nuclear-news

Nuclear anxiety: Arab countries, and villagers living near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant

Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant: Contamination Risks Worry Iranian Villagers, Arab Neighbors By Yeganeh Torbati
DUBAI, Jan 23 (Reuters)  – For the Iranian government, the Bushehr nuclear power plant is proof to a world worried about Tehran’s intentions that its atomic programme is aimed only at securing a modern, clean energy source for its people. 

But for villagers living next to the facility, as well as Arab capitals nearby, the plant poses a potential danger that is less geopolitical and more immediate: the risk of contamination.

“We are extremely worried about our health and the health of our families,” residents of the coastal villages of Heleylah and Bandargah wrote in a statement published on a blog in 2010.

“According to international standards, the distance between a nuclear power plant and the nearest residence must be at least one kilometre … but the distance between the village of Heleylah and this power plant is just six metres!”

Thousands of people live in the two villages 18 km (11 miles) south of the Gulf city of Bushehr, many of them making their living as service workers at the plant.

Residents living near Iran’s nuclear-related sites told Reuters in interviews by phone and over the Internet that the government stifles debate on the pros and cons of the programme and where its sites should be located, and has not addressed their questions about what would happen in an emergency.

Iran’s Arab neighbours are also nervous. Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates all occupy coastline across from Bushehr, and the plant is closer to five Arab Gulf capitals than it is to Tehran…… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/bushehr-nuclear-power-plant-contamination-iran_n_2533383.html

January 24, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, safety