Thousands of staff at UK nuclear power stations have been told to spy on the private lives of workmates and inform on colleagues who might be “vulnerable” to blackmail or bribery by terrorists intent on getting access to Britain’s nuclear secrets and stocks of weapon-grade plutonium.As part of the “security measures” nuclear power station staff are being asked to keep a watch on their colleagues’ love lives. They are also being told to keep tabs on colleagues they think may be using illegal drugs and even those travelling abroad.The moves by the government’s nuclear security agency to step up the vetting of civilian nuclear workers have been condemned by trade unionists and critics as “Orwellian”. But the agency insists the measures are justified by the threat of terrorism. Dave Watson, Scottish organiser for the energy union Unison, warned that there were grave risks for human rights. “Workers take their privacy very seriously,” he told the Sunday Herald.“Any suggestions that co-workers should become agents of surveillance are likely to be resisted strongly.”