VIENNA (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Any future act of nuclear terrorism could use crude weapons aimed more at spreading panic than causing physical harm, experts warned on Friday. (Read photo caption below) ``In some states where radioactive materials are not well regulated, they are potentially available,'' said Graham Andrew, scientific adviser at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of an IAEA conference on nuclear terrorism, Andrew said attackers could take radiotherapy or x-ray materials from hospitals to construct a crude bomb.
While such a weapon might not wreak devastation, it would certainly spread panic.
Often referred to as a ``dirty bomb'', such a device could easily be built by surrounding a radioactive source with explosives and detonating it to spread radioactivity across a wide area.
``The potential for panic is quite large,'' Andrew said. ''Radioactivity is invisible, you can't see it or feel it. And you don't know what its impact on your health in 10 years will be.''
IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei told the conference that although it was highly unlikely terrorists could get their hands on a sophisticated nuclear weapon and detonate it, this could not be ruled out.
``This is the most horrifying scenario, but also the most unlikely,'' ElBaradei said. ``But nothing is excluded, as we've learned from September 11.''
The IAEA has called on countries to review security and protection for all radioactive materials, not just weapons-grade radioactive sources.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Heavily armed security guards stops a car at a checkpoint entrance to the San Onofre nuclear generating station near San Clemente, California November 1, 2001. Southern California Edison facility is one of 103 nuclear power plants in the United States on high security following the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington. (Mike Blake/Reuters)