Radioactivity level outside Natanz site unchanged, normal after Israeli attacks: IAEA chief
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has spoken at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.
Here are some of his comments:
- The Natanz enrichment site contains two facilities. The first is the main fuel enrichment plant. The initial attacks on June 13 targeted and destroyed electricity infrastructure at the facility, including an electrical substation, the main electric power supply building, an emergency power supply and back-up generators.
- On the same day, the main cascade hall appears to have been attacked using ground-penetrating munitions.
- The second facility at Natanz is the pilot fuel enrichment plant. It consists of above-ground and underground cascade halls. On the 13th of June, the above-ground part was functionally destroyed and the strikes on the underground cascade halls were seriously damaged.
- The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact on the population or the environment there.
- However, within the Natanz facility, there is both radiological and chemical contamination.
- The radiation poses a significant danger if inhaled or digested. Its risk can be effectively managed with appropriate protective measures, such as using respiratory devices.
- The agency is not aware of any damage at Fordow at this time.
- At the Isfahan nuclear site, four buildings were damaged in last Friday’s attack: the central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion plant, the Tehran reactor fuel manufacturing plant, and the enriched uranium metal processing facility, which was under construction. No increase in off-site radiation levels was reported.
- The Khondab heavy water research reactor, under construction in Arak, was hit. As the reactor was not operational and it did not contain any nuclear material, no radiological consequences are feared.
- The nearby heavy water production plant is also assessed to have been hit, and similarly, no radiological consequences are anticipated.
Satellite images show damage at Iran’s Arak after Israeli attack
Attack at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant would have most ‘serious’ consequences: IAEA
Here are some of Grossi’s concluding remarks at the Security Council, which we have been reporting on:
- Bushehr nuclear power plant is where the consequences of an attack could be most serious. It is an operating nuclear power plant, and as such, it hosts thousands of kilogrammes of nuclear material.
- Countries of the region have reached out directly to me over the past few hours to express their concerns, and I want to make it absolutely and completely clear that, in case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity to the environment.
- Similarly, a hit that disables the only two lines supplying electrical power to the plant could cause its reactor core to melt, which could result in a high release of radioactivity to the environment.
- In their worst case, both scenarios would necessitate protective actions, such as evacuations and sheltering of the population, or the need to take stable iodine with a reach extending to distances from a few to several hundred kilometres. Radiation monitoring would need to cover distances of several hundred kilometres, and food restrictions may need to be implemented.
- Any action against the Tehran nuclear research reactor could also have severe consequences, potentially for large areas of the city of Tehran and its inhabitants.
- Armed attack on nuclear facilities should never take place and could result in radioactive releases with great consequences within and beyond the boundaries of the state which has been attacked. I, therefore, again call for maximum restraint.
Iraq says 50 Israeli warplanes violated its airspace
Iraq’s representative to the UN says the violations took place shortly before today’s Security Council meeting. Abbas Kadhom Obaid al-Fatlawi, the charge d’affaires of Iraq’s UN mission, told the council the aircraft came from the Syrian-Jordanian border areas.
“Twenty aeroplanes started, followed by 30 aeroplanes heading to the south of Iraq, and they flew over Basra, Najaf and Karbala cities,” he said. “These violations are violations of international law and the UN Charter,” he said.
“They also constitute a threat to the sacred sites and regions, which might cause strong popular reactions, considering the importance of these holy sites for our peoples.”
