(File picture) Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant
DOHA: Saudi Arabia is building the world’s largest desalination plant in Ras Al Khair on the Gulf coast amid growing concerns in the GCC region over risk of radiation from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant contaminating Gulf waters.
Studies and analyses suggest that possible leaks from energy installations in the oil-rich GCC states are not a major concern for Saudi Arabia in its water desalination plans.
The concerns are over a possible disaster at the Bushehr plant, which sits on an active seismic zone on the other side of the Arabian Gulf.
In the near-absence of natural water resources, the GCC states depend almost entirely for potable water on the shallow sea, whose water they desalinate at huge costs.
In that sense, and also because the GCC’s oil and gas exports are shipped through the Gulf, this shallow body of water is the lifeline of these countries and their people.
The GCC states, with their economies collectively worth a whopping $1.5tn, are mulling a joint water supply system that takes seawater for desalination from outside the Gulf, media reports say.
The Arabian Gulf is a relatively small body of seawater, 249 square kilometres in area; the widest stretch being 338km while the narrowest, the Strait of Hormuz, is barely 56km wide.
The Gulf waters are deeper towards the Iranian coast — the average depth being 90 to 100 metres. On the Arabian peninsula side they are, on average, only 35 metres deep.
The western part of the water body is shallower and has a rugged surface, besides boasting coral reefs. The GCC states together have a 3,340km-long coastline.
According to a Saudi expert, Mohamed Al Marzouki, the Gulf’s water moves anticlockwise, which means that in the event of a disaster at the Bushehr plant, radiation would be easily carried to the coasts of the GCC countries.
Marzouki was quoted as saying in Saudi newspaper Alyaum (today in Arabic) that the eastern and western parts of the Gulf’s waters are already highly polluted due to the movement and anchorage of oil vessels.
High sea vessels, he said, were equipped with ballast tanks that are filled with seawater to improve stability when carrying no cargo.
When these tanks are emptied, significant quantities of oil mixed with seawater is discharged into the sea, he said. “This practice, being the largest polluting factor, is directly affecting marine life in the Gulf.”
Heavy vessel movement in the Gulf waters also makes the region highly vulnerable to accidents, he added.
Al Marzouki said since the Bushehr nuclear power plant was located in a sensitive seismic zone, a disaster could happen any time, releasing radiation. “It’s like a ticking time bomb.”
The plant, thus, poses a grave threat to the environment and marine life of the Gulf, particularly as it is located just about 270km from the Saudi coast and barely 200km from Kuwait, according to him.
Alarmed by the threat, the GCC states, led by their general secretariat, have set up a committee to study the extent of damage any unfortunate disaster at the Iranian nuclear plant can cause. “The committee has already begun collecting relevant details and data,” Tareq Al Obaid, from Geneva-based Euro-Arab Environment Organisation, said.
He told Saudi newspaper Aliqtesad (business in Arabic) that the GCC general secretariat had formed an emergency task force for quick intervention in the event of a nuclear disaster at Bushehr.
The secretariat also has plans to set up a department devoted to the perceived threat to GCC countries from the Iranian nuclear power plant. “What is awaited is a go-ahead from the higher-ups.”
A problem with the Arabian Gulf is that since it is largely landlocked, it takes more than five years for its water to get replaced through its narrow opening to the Arabian Sea.
So in case of a mishap at the Bushehr plant, the impact of radiation on the people and environment of the GCC can be disastrous. Just about everything in the region, including the shipping of oil, would be affected. Kuwait, eastern regions of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar would be the most affected in the event of a disaster at the Bushehr plant.
The most crucial thing is that the GCC states depend on the Gulf for potable water.
According to Times newspaper of London, work on the Bushehr plant began some 35 years ago and second-grade engineers worked on it, while the technology used was German and Russian.
The newspaper quoted a secret Iranian document as saying that the impact of a disaster at the Bushehr plant could be heart-wrenching because it is unsafe.
According to other media reports, aware of the threat, the GCC states have inked an agreement among themselves to assess the health and environmental impact of any radiation leak from the Iranian plant, in order to be ready for damage control in the event of an emergency.
Reports suggest that in the event of a radiation leak, clouds of radioactive material can float to the GCC region in just 15 hours.
While the radiation would affect only about 10 percent of the Iranian population, in the GCC states, 40 to 100 percent of the population would be affected.
This is where the catch lies. The plant can be used as a shield by Tehran against a military attack by the West.
According to Asma Al Ajmi, in a report presented to the Kuwait parliament, the Bushehr plant was officially launched on September 12, 2012. She told Kuwait-based periodical Alwasat she wondered what the purpose of the plant was.
“This plant can produce only two percent of the power needs of Iran, while the country is losing 15 percent of electricity just because its transmission cables are old and not maintained for years on end.”
Another problem, according to an Iraqi professor, Dr Abdul Kazim Al Aboudi, is that Iranian reports on the effects of earthquakes in the country are not transparent, so one does not know the impact a disaster at Bushehr could have.
“Japan’s experience with the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes amply demonstrates the dangers such facilities pose,” said Al Aboudi.
Media reports, quoting experts, have used the above logic to argue against plans made by UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to build nuclear power plants.
“When Japan, with all the modern technology they have at their disposal, could not prevent a disaster at their nuclear power plant, how can we trust the GCC states with such plants?” asked an expert.
