MEP Mrs Avril Doyle today called for an inquiry into the prospect of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant being a terrorist target.
The call came during a European Parliament hearing into the potential environmental and public health hazards from Sellafield, in Cumbria, and from a similar plant at Cap La Hague, France.
Mrs Doyle said the risk from toxic nuclear waste was one problem - but since the September 11th attacks on New York's Twin Towers, nuclear plants now pose a new and unforeseen danger.
"Before September 11 I would have laughed at the suggestion," Mrs Doyle told the hearing, "but the game has changed completely since then - completely and tragically for all of us".
She said the European Commission should set up a "top level working group" to carry out a risk assessment. "We need experts to try to quantify the increased risk of a major credible terrorist attack on Sellafield and Cap La Hague since September 11.
"These must be real experts, not just we politicians. We want people who can genuinely assess the real risk we face, and tell us how they quantify that risk and what should be done about it."
Earlier, British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) used the inquiry to rebut claims of health risks from nuclear waste at the Sellafield plant.
BNFL head of safety Mr John Clarke said: "Numerous studies by scientific organisations and regulatory agencies have confirmed that our activities do not threaten public health or the marine environment".
PA