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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran-Russia talks on Busher nuke generator end in confusion |
| 2007-03-09 |
| Russian point of view: Work on Iran's Bushehr atomic energy plant will be delayed further unless Tehran resolves a dispute over payment to the Russian contractors building the plant, a Russian official said on Friday..... Iranian point of view: "...Right now [Russian state-owned] Atomstroiexport had a little bit of financial problems and Iran is ready to remove and eliminate all the problems for the Russian side," said Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's nuclear energy organization. "We are ready to charge additional money to Atomstroiexport to build the nuclear power plant according to the schedule," said Saeedi, speaking on Russia's Vesti-24 news channel. Perhaps: December check was undated, Jan check was unsigned, Feb check had the digital amount mismatch the alphanumeric amount. |
| Posted by:mhw |
| #13 IIRC, the Bushehr reactor job was always a pay-as-you-go cash program with the Russians, having got burned by ME characters many times as the former USSR. There should be plenty of money for the final touches, but not paying after all these years seems to be some kind of a clue. And having a few carrier battle groups in the theater is putting the heat on, also. The trick is to see if we can help bring down the MMs of Iran before the Dems make too big of a mes domestically. This IS a two front war. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-03-09 18:40 |
| #12 OP, It wasn't just the intertia test they were doing (seeing if inertia could run the cool systems after power loss) The reactor itself used horizontal graphite cooling tubes. Once the coolant was below threshold, it flashed, cracking and igniting the tubes. Also, the coolant was not the doping method for neutrons, so as it 'boiled' off, the reaction went faster and faster. Other designs often have the coolant as a doping source as well, so that as it boils off the reaction has a small feeback loop to slow up. Not enough to really prevent a crisis, but enough to slow a major crises. And yeah, they should not have disengaged the safties to do the test. |
| Posted by: bombay 2007-03-09 14:44 |
| #11 Yhe Iranians are slowly being marinalized. Tater and his "Senior People" left Iraq. One of their biggest Intelligence men has defected. They are bringing home their agents in their Embasys. Baby Assad threw a hissy fit. There have been more "Insurgent" attacks inside Iran. Whatever the Bush Administration is doing, it seems to be working so far without war. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-03-09 14:44 |
| #10 #9 OP: "That doesn't mean that Russia wouldn't use shoddy construction methods outside of their territory. I wouldn't put that past them for a minute." Inshallah. :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-03-09 13:57 |
| #9 TU - Chernobyl was the result of people in the control center disregarding safety precautions, not shoddy construction. There are plenty of places where shoddy construction is the norm, but usually not in their nuclear power industry. Part of Chernobyl is still operating. That doesn't mean that Russia wouldn't use shoddy construction methods outside of their territory. I wouldn't put that past them for a minute. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-03-09 13:54 |
| #8 And, that Russian diplomat at the UN is going on trial for aiding and abetting bribery and malfeasance (or something like that) as part of the Oil for Food thingy... he took a portion of the bribes he'd organized in the amount of US$300,000 or so, if I heard the report correctly. This comes out of Mr. Volker's investigation. But $300,000 is pocket change compared to the numbers that floated through the place, so perhaps the quid pro quo is that we publicly embarrass the big Russian players. Curious indeed. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-09 13:33 |
| #7 Ah, renegotiate and cut a few corners. Like at Chernnobyl... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-03-09 12:51 |
| #6 "And all of a sudden, the Iranians can't pay for their work. Curiouser and curiouser..." Or maybe their payment history has always been spotty, but suddenly the Russians are being more hardassed about it. Wonder what we've given Putin in exchange. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-03-09 12:23 |
| #5 Let me guess they had their assets in an "Islamic Bank" that doesn't have interest bearing accounts and somebody drained it? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-03-09 11:38 |
| #4 Will you accept this post dated, three party, out of state check, drawn on my ex-mullahs account? I'll make it out to "Cash" Just don't try to cash it until payday. They may have to swing by the "Persian Payday" store on the way to mosque. |
| Posted by: Capsu78 2007-03-09 11:20 |
| #3 Iran's struggle to emulate North Korea has been quite successful in ways the Mullah's hadn't anticipated. |
| Posted by: doc 2007-03-09 11:19 |
| #2 One thing good about being the richest country in the world. You can outlast poor ones who try and act rich. Maybe we are making progress against Iran after all. |
| Posted by: plainslow 2007-03-09 10:55 |
| #1 ..And all of a sudden, the Iranians can't pay for their work. Curiouser and curiouser... Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-03-09 10:20 |