by Antonia Ward
At the lastly Nuclear Summit of his presidency inwards Washington D.C. inwards 2016, Barack Obama said the conduct a opportunity of ISIS or other extremist groups acquiring nuclear weapons remains “one of the greatest threats to global security.” Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 number of terrorist groups, including ISIS too al-Qaeda, accept expressed explicit intentions to get too role nuclear material. However, countries human face upward far to a greater extent than pressing threats than nuclear terrorism too authorities would live meliorate off focusing on insurgents' frequent role of conventional weapons, such every bit chemicals too bombs. Nuclear terrorism, defined every bit “the role or threat to role nuclear material, nuclear fuel or radioactive products for acts of terrorism,” has elicited global trouble organisation too action, every bit demonstrated past times the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, NATO's Defence Against Terrorism Programme too the EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy. There is too a large total of nuclear cloth introduce throughout the world; the electrical current global stockpile of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) stands at 1.6 meg kg. To build a nuclear bomb, terrorists would require 25 kg of HEU. This, compared to the total held past times states throughout the world, is not an impossible total for terrorists to obtain. To contextualize this, inwards 2015 the USA possessed 62,900 tons of recoverable uranium.
Several terrorist groups accept declared a wishing to get nuclear cloth to build a “dirty bomb.” In 1998, Osama Bin Laden, inwards a oral communication entitled “Nuclear bomb of Islam” stated that, “It is the duty of Muslims to laid upward every bit much forcefulness every bit possible to terrorize the enemies of God”.
In 2014, later capturing the Iraqi urban center of Mosul, ISIS had access to ii caches of Cobalt lx locked inwards a storage room at Mosul University. This cloth has lethal levels of radiation, is used to process cancer cells, too is the gist ingredient of a nuclear bomb. Government officials too nuclear experts speculated that ISIS failed to utilize it because they could non decide how to access the Cobalt 60 without exposing themselves to deadly radiation. In 2016, later the ii ISIS brothers involved inwards the Brussels bombings, Khalid too Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, were killed too captured, authorities discovered they had been secretly watching a Belgian nuclear scientist who worked at the Tihange Nuclear Power Station alongside the potential aim of using cloth from this facility.
Despite Obama's remarks inwards 2016 too these ii incidents, experts too officials competitor the viability of the nuclear terrorism threat. Dr Beyza Unal, a inquiry immature homo inwards nuclear policy at intend tank Chatham House, argued at that spot is currently no show that terrorist groups could build a nuclear weapon. Similarly, a written report past times the Council on Foreign Relations inwards 2006 emphasized how edifice a nuclear bomb is a hard chore for states, permit lonely terrorists. This is because of the issues involved inwards accessing uranium too creating too maintaining it at the right degree (enriched uranium).
While nuclear terrorism is a concern, the bulk of terrorist attacks are conducted alongside conventional explosives. The 2017 Europol Terrorism Situation too Trend Report states that xl part of terrorist attacks used explosives. These explosives originate from a broad multifariousness of countries across the world. According to a study past times Conflict Armament Research, large quantities of explosive precursor chemicals used to brand bombs every bit seen inwards 7/7 laid on inwards London inwards 2005 too the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, accept been linked to supply chains inwards the U.S., Europe too Asia via Turkey. The threat from the spread of chemic precursors prompted the European Union to start out looking at ways to tighten the regulations of these chemicals (PDF).
A nuclear terrorist laid on would accept grave consequences, but it is currently non a realistic or feasible threat given that it would require a bird of sophistication from terrorists that has non even too therefore been witnessed. The recent focus of terrorist groups has been on simplistic strikes such every bit knife too vehicular attacks. If countries are concerned most nuclear terrorism, the best agency to mitigate this conduct a opportunity could live to tighten safety at civilian too regime nuclear sites. But governments would live meliorate off focusing their efforts on combatting the spread too role of conventional weapons.
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