Nuclear trafficking

Nuclear counter terror detection systems to be bolstered in high-tech drive

Counter-terrorism officers are to be equipped with a new fleet of high-tech nuclear and radiological detection vehicles to trace weapons-grade materials in the UK.

The Home Office is planning to buy up to 10 mobile gamma and neutron radiation detection systems to bolster its defences against them being used in a terror attack.

Ports and airports across the country already have screening systems in place to spot anyone smuggling nuclear or radiological materials into the UK as part of the Border Force’s Cyclamen monitoring system. Similar equipment was used at the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

But, the new fleet is understood to be able to carry out searches for such materials inland and be deployed with speed at key locations.

A Home Office source insisted that the threat of such materials being used in a so-called dirty bomb terror attack remained “highly unlikely”.