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Nuclear terrorism can be used to describe any of the following terrorist assaults:

1. Use of nuclear weapons against a target
2. Use of a radiological weapon or dirty bomb against a target.
3. An attack against a nuclear power plant

The threat of marginalized terrorist organizations using nuclear weapons (especially very small ones, such as suitcase nukes) has been a threat in American rhetoric and culture since at least the 1970s.

In June 2002, U.S. citizen Jose Padilla was arrested for allegedly planning a radiological attack on the city of Los Angeles; Padilla is currently (as of 2006) under military arrest as an "illegal combatant".

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].

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.

Pakistan's disgraced chief nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan admitted of nuclear proliferation from Libya to North Korea and it is believed that some of the centrifuges and nuclear technology he sold might still be available in the nuclear blackmarket. Recently, the MI5 has warned that Islamic terrorists, specifically the al-Qaida were planning on nuking cities in the United Kingdom by obtaining the bombs via clandestine means.[2] There also concern that pro Taliban military generals in Pakistan might also take command of nuclear missiles and unleash damage in a worst case scenario.[3]

• New Council on Foreign Relations report outlines ways to reduce the possibility of nuclear terrorism

• Article about Nuclear Terrorism written by author William Lambers that appeared in the Miami Herald (FL) and the Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail
• [http://www.crusade-media.com/news1.html Nuclear Terrorism - Crusade Media News
• Use of nuclear and radiological weapons by terrorists? Article in the International Review of the Red Cross
• Nuclear Files. org Information and articles relating to nuclear terrorism and its prevention
• Defusing nuclear terror
• Nuclear plant sabotage and terrorism Three Mile Island Alert identifies security incidents and issues
• "Can Terrorists Build Nuclear Weapons?" — article by five nuclear weapons scientists

Dirty Bomb (Radiological Dispersal Device scenario; [4]

• Large John H The Implications of 11 September for the Nuclear Industry, United Nations for Disarmament Research, Disarmament Forum, 2003 No 2, pp29-38