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Fukushima now causing a rethink in Iran, about nuclear power

The risks of a nuclear meltdown and the release of radioactive material are not limited to Iran. Bushehr is closer in proximity to Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia’s oil rich eastern province than it is to Tehran.

Will Fukushima Force Iran to Reconsider Nuclear Program? The Atlantic, By Karim Sadjadpour, Ali Vaez & Fariborz Ghadar, Apr 1 2011, The country’s rogue energy program isn’t worth the humanitarian danger, the economic cost, or whatever scant power it might provide
While Japan’s unfolding nuclear and humanitarian crisis resurrected longstanding fears in the West about the safety of nuclear power and the potential vulnerabilities of the world’s over 400 operational nuclear power plants, among Iranians it seems to have inaugurated a long overdue debate.

Though the Iranian government’s nuclear program, dubiously marked by poor safety practices and earthquake-prone topography, creates the potential risk for a natural-cum-radioactive disaster like that at Fukushima, Japan, up until now there has been little of the way of a public debate in Iran. A combination of misguided nationalism and government misinformation has compelled many non-official Iranian elites — including staunch regime critics — to support the Islamic Republic’s self-professed “inalienable” nuclear pursuits.

Since Japan’s tragedy, however, a growing number of Iranian opinion makers are arguing in open letters, media interviews, and blogs that the government’s nuclear program is in fact endangering, not enhancing, the security and economic well being of its citizenry…….
In reality, the Bushehr reactor today resembles a virtual petri dish of amalgamated, antiquated, and illicit technology — from 1970s Germany, Russia, and rogue Pakistani scientist A.Q Khan — ominously situated at the juncture of three tectonic plates.

A project that begin in 1974 by the Shah of Iran has turned into multi-billion dollar money pit — beset by revolution, war, mismanagement, and sanctions — that has produced nary a watt of nuclear energy. Heightened international pressure and persistent technical difficulties have prompted warnings even from normally incautious Russian nuclear officials about the possibility of a Chernobyl-style disaster in Bushehr.

In addition to its nuclear malpractice, the Islamic Republic’s poor record of anticipatory governance and crisis management has left it far more vulnerable to natural disasters than many of its seismic-prone peers……..
The risks of a nuclear meltdown and the release of radioactive material are not limited to Iran. Bushehr is closer in proximity to Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia’s oil rich eastern province than it is to Tehran…
Will Fukushima Force Iran to Reconsider Nuclear Program? – Karim Sadjadpour, Ali Vaez & Fariborz Ghadar – International – The Atlantic

April 4, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics