[ RadSafe ] [Nuclear News] Nuclear Energy Fuels Lecture - FormerNRC Chairman

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

Sandy, thank you again for culling the news for articles of interest to
our community.  

The below story, "Top Scottish Police Officer..." is one of the most
dreadful pieces of fear-mongering I've ever seen.  If he believes half
of what he is quoted as having said, he deserves to be fired and
replaced with someone who understand the issues.

I completely agree that if someone is able to cause a nuclear explosion
in a city it will indeed be bad at an incredible level, and emergency
services will probably fail in several aspects for a period of days or
weeks.  But causing such an explosion is a non-trivial challenge on
several fronts, and is not the most likely radiological terrorist event.

If Dickinson believes the result of an RDD attack requires the
authorities be prepared for "absolute terror", then he needs to be
replaced by someone who believes in informing the public so an
appropriate and orderly response can occur.   

His statement, "An incident will continue for days and all the public
will see is people dying without reason. What will we do when our
children come home from school with blisters on their skin and their
parents don't know what to do?" is absurd at many levels. Does he know
ANYTHING about radiation, its detectability, and its effects?  

Having a policeman in "a regulation black protection suit" stalking
through the audience like Death would be funny if it weren't so
pathetic.  And since when are anti-Cs black?  

His lack of understanding about decon is also disturbing.  It's not that
hard, it's not that dangerous, and in some cases (like most of the Po210
contamination cited) it's not that necessary.  

In preparing for a radiological terrorism event we need to plan for
panic, but there is no need to embrace it.   

>Top Scottish police officer warns that nuclear attack is inevitable

(Sunday Herald) Nov 24 - A NUCLEAR attack by terrorists causing
widespread panic, chaos and death is inevitable and will happen soon, a
senior Scottish police officer has warned.

Ian Dickinson, who leads the police response to chemical, biological and
nuclear threats in Scotland, has painted the bleakest picture yet of the
dangers the world now faces.

Efforts to prevent terrorist groups from obtaining materials that could
be made into radioactive dirty bombs - or even crude nuclear explosives
- are bound to fail, he said. And the result will be horror on an
unprecedented scale.

advertisement"These materials are undoubtedly out there, and undoubtedly
will end up in terrorists' hands, and undoubtedly will be used by
terrorists some time soon," he declared. "We must plan for failure and
prepare for absolute terror."

Dickinson is assistant chief constable with Lothian and Borders Police,
and has responsibility through the Association of Chief Police Officers
in Scotland for protecting Scotland from chemical and nuclear attacks.
He has been closely involved in co-ordinating the country's
counter-terrorism response.

He said: "An incident will continue for days and all the public will see
is people dying without reason. What will we do when our children come
home from school with blisters on their skin and their parents don't
know what to do?

"What happens if 10 deaths, 50 deaths, 100 deaths start occurring in an
unconnected and random way all over the country? The public will be
rightly and understandably terrified."

Casualties caused by radiation, which most people don't understand,
would trigger widespread "panic and fear", said Dickinson. And the
response of the emergency services "would be chaotic" because of a
shortage of resources.

The police capability for dealing with the chemical, biological,
radiological and nuclear threat - known as CBRN - needs to be increased,
he argued. "I haven't got as many officers with protective equipment as
I would like," he added. "We must prepare for the worst."

Dickinson delivered his dire warnings to an international conference in
Edinburgh last week. More than 300 experts from 70 countries were taking
part in a high-level meeting organised by the UN International Atomic
Energy Agency on the risks of nuclear terrorism.

The police response to a CBRN incident when it happened would have a
"profound effect on our communities which should not be underestimated",
he said. The protective clothing that officers would have to wear would
look "terrifying".

As Dickinson made the point in his speech on Wednesday, one of his
fellow police officers appeared dramatically on the stage dressed head
to toe in a regulation black protection suit. With his face completely
obscured by a gas mask, the officer then walked slowly through the
delegates seated in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

Decontamination after a radiation attack would be an "enormous cost",
Dickinson contended. It would far exceed the multi-million pound bill
for cleaning up the 50 premises contaminated with polonium-210 after the
poisoning of the former KGB agent, Alexander Litvinenko, in London last
year.

There would also be a huge drain on resources from having to reassure
many people who were unharmed but worried. The additional monitoring and
clean-up work would be "a major problem", he said.

Worldwide efforts to stem the spread of radioactive materials by the
governments represented at the conference were vital, Dickinson
concluded. "But the sad fact is that your work will fail."

Dickinson's nightmare analysis was backed up by Dr Frank Barnaby, a
nuclear consultant who used to work at the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons
Establishment in Berkshire. "The amazing thing is that this hasn't
happened already," he told the Sunday Herald.

"We should expect it any minute. It's an obvious thing for a terrorist
to do. A primitive nuclear explosion would simply eliminate the centre
of a city like Glasgow or Edinburgh."

The Edinburgh conference heard a series of other warnings about the
risks of radioactive materials being stolen and used to cause
devastation.

"As the terrorists look for the next spectacular attack, we know that
al-Qaeda in Iraq is calling on nuclear scientists to join in the jihad,"
said William Nye, director of counter-terrorism and intelligence at the
Home Office in London.

Richard Hoskins, from the International Atomic Energy Agency's Office of
Nuclear Security in Vienna, revealed that there had been 1266 confirmed
incidents in which radioactive materials had been stolen or lost around
the world since 1993.

Most involved radiation sources that could be made into dirty bombs,
although in 18 instances small amounts of bombs-grade uranium or
plutonium had been seized.