UN Warns of 'Dirty Bomb' by Ian Traynor, Zagreb The Guardian 2:05pm 15th May, 2003   May 15 2003    United Nations nuclear inspectors, barred from Iraq by the US, are increasingly worried that the widespread looting and ransacking of Iraq's nuclear facilities may result in terrorists building a radioactive "dirty bomb".    The concerns are shared internationally and Britain has reportedly offered to raise the matter with the US to try to get agreement on UN nuclear inspectors returning to Iraq.    The main concern is the fate of at least 200 radioactive isotopes that were stored at the sprawling al-Tuwaitha nuclear complex, 25 kilometres south of Baghdad. There has been widespread looting and reports of residents taking barrels of raw uranium and isotopes meant for medical or industrial use.    "If this happened anywhere else there would be national outrage and it would be the highest priority," said a senior source at the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.    "The radioactive sources, some very potent ones, could get on to the black market and into the hands of terrorists planning dirty-bomb attacks," said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.    IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has appealed twice to the US in the past month to be allowed to resume inspections of the Iraqi nuclear sites.    Dr ElBaradei raised the problem this week in London with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who is said to have been "supportive and sympathetic".    In recent sessions on preparations for a review of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2005, several delegates lambasted US security failures at al-Tuwaitha. International experts say privately that the US, as the occupying power in Iraq, is now technically in breach of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. There is a broadly held fear that the US occupation, ostensibly to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, could result in more such weapons.    "There is a proliferation risk. The big risk is from the radioactive sources," Ms Fleming said.    UN inspectors are pessimistic about being allowed back to verify the reports noting that the new Anglo-American UN resolution on Iraq, now being negotiated, includes no provision for a resumption of UN inspections.    - Guardian Visit the related web page
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item