{"id":3779,"date":"2016-03-24T11:46:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T11:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/box5917.temp.domains\/~iriacom\/\/news\/?p=3779"},"modified":"2016-03-24T15:23:52","modified_gmt":"2016-03-24T15:23:52","slug":"belgium-boosts-security-at-nuclear-plants-after-brussels-bombings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/belgium-boosts-security-at-nuclear-plants-after-brussels-bombings\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium boosts security at nuclear plants after Brussels bombings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels terror attacks revive fears of nuclear terrorism and call\u00a0for urgent measures to secure nuclear assets and facilities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Security has been beefed up at Belgium\u2019s two nuclear power plants, following the attacks in Brussels<\/a><\/span>\u00a0on Tuesday which have revived fears of nuclear terrorism.<\/p>\n

The Tihange power plant, an hour’s drive from the Belgian capital, and the Doel power plant in Antwerp were reportedly evacuated after the bombing amid fears they could be the next target after the Brussels attacks.<\/p>\n

Terrorists may have aimed to\u00a0blow up\u00a0a nuclear power plant in\u00a0Brussels, Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure\u00a0reported<\/a><\/span>. This is why security has been enhanced<\/a><\/span> at both Doel, which houses four reactors, and Tihange, which houses three.<\/p>\n

The two plants have been closed, with \u201csystematic control\u201d of all vehicles coming and going, Anne-Sophie Hug\u00e9, a company spokeswoman told Politico<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0Non-essential staff at the Doel and Tihange plants have been sent home\u00a0although key staff will remain in order to ensure the plants continue to operate.<\/p>\n

But the operations at Belgian nuclear power plants have been fully restored now<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Tuesday, at least 34 people were killed and some 230<\/a> <\/span>injured in two bomb blasts in the Brussels Zaventem airport and an explosion at the Maalbeek metro station in central Brussels.<\/p>\n

Armed police and the Belgian military have been on site since the weekend following growing calls from the energy industry to beef up security at the potentially vulnerable plants.\u00a0Increased security measures include more surveillance and the checking of vehicles by police and the army.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, around 140 extra Belgian soldiers were deployed<\/a><\/span> to patrol the country’s nuclear sites, according to news reports. The additional security measures were initiated by the Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon.<\/p>\n

In Belgium, worries over the security of nuclear plants are not new. In the wake of Boughalab\u2019s death, several people have been refused access or removed from nuclear sites after displaying signs of extremism,\u00a0according to Belgium\u2019s Federal Agency for Nuclear Control<\/a><\/span>. The Doel nuclear plant was hobbled by sabotage in 2014. Evidence of recent ISIS surveillance of a senior Belgian nuclear worker added to the known threat.<\/p>\n

As former Defense\u00a0secretary Robert Gates said<\/a>, “Every senior leader, when you’re asked what keeps you awake at night, it’s the thought of a terrorist ending up with a weapon of mass destruction, especially nuclear.”<\/p>\n

What IAEA suggests to secure nuclear assets?<\/span><\/h3>\n

The IAEA, the world\u2019s nuclear watchdog, has security recommendations<\/a><\/span>, but it is up to each country to develop regulations and enforce them.<\/p>\n

IAEA’s Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM<\/a><\/span>) makes it legally binding<\/a><\/span> for countries to protect nuclear facilities and material.<\/p>\n

CPPNM also requires States to minimize any radiological consequences of sabotag<\/span><\/a>e<\/span>, and to prevent and combat related offenses so as to reduce the likelihood of terrorists being able to detonate a radioactive dispersal device, otherwise known as a ‘dirty bomb’. It would also reduce the risk of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant that could create a release of radioactivity.<\/p>\n

Next week’s Nuclear Security Summit<\/a><\/span>\u00a0in Washington DC an opportunity\u00a0to learn and improve nuclear defenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brussels terror attacks revive fears of nuclear terrorism and call\u00a0for urgent measures to secure nuclear assets and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,1],"tags":[265,24,357,139,14,108,113,11],"class_list":["post-3779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-news","tag-belgium","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-iaea","tag-isis","tag-nuclear","tag-security","tag-terrorism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/centrale-nucl%C3%A9aire-belgique.jpg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-YX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3779"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3785,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779\/revisions\/3785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}