Nuclear Risk: Incident at Swedish nuclear plant shows insider terror threat is underestimated
The operator of the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden has confirmed that traces of explosives have been found in a contractor's bag and that police investigations are ongoing. The explosive was identified as TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide), which has no commercial application and was also used in the 2005 London terrorist attacks. The discovery was made during routine random checks at the gate of the nuclear site operated by OKG, a subsidiary of the German E.ON Group.
While the operator tries to downplay the event – "a threat does not exist and has not existed" – wire services have reported that the police has found "incriminating evidence" at the home of a man.
One does not need to be an expert to understand that the "insider threat" is one of the most difficult challenges to nuclear security officials. In particular the potential cooperation between inside and outside forces that are trying to attack, sabotage or damage a nuclear facility is a nightmare threat for any nuclear operator.
In reality, site operators cannot even cope adequately with the minimum requirements to guarantee nuclear security: at the French Flamanville site, which has two reactors in operation and another under construction, in December 2007 inspectors found a crane operator's site access permit had expired for over a month.
Rebecca Harms, Vice-President of the Greens-EFA Group in the European Parliament, today said:
"This is a wake-up call on the dangers of the insider threat, a highly significant issue that has been obscured for too long. We request that the European Commission immediately launches an inquiry into the background of the Oskarshamn event and its relevance to all of the nuclear facilities in the EU. The details of the findings must be made available to the public.
The Commission is organising a high-level nuclear propaganda event in Prague today and tomorrow. It should listen carefully to the alarm signal from Sweden. Next time it might be too late.
The incident also shows the absurdity of remarks by energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who recently said the only problem with nuclear energy was the lack of support in public opinion. The Oskarshamn incident is a timely reminder that there are more serious problems connected with nuclear energy."
Carl Schlyter, Swedish Member of the Greens-EFA Group, added:
"This incident shows that nuclear power is sensitive not only to a plane crash from outside, but also to hidden attacks from within."
Read:
Rebecca Harms' speech to the European Nuclear Energy Forum (Prague)
