nuclear-news

Nuclear leak scare in Iran

Iran to Citizens: Flee Isfahan, Washington Free Beacon,  Iranian
officials tell citizens to vacate city located near nuke site BY: Adam
KredoJ anuary 2, 2013
Iranian officials have instructed residents of Isfahan to leave the
city, renewing concerns that a nearby nuclear site could be leaking
radioactive material.

An edict issued Wednesday by Iranian authorities orders Isfahan’s
one-and-a-half million people to leave the city “because pollution has
now reached emergency levels,” the BBC reported.

However, outside observers suspect that the evacuation order may
corroborate previous reports indicating that a uranium enrichment
facility near Isfahan had been leaking radioactive material.

Tehran went to great lengths in December to deny these reports,
telling state-run media outlets that “the rumors about leaking and
contamination at Isfahan’s [Uranium Conversion Facility] are not true
at all.”

November reports indicated that a radioactive leak might have poisoned
several workers at the nuclear plant, which converts highly toxic
yellowcake uranium into material that could be used in the core of a
nuclear weapon.

The head of Iran’s emergency services agency said at the time that
residents have no reason to worry about possible contamination
resulting from a possible leak.

Stories about the potential leak soon disappeared from state-run news
websites, Trend reported in late November.

Iranian officials denied that a leak has occurred and blamed Western
media outlets for creating “tumult” in the region.

Wednesday’s evacuation order is now fueling concerns that Iranian
officials are trying to hide something, including further fallout from
a possible radioactive leak. Pollution in Isfahan is a problem but in
the past, Iranian authorities respond by closing schools and the
government to keep people at home and let the pollution dissipate, not
by evacuating people,” said Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser
on Iran and Iraq who has written about Isfahan’s battle against
pollution.

“Mass evacuations suggest a far more serious problem,” Rubin
explained. “There are two possibilities here: There is a radiation
leak and the regime is lying or there is really bad pollution and no
one believes the regime’s explanations.”

Rubin also pointed out that Iranian officials have a history of lying
to both Western officials and their own citizens…..
http://freebeacon.com/iran-to-citizens-flee-isfahan/

January 4, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general