Last month we had the news that Brussels suicide bombers had planted hidden cameras at the home of the top Belgian nuclear officials, now we learn the Belgian government has really stepped up safeguards.
According to the New York Post, Brussels suicide bombers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui were plotting to kidnap a senior Belgian nuclear official and strike a nuke plant
The Telegraph reports that the entire population of Belgium is to be issued with a ration of iodine tablets.
Iodine pills help reduce radiation build-up in the thyroid gland.
The pills will be sent to pharmacies, and the public would be ordered to collect their ration in the event of a meltdown. Children, pregnant women and those breast-feeding would be given priority.
In a sense, this was always going to happen. Belgium is home to seven nuclear reactors and the country has a long history of doing nuclear research for civil purposes only.
Belgium also helped supply the United States with uranium from its colony in Congo during World War II.
As the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, recently told Deutsche Welle, the rise in amount of nuclear material could see incidents and terrorists exploding dirty bombs.
“They’re not capable of making a real nuclear bomb, and they also can’t simply blow up a reactor,” he says. “If they were capable of putting together a dirty bomb, they might try to do that.”
