A suicide attack on the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant could "wipe out the north of England", the British House of Commons has been warned.
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Friends of the Earth told a Westminster inquiry into radioactive waste policy that such a strike could kill up to two million people.
Since the September 11th attacks the group has rethought its long-standing insistence that waste must be stored above ground, so that it can be constantly monitored.
Friends of the Earth said bunkers may have to be built to keep the waste safe from terrorist.
The group's nuclear research officer, Dr Rachel Western, told MPs that waste at Sellafield was held in a liquid solution.
She said this could be widely dispersed in the case of a deliberate or accidental plane crash.
"If somebody was to make the decision to drop a plane on Sellafield, it would be disastrous - it would wipe out the north of England," Dr Western said.
Studies had shown it would be impossible to rule out leaks of radioactive material into the environment from deep burial sites, she said.
PA