VIENNA, July 4 (UPI) -- Eighty delegates to the International Atomic Energy Agency began five days of meetings in Vienna Monday to strengthen a 1980 nuclear safety treaty.
The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material was designed mainly to protect nuclear material in international transport and includes some provisions on domestic storage and use.
But the U.N. agency decided the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States merited a review and overhaul of the treaty, the BBC said.
Among the options to be debated are a mandatory increase in security around sites that store spent nuclear fuel and obligatory cooperation between nations to locate and recover stolen nuclear material.
Daryl Kimball, of the Washington-based Arms Control Association said reactor sites are finally being seen as a a lucrative target for terrorists.
"If damaged, (a reactor) could become a weapon by scattering nuclear material over a broad area," he said.
