It is possible these weapons might be stolen or purchased by terrorist groups. There are tens of thousands of nuclear weapons in the world today, the bulk of them in the arsenals of the United States and Russia, with smaller numbers in China, France, Britain, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea. The most commonly cited example is the possibility of a terrorist organisation such as al Qaeda obtaining a ready-made nuclear weapon or building one itself. Nuclear terrorism is the use of nuclear materials for the purpose of terrorism. In the conclusion I summarise the analysis. After this, I examine features of government rhetoric, including underlying assumptions. Then I discuss contradictions in government policy and practice concerning nuclear power and terrorism. In the following sections, I first outline the main issues concerning nuclear terrorism. The question thus arises, why has the terrorism risk from nuclear power received so little attention? Those who argue for nuclear power as a response to global warming almost never raise, in this context, the issue of nuclear terrorism, though antiterrorism has long been a theme in their policy and rhetoric, and a central one since 9/11. Yet the expansion of nuclear power is bound to lead to an increased risk of nuclear terrorism, though the amount of increase is debateable. Australian Prime Minister John Howard says nuclear power is 'a very important part of the solution' to global warming. Bush says nuclear power is ' economical, environmentally friendly and safe' and the way to overcome dependence on foreign oil. Some politicians in Australia and the United States, among other countries, have promoted nuclear power, citing it as a solution to global warming. In particular, one point of intersection has received surprisingly little attention: nuclear terrorism. The debates on these issues have largely been independent. Two contentious issues have been prominent on the agendas of Western governments for several years: terrorism and global warming. Keywords: nuclear power terrorism nuclear weapons technological vulnerability Governments use a set of rhetorical moves to hide the tensions in their policies concerning nuclear power and terrorism. Nuclear power increases the risk of nuclear terrorism directly and via nuclear proliferation, but this is seldom mentioned by policy-makers. ![]() I thank Mark Diesendorf, Jim Green, Kerryn Hopkins, Richard Joseph and Frank Muller for valuable discussions and comments on drafts.ĪBSTRACT Some governments are promoting both nuclear power and antiterrorism, but without much attention to connections between the two issues. 19-29īrian Martin's publications on nuclear power
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |