Moscow News, Russia
21/09/2007 |
Political Worries Stall Bushehr Project
Last weekend Russia and Iran yet again exchanged accusations over the
Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday that fuel
for the plant, being built by Russia’s Atomstroyexport in south Iran,
was "ready, with the security seal of the International Atomic Energy
Agency [IAEA]."
A Russian delegate in the agency quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency
immediately dismissed the report and said that though the fuel is
ready, the containers did not have the IAEA seal on them and thus
still cannot be shipped to the power plant.
The Moscow News talked to one of the Russian specialists working on
the project and asked what was really going on at the station from a
technical point of view.What we learned presents the situation from a
different angle.
Work in Bushehr started in 1975; initially the nuclear power plant was
built by the German (back then – West German) Siemens concern.But
immediately after the Islamic revolution of 1979, the Germans
terminated construction and withdrew from Iran, leaving the unfinished
work and taking all documents with them. Some time later the
unfinished construction suffered several air strikes from Iraq and was
in a rather sorry state when in 1995 Russia signed a contract to
complete the project.
According to our source, who wished to remain anonymous, this task was
exceptionally difficult.Russian and German nuclear equipment did not
match and Germans did not provide the documents for what they had left
behind. The war damage to the buildings had to be assessed and
repaired and there were no proper testing facilities in Iran. The
major reason why Russian State Corporation Atomstroyexport agreed to
do the job was the desperate need of cash – in 1995 the nuclear
industry was recovering from a collapse caused by the sorry situation
of the state financial system and lack of internal order after the
Chernobyl disaster.
Our source said that Iranian claims that the plant was 95 percent
ready are basically correct, but it still needs tests which are
complicated, time-consuming and expensive. Iranians are pressing for
the fuel delivery and delaying payments, making testing even harder.
What is more important, the source said, is that the Bushehr NPP
suffers from a severe lack of qualified personnel. When work on the
project started, Russian contractors realized that they were short of
trained people to work at the site, especially engineers and
assemblers. After the crisis of the Russian nuclear industry in the
early 90s many Russian organizations in the sphere collapsed and the
specialists that remained were old and unwilling to leave there secure
places. Also, climate conditions in Bushehr are severe and many
elderly people declined the offer for health reasons.
Atomstroyexport then hired many men from other countries of the former
Soviet Union, in particular Ukraine and Armenia, but they are not as
good as Russian specialists and running the station still requires
better trained staff, the Russian specialist said.
AT POLITICAL LOGGERHEADS
The nuclear fuel dispute is in reality a reflection of a more general
discussion – whether there will be a Russianbuilt nuclear power plant
in Iran at all. The most important part of the nuclear fuel assemblies
is not the enriched uranium itself, but the containers in which it is
kept, transported and loaded into the reactor. These containers are
Russian know-how and the Russian reactor will only work with them.
At the same time, when the fuel is delivered to the station, the cycle
starts and the reactor must start working in six months after the
delivery – otherwise the expensive batch of fuel will become useless
waste. Therefore, when Russia finally delivers the fuel it will be a
sure sign that the reactor will start six months later. Until then –
the project remains suspended.
According to our source, the reasons of such situation were purely
political. Atomstroyexport is interested in completing the project as
soon as possible. For Russians it is the only way to receive the
delayed payments and, more importantly, to start working on several
new reactors – the Iranian program is very extensive and they have the
money for it. But the Russian authorities are under pressure from the
international community, as many countries share the U.S. and Israel’s
fears that the working reactor in Bushehr would speed up the Iranian
project to build its own nuclear weapons.
Our source did not deny that Iran is now working on such a
project. But he added that all works were secret and were not
connected with the Bushehr reactor."We do not ask them about the bomb
project and they obviously tell us nothing about it," the specialist
said. At the same time, he added that the reactor in Bushehr can not
be used for military purposes "even in theory."The fuel for it is only
about 3.5 percent enriched and the level of enrichment for
weapons-grade uranium must be over 90 percent. The used fuel is
returned to Russia under IAEA control and if Iranians violate this
agreement they simply would not receive new batches of fuel that they
cannot produce themselves. "They may be claiming such intentions, but
it is pure demagogy," our source said.
On the other hand, if the nuclear energy program in Iran starts
working it will give a major boost to the economy of the
fundamentalist country and this is not what Iran’s neighbors and the
Western powers want. The program can also lead to the situation when
20 working reactors will be spread over the country’s territory. A
major military operation in such condition becomes complicated as the
fallout from destroyed reactors will cover the neighboring countries
and the invading force will have to take the blame for it.
The Russian expert told us that even these fears were possibly
exaggerated. Iran is now facing international sanctions and has no
materials or testing facilities for building these 20 blocks. New
power plants can only be built by foreign firms and so far only
Russians agree to do it and only under IAEA control.
In recent statements Russian nuclear officials gave the earliest date
for the start-up of the Bushehr reactor as fall 2008. Under the
contract, Russia will run it for two years after the start, providing
the operators and training Iranian specialists for the work. The first
used fuel will be removed about six months after the start of the
reactor and for safety reasons it will remain on the premises for two
years – the used fuel cannot be used or even moved before that.
But with time Iran receives more warnings over its nuclear
projects. As Russia and Iran were exchanging accusations, France
threatened Iran with sanctions and warned of a possible war. French
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a radio interview that war
could break out if Iran obtains nuclear weapons and said European
leaders were considering their own economic sanctions against the
Islamic country.
Iranians reacted sharply, calling the statement hard and illogical and
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon attempted to play down
Kouchner’s words on Monday. Fillon said that his country would do
anything to avoid war, but did not mention sanctions.
By Kirill Bessonov