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a letter to Asia Times on Earthquakes and Iran's Nuke Plants
In reply to [Iran stands in the way of US designs, May 4] by Stephen Zunes: As I recall, six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council met in Abu Dhabi earlier this year and agreed to a "joint response to Iran's problematic approach to a number of issues". What were some of these? They were environmental and should be a source of general concern because their implications are broad in reach. Iran is building nuclear power facilities in geologically unstable areas (Bushehr Peninsula, Dar-Khuwayn in Khuzestan, and plans one on the Jask Peninsula on the Gulf of Oman). These and the remainder of their 25 hoped-for stations are near major population centers of GCC members, but remote from those of Iran. The Siemens-designed (and Russian development-aided) station at Bushehr cannot withstand a Richter-7 quake, and a quake of that magnitude is quite likely in that region. Earthquake-prone Iran has already had several devastating events in the last two years alone. Nuclear fallout in the Persian Gulf (very shallow: less than 90 meters maximum) would ruin fishing and destroy oil flow - for centuries. If the effects of the Chernobyl disaster are an indicator, the human disaster could be even greater.Posted by: 3dc 2006-05-05 |
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