London: The Beijing Olympics could be the target of terrorists using radioactive material, possibly in the form of a "dirty bomb," an official from the IAEA nuclear watchdog told the BBC today.

Anita Nilsson, head of nuclear security at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the Vienna-based UN body was helping Chinese organisers with training exercises ahead of the Games in August.

There was no specific threat, but there was intelligence that terrorists have sought to procure radioactive material, she added.

"There is a threat at some level that this materials could be used," she told the British broadcaster.

"The awareness that these materials do exist in circulation is enough in itself to trigger the measures that we are now working together with the Chinese authorities to implement at the major venues of the Beijing Olympics."

An IAEA official in Vienna said the agency was providing training and technical knowledge to the Chinese ahead of the Olympics but this is just part of the "normal course of events."

The IAEA provided assistance for the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 football World Cup in Germany, because of concerns that nuclear material could be used, he said. The UN body, acting at China s request, is helping to make sure that any material that could be misused is secured and that, for example, detection methods are set up in stadiums, the official added.

Nilsson added that similar nuclear threats will likely target the next Olympics, in London in 2012.

Source : PTI