VIENNA: Arab Gulf states sought reassurances from Iran at a UN nuclear agency meeting this week over the safety of its only atomic energy plant, which is located in an earthquake-prone coastal area, diplomats said yesterday. The Bushehr facility on Iran’s Gulf coast is a growing worry for nearby countries: if radiation ever does escape it could be blown over the Gulf to Qatar’s capital Doha and the main oil exporting ports of the United Arab Emirates.
Tehran has repeatedly rejected safety worries about the Russian-built reactor, which began operations in 2011 after decades of delays.
The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia raised the issue during a closed-door June 3-7 meeting of the 35-nation Board of Governors of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the diplomats said. “(They) share the same concern because of the geographical proximity (to Bushehr),” said a senior Vienna-based diplomat.
The plant is closer to five Arab Gulf capitals than it is to Tehran, the Iranian capital. Arab Gulf states want Iran to join the 75-nation Convention on Nuclear Safety, negotiated after the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl which sent radioactive dust across much of Europe.
Reuters
