Fears of ‘9/11’ attack on Scottish nuclear plant
PLANS were drawn up for how Scotland would respond to a terror attack on Torness nuclear power station, released papers show.
Documents from 2004 reveal the Scottish Cabinet was told an attack similar to 9/11 had the potential to ‘overwhelm’ existing resilience arrangements.
A plan was produced for First Minister Jack McConnell showing how the Scottish Executive would coordinate with the Westminster Government’s Cabinet Office Briefing Room (Cobra) and how agencies on the ground would work together.
The documents have been published by the National Records of Scotland as part of the annual release of archived information after a period of 15 years.
In the planned scenario, the terrorists were apprehended by police but fuel rods at the East Lothian nuclear facility were damaged, leading to a ‘major incident’ being declared.
Amid indications that a ‘limited radioactive release’ was ‘imminent’ the plan said a
Strategic Co-ordination Group would need to take decisions on local evacuations and the administering of potassium iodate tablets, which are given to those exposed to radiation. The document concluded: ‘As a result of Scotland’s past experience in dealing with emergencies, many areas of improving our resilience are well advanced.
‘There are, however, concerns that a large-scale event along the lines of September 11 could overwhelm existing arrangements. Continuing work on risk and resilience capabilities will inform priorities for future action.’ The contingencies were discussed by ministers in May 2004, the week after an explosion at the Stockline plastics factory in Glasgow, in which nine people were killed.
The documents show the Stockline incident led to the use of ‘mutual support arrangements and equipment’ which had been introduced following the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York.
Discussions around the then Liberal-Labour government’s role in civil contingencies were led by Justice Minister Cathy
Jamieson. Holyrood called for the First Minister to be given a greater role in the aftermath of any terror attack in Scotland.
The minutes from one meeting reveal: ‘The Home Secretary had recently agreed in principle to give greater recognition to Scottish ministers in UK contingency planning work, and this was being pursued by officials.’
The discussions took place months after an al-Qaeda attack on trains in Madrid which killed nearly 200 people.
Scotland would go on to suffer its own terror attack on June 30, 2007, when two men in a Jeep laden with gas cylinders and petrol cans rammed the terminal building at Glasgow Airport. The driver, Kafeel Ahmed, 27, suffered 90 per cent burns in the attack, and later died in hospital, but no one else was seriously injured.
His companion, Bilal Abdullah, 39, was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
‘Radioactive release imminent’