INTERNATIONAL
U.K. authorities underestimate the risks of attack on nuclear facilities and transports, a local government adviser concluded in a report Sunday.
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) in what it called a “carefully researched and considered analysis of the U.K. and international nuclear security,” urged government, nuclear regulators, and industry to address issues associated with information security, and insider, cyber, aircraft, and drone attacks, among other areas.
“Nuclear insecurity is the great elephant in the room where nuclear futures are being debated,” co-author David Lowry, former director of the European Proliferation Information Center in London, said in a statement Sunday. “Pro-nuclear politicians – national and local – are both ignorant about the details set out in this analysis and thus overlook the consequences. This is a very dangerous state of affairs that require urgent rectification. They should start by reading this timely briefing.”
The report draws attention to news that organizers behind the recent terror attacks in France and Belgium were exploring vulnerabilities at nuclear facilities. The authors suggest the U.K. follow the example of Belgium and the Netherlands, which are offering iodine tablets to their entire populations in case of nuclear accidents.
The report also draws concern on malicious cyberattacks, citing the Stuxnet virus as a concern, as well as new threats from modern drone and missile technology.
“There is a contradiction in U.K. policy between, on the one hand seeking to expand and export nuclear power programmes and, on the other, maintaining nuclear security by controlling the movement of nuclear materials and know-how,” Sunday’s statement on the report reads.
Russia has suspended a nuclear waste disposal agreement with Ukraine because the latter has been unable to make payments, according to the Russian state-owned news agency TASS.
The agency made the announcement Monday, saying the Ukranian government has seized about $7.95 billion from the company, Energoatom, the largest energy provider in the country. Ukraine signed a nuclear fuel reprocessing agreement with Russia in 1993.
“There are problems related to Ukraine’s payments,” said Oleg Kryukov, director for public policy on radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel, and nuclear decommissioning for Russia’s state-owned energy company, Rosatom. “The first run has been postponed as the Russian side has not received advance payment for the disposal stipulated in the contract.”
Kryukov added that Russia plans to honor the agreement, but is waiting to see how Ukraine will settle the matter.
