nuclear-news

A U.S. expert said the engineer’s account added to concerns about the long-term safety of the Middle East’s first nuclear power station, for years a source of tension between Iran and the United States.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Alexander Bolgarov predicted that Iran’s inexperience with nuclear power means it will rely on Russia to operate the reactor for the next five or six years. “They still do not have a nuclear culture necessary to run such a plant,” said the Moscow-trained engineer, who returned home to Lithuania this spring after two years in Iran….

David Albright, a physicist and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, said Bolgarov’s description of construction errors raise questions about Bushehr’s safety. “It’s a little disturbing,” he said, because hidden flaws in the facility could lead to a major accident in five or 10 years

.”Bushehr is not a stepping stone to a nuclear weapons program,” said Olli Heinonen, a former inspector for the International Atomic Energy Agency…..