LONDON, Aug 3: The government in an unprecedented move has stockpiled anti-radiation drugs across the whole of Britain because of fears of a terrorist attack.

The Anti-radiation pills are being stockpiled at secret government sites throughout the country because of fears that terrorists could target a nuclear power station. There are also fears that terrorists could blast the so-called “dirty bomb”. A bomb small enough to fit into a suitcase could cause devastation, security experts were quoted as saying by some British media reports.

The Department of Health confirmed on Friday it had made plans to protect London from a nuclear threat. The drug being deployed is potassium iodate in tablet form, which protects the thyroid, part of the body most vulnerable to nuclear radiation. The unprecedented alert comes two months after the US uncovered a plot by Al Qaeda to detonate a dirty bomb in Washington.

The tablets, which until now have been stored only near nuclear plants such as Sellafield, have been ordered for widespread distribution by the Department of Health. Two months ago, Jose Padilla, a US citizen linked to Al Qaeda, was arrested in Chicago on suspicion of being part of a plot to set off a dirty bomb.

Three others were arrested in Pakistan in a uranium-related crime. It has been revealed that in the worst scenario, thousands could fall ill if the “dirty bomb” attack was launched, the radiation could cause sickness and subsequent cancers. Last November an Al Qaeda handbook entitled Superbomb — covering the advanced physics of nuclear weapons — was discovered in an abandoned house in Kabul.

The government has already ordered 20 million doses of smallpox vaccine in case of a biological attack.