Posted on 12/02/2012 7:38:52 PM PST by drewh
Iran’s nuclear reactor at Bushehr was shut down for fear of an explosion. Saturday Dec. 1, an authoritative Russian nuclear industry source revealed the cause of its malfunction: “Indicators showed that some small external parts were… in the [Bushehr] reactor vessel….” They were identified as “bolts beneath the fuel cells.”
Moscow sources report this information came from a source in the office of Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Russian nuclear energy authority Rosatom, which supervised the construction of Iran’s first atomic reactor at Bushehr.
According to our intelligence sources, Russian scientists and engineers were rushed from Moscow to Bushehr when Russian leaders including Vladimir Putin were warned that the danger of an explosion at Bushehr was high. Neither Moscow nor Tehran reported what was happening. Now they are racing against the clock to get the reactor back on stream.
Russian experts estimated that an explosion at the Bushehr reactor had the potential for causing a million Iranian deaths and hundreds of thousands of radiation victims in the Persian Gulf emirates, which supply the world with one-fifth of its fuel. The hazard was so great in October that Putin ordered command teams of the Russian emergency ministry trained to deal with nuclear disasters to set out for Bushehr in southern Iran and prepare the infrastructure for larger teams.
The engineers immediately shut down the reactor and removed its 163 fuel rods. The bolts which had turned up in the reactor vessel were examined to find out from which part of the plant they had come loose – from the fuel rods – which would have embarrassed Russia as their supplier - or some other part of the reactor. The Russian source which revealed the mishap made a point of saying that the bolts were “small external parts,” indicating that they were not from the rods. Our intelligence sources in Moscow report that two possible outside causes of the malfunction are under scrutiny by Moscow and Tehran: 1. The bolts were deliberately unscrewed and dropped into the reactor vessel as an act of sabotage;
2. The Stuxnet virus which attacked Iran’s nuclear program two years ago was back and had tampered with the reactor’s computers.
Five months ago, Iran suspended operations at the Fordo underground enrichment facility near Qom after the power lines supplying the plant were sabotaged on Aug. 17 and some of the centrifuges blew up. The Iranians resumed work at Fordo in the second half of September without discovering who was responsible for the incident. However, the suspicion of sabotage at Bushehr immediately crossed the minds of the Russian and Iranian investigators, although they have not ruled an accident or incompetence. Bushehr supplies the Iran’s national electricity grid with one-fifth of its fuel and it was therefore important to get it running again without delay. Our sources report that Monday, Nov. 26, Iranian and Russian engineers reloaded the fuel rods – still without explaining why they had been removed. Friday, Nov. 30, shortly before the disclosure from Moscow, Tehran for the first time in its twenty-year nuclear program showed concern about the impact of “nuclear accidents” at Iran’s nuclear sites on the wellbeing of the population and environment. Gholamreza Massoumi, head of Iran’s accident and medical emergency center, announced: “We believe all of our emergency services should be trained and ready to face nuclear accidents.” He referred to “accidents” at the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility where yellowcake is converted into highly toxic uranium hexafluoride and revealed: “People who have been in the region, for example – Isfahan’s UCF – have had some accidents for which they have been treated.”
He admitted that some employees at Isfahan had suffered from “health issues” and warned of “problems that civilians living close to nuclear sites could face.” Massourni’s comments were removed from the semi-official Mehr news agency’s website a few hours after they were published. Officials in Tehran, already jumpy over the near-catastrophe in Bushehr, must have realized that the comments about the urgent need to prepare emergency services for nuclear accidents, if tied in with the “health problems” at Isfahan and the near-disaster at Bushehr, were a recipe for a nightmare scenario of mass panic in the population and an outcry in the Gulf region against the hazards of Iran’s nuclear program – even before it produces a weapon.
Not sure how a virus puts several small bolts into the bottom of the reactor vessel. I’d probably lean toward sabotage.
Too bad it didn’t work. I mean the cheaper the oil, the better, but it’d have ended any support Iran had from other countries for its nuclear program. More would get on board to prevent these incompetent numbnuts from going nuclear than ever before.
Not sure how a virus puts several small bolts into the bottom of the reactor vessel. I’d probably lean toward sabotage.
Too bad it didn’t work. I mean the cheaper the oil, the better, but it’d have ended any support Iran had from other countries for its nuclear program. More would get on board to prevent these incompetent numbnuts from going nuclear than ever before.
When Iran and SA are piles of rubble, the best place to get oil to most of the world are the pipelines out of Russia. The US will be fine, but Japan and Europe will become servants of Moscow.
That is what Russia is doing.
Ok, that was my understanding of it too. That it couldn’t happen the way the paper said. That even in a gun bomb if the two parts are brought together at too low a velocity, that it fizzles. A plant has no hope of doing it.
But the article said a “blast that could kill millions”.
Even something like Chernobyl didnt kill that kind of people.
Just wanted to make sure i understood what was happening here. Sounds like the paper was being overly dramatic. A meltdown or steam blast is nasty. But it’s a little much to say it would kill millions. (unless you are counting the cancers, decades away, game)
I still think the best approach would be to hit Iran’s production plant with a planted nuke, made from nothing traceable to us. Then convince the world it was a terrible accident. Plan it carefully, Stick to the story forever. Here’s a cool part. WE gave the NORKS their fissile materials. If any materials are traced to us, we blame them for sharing what we gave them and stopped letting us inspect!
Mother of all “work accidents”.
Yep. Always one to kill a guy’s nice evening aren’t you!
LOL
Have a good week...
Well..., I suppose that makes some sense. I’m not going to argue it’s wrong.
Well now! It’s really out in the open, Iran is a Russian Client and from my point of view a probable partner in M.E. Terrorism.
Video 43 seconds - idiots giving weapons to....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Q77zCf-ig
Hmmmm. Makes sense.
Wishing chaos confusion and doom on these allah besotted idiots. Hang in there Israel! I like the Persian people and their hot chicks. They have high IQ. They need to shuck off their Muslim oppressors
Comedians these days suck. This is why I come to FR to get my daily dose of humor. Thanks for posting!
Guess that’s why I haven’t talked to her in ten years.ha.
Can’t change libs’ minds without a religious conversion,
because the basis of “liberalism” is hatred of and rebellion to God.
exactly.
Both have demonstrated they weren’t at the head of the line when common sense was being handed out. Achmar is so lame even his own people think he’s nuts.
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