Posted on 02/26/2011 4:23:09 PM PST by Pan_Yan
Today, Iran confirmed a UN report that it will have to remove the uranium fuel rod assemblies from the reactor core, a significant setback.
The reactor has been under construction since the Shah's era in the 1970's. The fuel assemblies were finally introduced into the reactor four months ago and it was meant to start producing electricity in January, but that deadline was missed.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the ISNA news agency that the fuel was being removed on Russian advice:
Based on Russia's request to run tests and technical measures, the fuel will be unloaded from the core of the reactor and will be returned to it after completion of the tests
Reuters quotes a source "close to the project" as saying the fuel may have been contaminated by the old and deteriorating metal equipment used in the construction of the reactor core.
...
On 23 February 2011, Iran informed the Agency that it would have to unload fuel assemblies from the core, and the Agency and Iran have agreed on the necessary safeguards measures.
The Iranians have been on record as saying that the Bushehr plant was affected by the Stuxnet computer worm, which is widely believed to have been a joint venture in cyber warfare by the US and Israel. But the initial signs are that Stuxnet has not played a part in this setback. Before Soltanieh spoke, ISIS provided an instant analysis of the IAEA report, saying it had learned that:
the unloading may be motivated by concerns about the possible sabotage of the fuel assemblies or defective fuel assemblies.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
That Atomic Energy stuff is harram.
Maybe they want to purify out the uranium or plutonium and turn it into bombs, or use the rod material as is for dirty bombs
As Atom Ant used to say, “excrement occurs.”
I suppose they could be doing this to make it a
more attractive target for Israel, then afterwards
scattering radioactive material around the country
and decrying Israels use of weapons of mass destruction?
OK, theres’ a problem.. short of stuxnet assisted mutation from bushwher into chernobyl... problems earlier? alluded to.
Worthy of watching, tho full disclosure doubtful.
Small possibility tho, of upcoming Iran Israel strike, in wchich case, CCCP likely would prefer not to have THEIR nuke fuel being source of widespread dirty problemm when Israel retaliates...
Possibly, but the incompetence of the Iranians shouldn't be discounted. After all, they sit on a sea of oil, yet they import gasoline because they lack the technical expertise to refine crude oil in sufficient quantities to support their own domestic needs.......
The fuel assemblies haven’t been in there long enough to have converted anything. They only started fueling it recently.
Russian reactors are frequently “safed” by removing fuel assemblies and replacing them with additional control rods while reactor cooldown is continued. There are a lot of reasons why you may have to defuel this early, and none of them are good. This is why QA is so high on these plants (or is supposed to be) so you prevent serious FUBARs like this one.
Russian technology is not the most reliable in the world. They have always shot for the biggest and frequently blown a few toes off. Just a year or so ago they had a massive failure at a hydroelectric plant (of all things!) that killed 70 people or so, and we have never heard a reasonable explanation of that one either.
And don’t get me started on the Lenin Nuclear Power Station, Chernobyl, Ukraine...
Interesting comments, thanks.
Anybody know where this little gem is located vis a vis populated areas?
Sometimes bad things happen to bad people.
My suspicion is that the Russians are getting cold feet.
That was the first thing I thought when I read the article.
There are more reasons for this than incompetence. The vast majority of Iranians I know and have worked with are quite competent, in a wide variety of fields. Of course, they're also the ones over here.
I would suspect corrupt government / management is the more proximate cause.
Could be the vagina syndrome
Imagine a Chernobyl affecting the oilfields of Saudi, Iraq, Kuwait, and all the Gulf states, plus the shipping lanes into and out of the entire Persian Gulf
Yup. And the stories out of the massive 3 Gorges Dam project in China haven't been so great either.
Third rate Russian technology operated by fourth rate muzzie fanatics?
What could go wrong?
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