[ RadSafe ] Nuclear Terrorism: Weapons for Sale or Theft?

[Gerry Blackwood]

http://www.iwar.org.uk/news-archive/2005/pdf/ijpe0305.pdf
 
Nuclear Terrorism: Weapons for Sale or Theft? 
Gavin Cameron 



The theft of a tactical nuclear weapon or the purchase of weapons-grade nuclear material by terrorists is a 21st-century nightmare that may well come true, says Gavin Cameron. An assistant professor of political science at the University of Calgary, Canada, Cameron is the author of Nuclear Terrorism: A Threat Assessment for the 21st Century (2001) and has written numerous articles on the threats posed by the terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction. In this article he takes readers through four distinct nuclear terrorist scenarios: stealing an intact nuclear weapon; stealing or buying weapons-grade fissile material; attacking a nuclear site in order to cause a contamination incident; and using radioactive material to make a "dirty bomb." 



"Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality."