EU commits €100m to nuclear and radiological security
LEIGH PHILLIPS
24.06.2009 @ 17:43 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The threat of dirty bombs, biowarfare and nuclear terrorism drew the attention of the European Union's executive on Wednesday (24 June), which proposed a policy package aimed at strengthening chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear security in the bloc.
From theoretical worries that militant groups may one day acquire fissile material to launch an attack on civilians in Europe to the very real examples of the polonium poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, the European Commission outlined an action plan to combat such attacks.
Material from nuclear power plants can easily find its way into the hands of extremists, warn environmentalists (Photo: Stefan Kühn)
The €100 million plan contains 133 measures that focus on making unauthorised access to CBRN materials as difficult as possible, as well developing the capability of detecting them instantly should the need arise.
The commission also hopes to ensure that the EU and its member states are able to respond to a CBRN attack efficiently and then recover as rapidly as possible.
Specifically, the core elements of the plan emphasise boosting the protection of CBRN materials and limiting the potential for them to be lost or stolen.
The action plan also hopes to see a stepping up of detection systems across the EU.
Additional aspects will look at information exchange between member states on security issues in order to react in a more co-ordinated manner to the threat.
While such security issues are normally the exclusive realm of national governments, in this case, because such militant extremists care little for borders and because governments have expressed a desire to see minimum levels of security for CBRN material across the bloc, justice ministers have encouraged co-operation at the EU level.
In the wake of the attack on Alexander Litvinenko, in December 2007, ministers agreed that development of CBRN risk reduction strategies be further developed, and as far back as 2002, a year after the attacks of 11 September in New York and Washington, then commissioner Loyola de Palacio suggested the creation of common EU standards for underground nuclear waste disposal to reduce the likelihood of attacks involving nuclear waste material, particularly from the then-incoming member states in eastern Europe and from the post-Soviet neighbourhood.
Nuclear power and nuclear safety
Environmental groups, who frequently originate in the anti-nuclear movements of the 1970s and 1980s, welcomed the commitment to greater emphasis on nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical security, but noted a disconnect between the day's announcement and European resistance to increased safety standards at nuclear power plants.
They also argued that Europe's embrace of a nuclear renaissance as a low-carbon solution to energy needs runs counter to nuclear security, as more nuclear power plants means more material that can find its ways into the hands of extremists.
"It's a step in the right direction," Mils Bohmer, a nuclear physicist and advisor to Bellona, a Norway-based green group. "At the moment, there's very little co-ordination and not enough focus on this area, and yet there's a lot of material that potentially can fall relatively easily into the hands of terrorists."
"But naturally, the more nuclear power plants you have in Europe, the more nuclear material is available."
"The two questions are linked - a nuclear renaissance will require much more focus on nuclear safety."
"There are not enough resources on the table to formulate good control over this material at nuclear power plants today.
In April, the European Parliament passed a bill on nuclear safety standards, but the deputies rejected binding common safety standards and what was approved will apply to reactors that have yet to be built, but not existing ones.
Nuclear waste repositories, nuclear waste transport and reprocessing plants were also not covered by the directive.
Commenting on the CBRN package, Rebecca Harms, recently elected co-leader of the Green group in the parliament, told EUobserver that nuclear power plants are by themselves a security concern.
"Nuclear technology poses a clear terrorist threat. Nuclear power stations are like pre-installed bombs because they are not safe from attack, for example by aircraft," she said.
"It is a myth that so-called civil nuclear technology can be exported without jeopardising proliferation of nuclear weapons. We should be focusing on exporting renewable technologies, not nuclear know-how that has clear security risks attached to it."
The action plan funds will come from already existing national, international and EU programmes from 2010 to 2013.
