Nuclear security

On the Brink of Nuclear Terror?

To be sure, the threat of nuclear terrorism is not new. Warnings were issued against the backdrop of concerns of nuclear leakage following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and al-Qaeda made no secret of its desire to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction. But events surrounding the Brussels attacks raise the possibility of intent being joined by capability, if Islamic State terrorists are able to exploit the security vulnerabilities of nuclear facilities – as manifested in Belgium, a Western state – either to attack these sites or steal materials from within. A radiological attack could occur through dispersion of radioactive materials from a drone, as was simulated in the exercise, or by an attack on a nuclear facility that released these materials. (The risk of a terror organization getting its hands on an actual nuclear weapon is still very low.) In November 2015, footage tracking the comings and goings of a top official who worked at the Nuclear Research Center at Mol in northern Belgium (which produces radioisotopes) was found in an apartment of the terrorists who perpetrated the Brussels attacks. The surveillance might have been part of preparations to kidnap him. Two days after the Brussels attacks, a security guard at a nuclear plant was murdered and his pass stolen.