17/07/13

Earthquake concerns over Iranian nuclear plant

Iran Nuclear Powerplant_IAEA
Copyright: Flickr/IAEA Imagebank

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  • Gulf states fear that earthquakes could result in leaks from the Bushehr plant
  • But Iran says the plant can cope with powerful earthquakes
  • The earthquake risk is being overstated, say nuclear scientists

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[CAIRO] The Persian Gulf Arab states have raised concerns about the safety of an Iranian nuclear power station built in anearthquake-pronecoastal area.

The concerns about the Bushehr plant, which officially opened in 2011, were raised during a meeting of the 35-nation board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria, last month (3-7 June).

The reactor lies on the north-east coast of the Persian Gulf. Any leak of radioactive material could therefore affect coastal regions of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman's Musandam Peninsula.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had already raised the issue after a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Bushehr Province in south-west Iran on 9 April.

“海湾国家有权请求surances by IAEA experts, because some of the Iranian plant components are extremely old.”

Farouk El-Baz

Within a week, national emergency officials of countries in theGulf Cooperation Council(GCC), a political and economic alliance between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, met in Saudi Arabia to discuss the risk of radiation spreading over the Persian Gulf if the Bushehr plant is damaged by another earthquake.

But Mohammad Ahmadian, the deputy director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, dismissed the concerns in a TV interview on the day of the meeting.

Speaking to Iran'sAlalam News Network, he denied that earthquakes could affect the nuclear reactor or cause any safety problems.

“反应堆设计承受大小8 earthquake and to automatically shut down if there is a major earth movement," he said.

But Gulf Cooperation Council assistant secretary general Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg said in an article on theArab newswebsite that, although Iranian officials had tried to calm fears that an earthquake could affect the reactor, their words were "far from reassuring".

"Iran should be more forthcoming in allowing international inspection of Bushehr to reassure its own citizens and neighbours about the safety of the plant," he said.

Farouk El-Baz, an Egyptian-born geologist who is director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University in the United States, says that "the situation may have a drastic environmental effect if neglected".

He tells。Netthat westernIran is prone to earthquakes。"The Gulf countries have every right to request assurances of adherence to safety regulations by IAEA experts, because some of the Iranian plant components are extremely old," he says.

但是埃及核和放射学监管机构的名誉教授穆罕默德·萨拉马(Mohamed Salama)表示,重要的是不要夸大地震对灌木丛植物的风险。

He compares a possible Iranian earthquake with the magnitude nine quake that struck off the coast of Japan in March 2011, generating a tsunami that flooded the country'sFukushima nuclear plant

"Fukushima rode out the earthquake safely," he says. "The real disaster came from the tsunami that swept over the sea wall and knocked out the backup generators, leaving the reactors without their cooling systems. The reactors then overheated, there were explosions and radioactive material escaped."

Salama tells。Net:“伊朗并不是那么天真,以至于在不考虑其易受地震威胁的情况下建造100亿美元的反应堆工厂”。

Yousry Abushady, a senior inspector at the IAEA, agrees. He explains that three factors are closely considered by any country when building a nuclear reactor: active geological fault lines, water availability and population density.

"There has not been a single case in history where a nuclear reactor has been directly affected by an earthquake," he tells。Net。"Nuclear power stations cope well with earthquakes."

German firms started building the Bushehr plant in 1975, but work was halted in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution. In 1995, Iran and Russia signed a contract to finish the plant, although financial, technical and political problems led to further delays.

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