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“atoms for peace” – nuke industry leading to war

The “peaceful” atom leading to war with Iran

Beyond Nuclear 2 Oct 09 The discovery of a second uranium enrichment facility in Qum, Iran prompted the government of Saudi Arabia to open its air space for potential Israeli air attacks on a growing number of nuclear infrastructure targets in Iran.

Ironically, “atoms for peace” have often led to wars. In 1980, Iran attacked Iraq’s partially-built Osirak reactor, but French engineers repaired the light damage quickly. The very next year, Israel bombed Osirak before it could be loaded with fuel. These attacks set the precedent for future conventional military pre-emptive strikes against commercial or research atomic facilities, as a non-proliferation tactic. In 1984, Iraq initiated several years of attacks against Iran’s partially-built Bushehr reactor complex, inflicting severe damage on the facility. The following year, Bennett Ramberg published Nuclear Power Plants as Weapons for the Enemy: An Unrecognized Military Peril.  In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. bombed Iraqi research reactors at Tuwaitha, possibly causing radiological releases. In 2007, Israel bombed an atomic reactor being secretly constructed by North Koreans in Syria. Last year, Ramberg warned about the radiological consequences should the Dimona reactor, at the heart of the Israeli nuclear weapons manufacturing complex, be bombed.

Uranium is a currency whose coin has flipsides of nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Potential nuclear targets for Israeli air attacks in Iran now include the perpetually “nearly finished” Bushehr nuclear power plant and at least the Natanz and the Qum uranium enrichment facilities. Such an attack on Iran carries the increasing risk of a rapidly widening regional war, potentially globally. The Bushehr site is now known to be protected by Russian ground-to-air missile batteries.

October 2, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons