The no-threat power station, and today's articles

Via The Dumb Ox's news headlines, Russian-built nuclear power station in Iran no threat: Moscow

"The building of the Bushehr nuclear power station does not threaten the non-proliferation regime," Rosatom nuclear agency head Sergei Kiriyenko told journalists in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.

Now, let's take Sergei's statement at face value, and look at another aspect of having a nuclear power station on top of prime seismic activity real estate (as Dymphna did the other day) since Amir Taheri wrote about it on April 5 (emphasis added):

IN the present state of scientific knowledge, it is still impossible to forecast earthquakes. Nevertheless, we know which parts of the globe are most likely to be struck. And in the center of perhaps the most active of these zones is the Iranian Plateau - where at least one nuclear reactors is now under construction, with more planned.

Over the past century or so, Iran has experienced more earthquakes than any other part of the globe - at least one tremor each day. Last week's earthquake in the south-central province of Lorestan is the latest reminder of that fact.

Since Iran started properly recording earthquakes in the late 1940s, it has suffered at least one "big one" every decade: Torud (1950s), Boein-Zahra (1960s), Tabas-Golshan (1970s), Qazvin (1980s), Rudbar-Tarom (1990s) and Bam (December 2003). By official estimates, these earthquakes claimed the lives of 126,000 people, injured a further 800,000 and made 1.8 million people homeless. At times, the damage from one quake amounted to more than 7 percent of the nation's GDP.
. . .
Several reports, including one by Stanford University, that expressed concern about locating nuclear power stations in earthquake zones were never published. Nor was there any public inquiry on how and why the Bushehr Peninsula - one of Iran's most quake-prone areas - was chosen as the location of the first nuclear power station.

The spot, known as Hellieh, was once the site of half a dozen villages. It was abandoned in the 1940s when a major earthquake wiped the villages off the map. Nearby are the remains of Siraf, the region's most important port until it was destroyed in earthquakes in the 10th and early 11th centuries.
. . .
When the program was revived in 1989, it was the turn of Tehran University's Geophysical Centre to raise concerns on grounds of safety. A study was commissioned by then-President Hashemi Rafsanjani in 1993 and completed in 1995. It has never been published, but parts have leaked - warning that the plant, as designed, might not withstand tremors of 7 or more on the Richter scale.

Those of you obsessed with global warming might want to ponder what will happen when billions of gallons of hot, radioactive water are poured into the Persian Gulf, or what will the effect of untreated radioactive waste be in the area.

Helen at EU Referendum points out that

Chernobyl showed up the political corruption and sheer mind-boggling inefficiency of the Soviet system. That is why it was the biggest nuclear disaster in history.

Compound the Chernobyl disaster with a major earthquake to the concerns on the water supply and the radioactive waste.

News junkies like myself should make The Dumb Ox their daily news stop.

At the blogs
Torture in Castro's Cuba. Watch the video.

The Mark Steyn vagina. As commenter paul (in lower case) put it,

You don't have to have Tourette's Syndrome to work at The Guardian, but it helps...

with my apologies to any Tourette's Syndrome patients out there.

Jeff Blanco stands by what he believes

"The first thing we want is tough border control," guess who said that. Flopping Aces (via Pajamas Media) has good news for him, and so does Jay. Jay also has a nominee for White House press secretary.

Today's articles from Maria
Joseph Farrah has Bad news in Afghanistan: Taliban regains control of much of country, Pakistan. And who's helping out?

Support for the Taliban in the form of munitions and money is coming from Iran and Russia.

who, of course, are too busy building a nuclear power station that does not threaten the non-proliferation regime.

Immoral, and contemptible

(technorati tags Iran, Russia, Terrorism, Afghanistan, Mark Steyn, Current Affairs, ACLU)