"It was a fantasy that started as a girlhood thing, but went on for years and years. A very chic, very clever spy." Bleasdale, Pinter, Poliakoff, take note.'Mouth to Mouth' continues at the Albery Theatre to 25 August (020-7369 1730); 'Perfect Strangers' concludes on BBC2 tonight at 9pm. Nuclear smugglers are operating around the world with impunity, according to research by the International Atomic Energy Authority, which warns that the risk of atomic terrorism against civilians has never been greater. Nuclear smugglers are operating around the world with impunity, according to research by the International Atomic Energy Authority, which warns that the risk of atomic terrorism against civilians has never been greater. The biggest danger is not that a terrorist group will produce a "suitcase bomb" a self- contained portable nuclear weapon considered beyond the capabilities of independent organisations but that they could set off a "dirty bomb", a conventional bomb covered in highly radioactive material. This could contaminate a city or a region's water supply.Authorities in former Soviet republics, such as Georgia and Kazakhstan, have recently seized quantities of plutonium and uranium from would-be smugglers but the IAEA said that these cases could be the tip of the iceberg.David Kyd, a spokesman for the IAEA, said: "The amounts being moved are typically a few grams, whereas you need eight kilos of plutonium or 25 kilos of enriched uranium to make an atomic bomb.
But the fact that these materials are in the black market at all is troubling, because it means that these people have access to them and could come back with more."John Large, a British independent nuclear consultant, said: "If one of these groups got a large enough amount of plutonium and got the explosion to vapourise it, so that it was spread widely, then a bomb set off on the top of Canary Wharf [the tower in east London] could contaminate everything for three kilometres around."Building an atomic weapon is almost certainly beyond the capability of any independent group; even Saddam Hussein was unable to do so despite spending billions of dollars over 10 years on the project. Though Iraq developed the detonation systems needed, it could not accumulate enough weapons-grade products to make a bomb. But that would not stop such groups finding some way to use radioactive substances for a high-profile attack. America currently monitors 130 terrorist organisations that it believes might use such weapons if they acquired them.The IAEA recently held a conference to discuss the risks of nuclear smuggling, which has worsened as the economies of many former Soviet republics have slumped. In April 1998, the British Government took a shipment of five kilograms of weapons-grade uranium and irradiated reactor fuel from Georgia because it was considered at risk of being stolen from the former military reactor where it had been held.In the 1990s, the US also bought nearly 500 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium from former Eastern bloc countries to reduce the risks of proliferation.Even so the danger appears to be escalating, according to Mr Kyd.
He said: "As long as there is a willing buyer or intermediary for these materials, there will be a risk," he said.New Scientist magazine reports today that a study of 11 countries including the US, China, Germany, Austria (the home of the IAEA), Romania, Switzerland, Israel, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh found that none had radiation- monitoring equipment for the unfenced parts of their borders. One of the 11 had no radiation monitors on any part of its borders."Airports and ships customs officers must be horrified that these things can cross borders so easily," said Professor Large.However, the IAEA hopes that terrorists will still prefer to use germ, chemical or conventional weapons because they carry less risk to the person carrying a bomb than with nuclear products.. Saturday night television is to cast off its "light entertainment" image in the biggest shake-up for decades, as ITV prepares to screen football on prime time and open up a new front in the ratings war. Saturday night television is to cast off its "light entertainment" image in the biggest shake-up for decades, as ITV prepares to screen football on prime time and open up a new front in the ratings war.ITVs move could see the perennial weekend favourite, Blind Date, hosted by Cilla Black, shunted from 7pm to a later slot to make way for the channel's version of Match of the Day, although the network would not confirm this yesterday.
