The government is increasing the number of police officers trained to deal with chemical, biological or radiation "dirty bombs", the BBC has learned.
Manufacturers are bidding to supply 12,000 personal protection suits to the Home Office, to be worn by UK police.
Only 7,000 officers - about 5% of the total - are so far trained to deal with such attacks, but the Home Office could not say how many more will be trained.
A spokeswoman said the move was not in response to any specific threat.
She said: "The police are already equipped to deal with a chemical, radiological, biological or nuclear incident.
"Public safety is our top priority and that's why we are committed to ensuring that as technology advances, we will provide the most up-to-date equipment to the police.
"This latest procurement is part of an ongoing process and not in response to any new or specific threat."
The Home Office said the move would mean an increase in the number of officers trained to deal with an attack, but would not say exactly how many.
Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said the figure of 12,000 came from a "guess" at what kind of threat officers could face and an assessment of the cover required nationally and for each police force.
The contract is being advertised on the Official Journal of the European Union website and the deadline for bids was before Christmas.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said the purchase of the suits was "part of a sensible, planned investment programme".
And Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers in England and Wales, said she welcomed the supply of new equipment but stressed the importance of ongoing training so police can effectively protect the public.
Conservative homeland security spokesman Patrick Mercer said he was "delighted" by the move.
"It seems strange that they are doing it in December 2006 rather than October 2001," he added.
"It shows very slow appreciation by the government of what the dangers are."
In response to Mr Mercer's comments, Mr McNulty said: "When I've got the marshalled forces of experts and the police on one hand telling me what we need in terms of preparedness, I need to listen to them.
"And I thought it was a rather unnecessary, cheap shot for what's a very, very serious issue."
WHAT IS A DIRTY BOMB?
A crudely-made device that combines a simple explosive with radioactive material
Sometimes called the "poor man's nuclear weapon" but has different impact
Would wreak panic in built-up areas, see large areas sealed off and result in long-term illnesses like cancer .
What if a dirty bomb hit London?
It wouldn't take much for terrorists to wreak havoc in London - just a simple explosive and some industrial waste. Such is the gruesome reality of the dirty bomb.
Fears of a terrorist attack on the UK by Islamic extremists are running at an all-time high.
The discovery of the deadly poison ricin in a London flat has heightened concerns and recently Tony Blair said it was not a case of "if" but "when".
One frightening possibility is the so-called dirty bomb - a crudely-made device that combines a simple explosive with any radioactive material. The idea is that the blast disperses the radioactive material willy nilly.
The dirty bomb is perhaps the least understood of all terror weapons, but new research by BBC Two's Horizon programme brings home the full horror of how a dirty bomb attack might affect London.
We'd have contaminated air moving across London with no indication it's there Graham Smith, Enviros
The dirty bomb is sometimes called the "poor man's nuclear weapon". But whereas the aim of a nuclear bomb is instant and outright destruction, a dirty bomb would have an entirely different effect.
It would wreak panic in built-up areas, see large areas contaminated and closed off and result in long-term illnesses such as cancer, caused by the dispersed radioactive material attacking living cells.
Using sophisticated modelling, experts commissioned by Horizon constructed a scenario around a radioactive material called caesium chloride, which in the old Soviet Union was used in seed irradiating.
Much of this and other radioactive material used by the Soviets is now unaccounted for. No one knows whether it has fallen into unsafe hands.
Experts working for Enviros, a consultancy that advises nuclear authorities around the world, modelled a fictional explosion combining a handful of caesium chloride - equivalent to the contents of one Soviet seed irradiating machine - with 10lbs of explosive.
They then "placed" the fictional bomb in Trafalgar Square.
The blast itself might kill 10 people immediately. As the emergency services arrived at the scene of the incident a few minutes later, they would realise this was no ordinary blast.
"The simple buoyancy of the air that's been heated may carry the radioactive material tens of metres up into the air," says Graham Smith, of Enviros.
Almost immediately, millions of tiny flakes of caesium chloride would be floating in the breeze over London. In seconds, depending on the direction of the wind, the plume could reach Whitehall. A minute later Charing Cross, then the City and within half an hour radioactive smoke could reach London's suburbs - 10 kilometres away.
"We've got contaminated air moving across London and there would be no indication that contamination was there," says Mr Smith.
Cancer time bomb
As the air began to cool, the particles would fall on people who are completely unaware of the danger around them. They would settle on parks, gardens, pavements and cars.
The worry then is of a cancer time bomb. Every day we are exposed to natural radiation, and in low doses this background level is harmless.
Anyone five km from the blast would face only a tiny increased risk of cancer - one in 1,000 - as the background level would be largely unaffected.
But at one km, radiation doses would rise to six times background level, increasing the risk of cancer by about one in 100. At 500 metres downwind from the blast, the risk of dying of cancer from this radiation exposure would be about one in 50 and at 200 m radiation levels would be 80 times background level, equating to a one in seven increased risk of dying of the disease.
The next challenge would be to deal with the contaminated parts of central London. Any clean-up job would be immense and costly, but left undisturbed the particles could remain harmful for 200 years.
One option might be to abandon or demolish parts of the city.
But perhaps the biggest immediate threat wrought by a dirty bomb is not the destruction or the threat to life, but its ability to stir blind panic among thousands, maybe millions, of people.
A leak of caesium chloride in the city of Goiania, southern Brazil, in 1987 contaminated 200 people. The experience gives a useful template for how other cities might cope.
When news of an attack breaks, there will be a clamour for information and help. People will want to know the extent of contamination, but it can be hard to supply answers.
In the Brazil example, medical services were swamped as a tenth of the city's population queued for radiation screening.
It is the dirty bomb's power to spread fear and spawn chaos that makes it a really effective weapon.
bbc news report
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