI ADDRESSING CONFERENCE, SAYING "As I just mentioned, after the events of September 2001, issues related to terrorist activities, including nuclear and radiological terrorism, were catapulted into the spotlight. Given the apparent readiness of terrorists to disregard their own safety, the personal danger from handling powerful radioactive sources can no longer be seen as an effective deterrent. This awareness prompted a thorough re-evaluation of the risks involved." 2.28 8. SLV STAGE WITH PARTICIPANTS 2.34 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 28th March 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
  • Country: Austria
  • Reuters ID: LVA2W0D9TQUVPT3LN6Q30SZAWX5T
  • Story Text: IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei and U.S. Energy Secretary
    Spencer Abraham have said greater security measures were
    urgently needed to keep radioactive materials that can be
    turned into 'dirty bombs' out of the hands of terrorists.

    Speaking at the International Conference on Security
    and Radioactive Sources in Vienna on Tuesday (March 11, 2003), U.S.

    Energy Minister Spencer Abraham said groups were trying to
    obtain radioactive material for the purposes of terrorism.

    "They will employ technology never intended for use as
    weapons, to murder thousands of innocent and unsuspecting
    people in the most shocking and ruthless way," Abraham said.

    "The threat they represent to people of every nation is
    very real," he added.

    Dirty bombs, the popular term for radiological dispersion
    devices, are made by attaching radioactive material to a
    conventional explosive to spread it over a wide area.

    Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy
    Agency (IAEA), said the September 11, 2001 attacks had shown
    terrorists were not afraid to handle deadly radioactive
    material to construct such a bomb.

    "Given the apparent readiness of terrorists to disregard
    their own safety, the personal danger from handling powerful
    radioactive sources can no longer be seen as an effective
    deterrent," he said.

    This awareness prompted a thorough re-evaluation of the
    risks involved, ElBaradei told the conference.

    He said that reports terrorist groups might attempt to use
    dirty bombs made it clear how little time authorities had to
    improve the security of radioactive materials.

    ElBaradei said the problem of radioactive material
    disappearing from regulators' records was especially acute in
    the countries of the former Soviet Union, where the IAEA has
    cooperated with Russia and the United States on operations to
    recover deadly radioactive material.

    Highly radioactive materials have a wide variety of uses in
    medicine, agriculture and industry, to treat cancer, keep
    stored grain from rotting and analyse pipes for fissures.

    Experts from the U.N. and other organisations have warned
    that security has been so lax at some hospitals and other
    facilities, even in the U.S. and western Europe, that
    radioactive materials could easily be pilfered.

    While nuclear material that can be used in full-scale
    nuclear weapons has long been recognised as dangerous,
    standard radioactive material has not been subject to the same
    kind of security.

    IAEA said there have been more than 280 confirmed cases of
    criminal trafficking of radioactive material, but the actual
    number of cases may be significantly larger than the number
    reported to the agency.

    Britain said in January it had evidence that Osama bin
    Laden's al Qaeda network tried to develop a dirty bomb in the
    late 1990s.

    But some counter-terrorism experts and even officials
    within the IAEA argue that such bombs are generally of little
    interest to groups like al Qaeda as they are less effective
    than more easily accessible weapons.


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