nuclear-news

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) appears to be behaving in a partisan and shameless way regarding Iran, much as it did with Iraq.

With Iraq, accusations abounded that the inspection teams were more about spying than neutral observation. “The way back to the UN was via Tel Aviv,” one former inspector memorably remarked.

Gareth Porter has meticulously and comprehensively trashed the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) latest report on Iran, showing disturbing parallels with the tragic Iraq fiasco.

Iraq had Ahmed Chalabi, Iyad Allawi and the informant Curveball selling fairy stories. Iran has Vyacheslav Danilenko, an expert in nanodiamonds, apparently doubling as a nuclear weapons expert, along with a plethora of unidentified spokespeople for “member states.” Hardly rigid verifiable scholarship.

Previous concerns expressed include the fact that Iran has vast oil reserves, so there must be a weapons-related reason to expand nuclear power.

However, Iran has been under increasingly stringent sanctions since November 14 1979, which ironically necessitates additional sources of energy – for which it is now being threatened with a similar fate to Iraq’s.

Yet the headlines in the Middle East which warn: “Most volatile region in the world is going nuclear,” coupled with a helpful map of “volatile” countries with advanced nuclear ambitions, seem to have escaped IAEA notice……

Consider then the case of Kuwait which is “blessed with an abundance of natural petroleum resources,” and that it has advanced plans for up to four nuclear power stations – two to be built on the islands of Warba and Bubiyan…….

For more than two centuries Kuwait managed to survive by playing off one major power against another…….

$20 billion is to be spent on the Warba Island nuclear reactor, just 500 metres from the nearest Iraqi inhabited area at the port of Umm Qasr, and 30 miles from Kuwait.

Pointing out that it is on the still disputed border between Iraq and Kuwait arising from further boundary tinkering after 1991’s hostilities, parliamentarian Alya Naseef has called for Prime Minister Nuri Maliki to demand in the strongest terms that the plans be halted.

The main contractors are French giant Areva, into which the Kuwaiti Investment Authority poured $794 million, making Kuwait the third largest investor, with France being the largest. Areva has extensive contracts and mutual interests with the US.

Furthermore, in September last year Kuwait signed a “bilateral agreement with Japan for co-operation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, covering issues such as expertise exchange, human resource development and nuclear safety following similar deals with France and the US earlier this year.”….

The Foreign Office website states of Kuwait that “there is a general threat from terrorism. Attacks cannot be ruled out and could be indiscriminate. These include references to attacks on Western interests military, oil, transport and aviation interests.” What a prize a nuclear power station would be.

“Many areas of the Gulf are highly sensitive, including near-maritime boundaries and the islands of Bubiyan and Warbah. The area in the northern Gulf, between Iran, Iraq and Kuwait has not been demarcated,” reminds the Foreign Office.

It would be hard to find a more volatile place to build a nuclear installation. Oh, and the land is low lying and subject to silting and shifting.

With the IAEA berating Iran for its nuclear programme, it is seem bewildering that the very real and present dangers of these terrifying madcap projects have passed them by…..

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/112388