Nuclear terrorism

Nuclear terrorism is defined as a terrorist assault with nuclear or radiological weapons, or an attack against a nuclear power plant. To date no such act has taken place. In June 2002, Jose Padilla[?] was arrested for allegedly planning a radiological attack on the city of Washington, DC; Padilla has been under military arrest as an "enemy combatant" since then.

In August 2002, the United States launched a program to track and secure enriched Uranium from 24 Soviet-style reactors in 16 countries, in order to reduce the risk of the materials falling into the hands of terrorists or "rogue states". The first such operation was Project Vinca[?], an operation in Serbia "to remove a quantity of highly enriched uranium, sufficient to produce 2-1/2 nuclear weapons from a research reactor near downtown Belgrade" [1] (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/12962.htm).

In order to reduce the danger of attacks using nuclear waste material, European Union Commissioner Loyola de Palacio[?] suggested in November 2002 the creation of common standards in the European Union, especially in the new member states operating Soviet-era reactors, for subterranean nuclear waste disposal[?].