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Even though Chechnya-based radical separatists are not known to possess the expertise to
build an atomic bomb with stolen weapons grade material, they still can pack the spent fuel with
explosives and then use several containers to deploy it in Moscow or another major Russian city.
They would then detonate one of the containers in a crowded location and again try to put pressure
on the Russian leadership. A dirty bomb made with fifty kilograms of nuclear power plant spent
fuel packed around forty-five kilograms of conventional explosives could kill hundreds, if not
thousands, with many of the deaths occurring weeks and months later, when exposure to radiation
takes its toll. 82 An attack like this would also cause nationwide panic and generate more publicity,
for instance, than bombing an airliner.
Another variant could be that radical separatists would try to sabotage a nuclear facility, such
as a NPP or research reactor. They might penetrate a facility with agents placed as insiders, take
hostages, plant explosives at a storage facility for nuclear materials, a reactor, or even a nuclear
arsenal, and use this attack to coerce the Russian leadership into pulling troops out of Chechnya.
Extrapolating from the Chernobyl accident, immediate casualties of this type of terrorist attack
could number in dozens or hundreds. In addition, an explosion of a nuclear reactor would have
long-term effects on the health of thousands, if not tens of thousands of people, especially since
four million people reside within 30-km zones around Russian NPPs and in the immediate vicinity
of other nuclear fuel facilities, according to former inspector at Gosatomnadzor Vladimir
81 According to Vladimir Kuznetsov, former chief inspector of Russia’s Gosatomnadzor, there have been several cases
since 1996 of containers with nuclear materials being damaged during rail transportation. For a complete list see,
Vladimir Kuznetsov, “Nuclear Danger. Main Problems and Present Condition of Security at Enterprises of Nuclear Fuel
Cycle of the Russian Federation,” Epicenter, Russia, 2003.
82 James Kitfield, “Threat Assessment: Could Terrorism Go Nuclear?” National Journal, 19 December 2001.
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