Nuclear terrorism is the use of a nuclear weapon or radiological weapon as an act of terrorism. There are many possible terror incidents, ranging in feasibility and scope. These include the sabotage of a nuclear facility, the intentional irradiation of citizens, or the detonation of a radiological device, colloquially termed a dirty bomb, but consensus is lacking. According to the 2005 United Nations International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism nuclear terrorism is an offense committed if a person unlawfully and intentionally "uses in any way radioactive material … with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury; or with the intent to cause substantial damage to property or to the environment; or with the intent to compel a natural or legal person, an international organization or a State to do or refrain from doing an act." The possibility of terrorist organizations using nuclear weapons has been identified by nuclear powers and considered since the conception of nuclear weapons and the rise of global terrorism. Nuclear powers collaborate to prevent terror organizations from acquiring nuclear weapons and fuel. It is considered plausible that terrorists could acquire a nuclear weapon. As such, countries such as China and the UK have taken steps to restrict access to nuclear weapons and materials. Restrictions being implemented are only a small part of prevention systems that are being researched in countries. Preventing nuclear terrorism is a topic that interests countries who are developing or expanding their nuclear warhead knowledge. Whether it be through policy, summits, or warhead detection and disablement, the idea of threatening another nation is a worry that comes with the notion of war. Nonetheless, despite thefts and trafficking of small amounts of fissile material, there is no credible evidence that any terrorist group has ever obtained or produced nuclear materials of sufficient quantity or purity to produce a viable nuclear weapon.
Scope
Nuclear terrorism could include:
Acquiring or fabricating a nuclear weapon Fabricating a dirty bomb Attacking a nuclear reactor, e.g., by disrupting critical inputs (e.g. water supply) Attacking or taking over a nuclear-armed submarine, plane, or base. Nuclear terrorism, according to a 2011 report published by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, can be executed and distinguished via four pathways:
The use of a nuclear weapon that has been stolen or purchased on the black market The use of a crude explosive device built by terrorists or by nuclear scientists who the terrorist organization has furtively recruited The use of an explosive device constructed by terrorists and their accomplices using their own fissile material The acquisition of fissile material from a nation-state. Former U.S. President Barack Obama called nuclear terrorism "the single most important national security threat that we face". In his first speech to the U.N. Security Council, President Obama stated that "Just one nuclear weapon exploded in a city—be it New York or Moscow, Tokyo or Beijing, London or Paris—could kill hundreds of thousands of people", and warned such an attack could "destabilize our security, our economies, and our very way of life".
History As early as December 1945, politicians worried about the possibility of smuggling nuclear weapons into the United States, though this was still in the context of a battle between the superpowers of the Cold War. Congressmen quizzed the "father of the atomic bomb", J. Robert Oppenheimer, about the possibility of detecting a smuggled atomic bomb:
Sen. Millikin: We... have mine-detecting devices, which are rather effective... I was wondering if anything of that kind might be available to use as a defense against that particular type of use of atomic bombs. Dr. Oppenheimer: If you hired me to walk through the cellars of Washington to see whether there were atomic bombs, I think my most important tool would be a screwdriver to open the crates and look. I think that just walking by, swinging a little gadget would not give me the information. This sparked further work on the question of smuggled atomic devices during the 1950s. Discussions of non-state nuclear terrorism among experts go back at least to the 1970s. In 1975 The Economist warned that "You can make a bomb with a few pounds of plutonium. By the mid-1980s the power stations may easily be turning out 200,000 lb of the stuff each year. And each year, unless present methods are drastically changed, many thousands of pounds of it will be transferred from one plant to another as it proceeds through the fuel cycle. The dangers of robbery in transit are evident.... Vigorous co-operation between governments and the International Atomic Energy Agency could, even at this late stage, make the looming perils loom a good deal smaller." The New York Times commented in 1981 that The Nuclear Emergency Search Team's "origins go back to the aftershocks of the Munich Olympic massacre in mid-1972. Until that time, no one in the United States Government had thought seriously about the menace of organized, international terrorism, much less nuclear terrorism. There was a perception in Washington that the value of what is called 'special nuclear material' – plutonium or highly enriched uranium (HEU) – was so enormous that the strict financial accountability of the private contractors who dealt with it would be enough to protect it from falling into the wrong hands. But it has since been revealed that the physical safeguarding of bomb-grade material against theft was almost scandalously neglected." This discussion took on a larger public character in the 1980s after NBC aired Special Bulletin, a television dramatization of a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States. In 1986 a private panel of experts known as the International Task Force on the Prevention of Terrorism released a report urging all nuclear-armed states to beware the dangers of terrorism and work on equipping their nuclear arsenals with permissive action links. "The probability of nuclear terrorism," the experts warned, "is increasing and the consequences for urban and industrial societies could be catastrophic."
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