Millions Could Die in Terrorist Nukes Outrage
Building more nuclear power stations will dramatically increase the risk of a catastrophic terrorist attack, which could claim millions of lives, Greenpeace warned today. A shocking dossier of expert evidence released by the environmental group shows how a terrorist strike, targeting dangerous radioactive waste held at the Sellafield nuclear facility in Cumbria, could kill over two million people.
UK nuclear sites are not built to withstand a deliberate crash by a jumbo jet full of highly explosive aviation fuel, and an attack on Sellafield could dwarf the consequences of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The most damaging form of radioactivity in Sellafield's waste storage tanks, both to human health and the environment, is called caesium-137. 25 kilograms of caesium-137 were released at Chernobyl, yet a massive 625 kilograms could be unleashed on the population by a terrorist attack on Sellafield. T
he dossier is joined by a Greenpeace film, also released today via the internet. The short film, directed by Andy Morahan, shows a family enjoying a day on a beach, filmed for posterity by the father. An ever-louder roar breaks the tranquillity, and the hand-held camera pans to the sky to track a jumbo jet heading directly towards a nuclear facility just a few hundred metres away.
Sarah North, head of Greenpeace's nuclear campaign, said: "Millions of people could die as a result of a terrorist attack on a nuclear plant. This is a totally unacceptable risk. "Tony Blair has put the prospect of building these extremely dangerous facilities back on the agenda, seemingly without a thought for the safety of the UK people. Either that, or he recklessly considers running the risk of an appalling loss of life a satisfactory situation in order to solve our future energy needs. "This dossier and film shows that building new nuclear power stations is a catastrophic gift to terrorists."
More evidence in the dossier showing the terrorist risks to nuclear plants includes:
- During 2004-2005, there were over 40 cases of potential security breaches at UK nuclear facilities;
- An al-Qaeda website which shows how to make a 'dirty' bomb;
- Detailed plans of UK nuclear sites were found in a car linked to the July 2005 London bombings;
- The United Nations believe that, after 9/11, it is 'far more likely' that terrorists could target nuclear facilities;
- A fire in a cooling pond where spent fuel is kept at Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk could result in 15,000 cancer deaths and large releases of radioactivity just 100 miles from London;
- The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent a confidential memo to all US nuclear power plants warning of plans for a terrorist attack in which hijackers 'fly a commercial aircraft into a nuclear power plant'.
The Greenpeace film will be available from Friday 13 January at http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/fridaythe13th/.
To download the dossier, go to http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/fridaythe13th/mediabrief.pdf
