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Russian expert urges to tighten security at civilian nuclear facilities

The expert has called on all countries to tighten security at civilian nuclear facilities, which can be a target for terrorists

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Viatcheslav Kantor, the President of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, has called on all countries to tighten security at civilian nuclear facilities, which can be a target for terrorists.

"The emergence on the global arena of the factor of Islamic State (a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) with its huge organizational and financial possibilities creates a threat to civilian nuclear facilities," he said at a news conference on Thursday. "As was established by investigators, participants in the terror attack on Belgian metro and an airport in March 2016 had plotted a terrorist attack on a nuclear plant. These developments drew attention to protection of such facilities, which will continue to be a potential target for terrorists."

"Specialists say that terrorists might be seeking to steal warheads from such countries as North Korea, which may lack technically sophisticated protection against such scenarios," Kantor said. "There is evidence of supplies of nuclear components and materials from that country, in particular, low-enriched uranium which can be enriched to a warhead for a nuclear bomb."

He drew attention to the threat of possible "use of radioactive materials by terrorists to contaminate territories." "It requires enhanced attention to control over production, use and disposal of radioactive sources," he said.

He stressed that Russia has cardinally improved its standards and rules regulating the procedure of handling radioactive sources.

Luxembourg Forum

Set up at the International Conference on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe in May 2007, the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe is one of the most reputable non-governmental organizations comprising leading global non-proliferation experts. Its Advisory Council includes 49 most authoritative and world-acclaimed experts from 14 countries.

The forum sees its mission in analyzing threats related to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, facilitating further reduction of nuclear arsenals, strengthening nuclear non-proliferation, counteracting nuclear terrorism and preventing attempts by unstable regimes and terrorist organizations to gain access to nuclear weapons and technologies, as well as issuing recommendations on settling regional nuclear crises.