Russia Prepares For Launch Of Iran's First Nuclear Power Plant

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

The Russian state-run company building Iran's first nuclear plant said Monday that preparations for the reactor's launch had entered their final stage.

Atomstroiexport chief Leonid Reznikov said that by year's end the company will take steps that will make the launch of the Bushehr plant "irreversible."

Company spokeswoman Irina Yesipova said the launch date will be determined after talks between Russian and Iranian nuclear officials this month.

Iranian officials have said that Bushehr would be launched this fall.

The International Atomic Energy Agency declined comment.

Nonproliferation expert David Albright, whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security tracks countries under nuclear suspicion, suggested that the steps referred to by Russia probably involved the loading of fuel into the reactor.

He said there are no irreversible steps, but taking out after it was loaded would be troublesome because it would require dealing with irradiated fuel and a contaminated reactor core.

MORE...

AP: http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=335784

Read more: http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=335784

[roamer65]

1. Would the Israelis bomb a "hot" reactor?

If not, expect an attack between now and the launch date.

[HopeHoops]

2. My guess - right before the election

Exactly what McCain needs - and they don't even need to prove who did it!

[Ghost Dog]

3. Wow, they're sending a nuclear power station into space?

Or are they launching it out to sea?

---

Actually, a fairly reasonable report for once from AP, except for the LAST SENTENCE THEY JUST COULDN'T RESIST ADDING (a complete non-sequitur from McCormack):

Washington softened its position after Iran agreed to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia to ensure it does not extract materials that could be used to make weapons. The United States and its Western allies also agreed to drop any reference to Bushehr in sanctions resolutions passed by the U.N. Security Council.

...

"In a sense, it is a kind of model for Iran being able to have civilian nuclear energy without the fuel cycle," (U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack) said. "Quite frankly, the international system has at this point decided they can't be trusted."

[clear eye]

4. Could it be that baiting Russia by arming Georgia was in part

designed to keep Russia unilaterally supporting nuclear development in Iran, justifying a hostile U.S. action in Iran. Remember w/Cheney it's all about the pipelines, and there are gas pipelines in Iran like the one about to be built in Alaska as a result of the contract he brokered. Notice that now that the Iraqis have signed the contracts for their pipelines with companies w/ U.S. boards of directors, our administration is suddenly o.k. w/ a timeline for withdrawal.

Everywhere in the world Cheney has been focusing on are major routes for oil and gas pipelines, leading at least to the appearance that he is working to consolidate a monopoly for some consortium. See the location of Central Asian pipelines in the second part of this article by a professor of economy from a University in Madrid, Spain:

<http://maxneri.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/the-geopolitics-of-oil-pipelines-in-central-asia/>

[skoalyman]

5. "hot" reactor?

;-) ;)

[iconicgnom]

6. No. Your speculation is way far out.

The US will "arm" Georgia or any other country that pledges a certain allegiance, because it's profitable for US based corporations. Profitable for the corporations that own the US, the US having an almost totally military economy (only the USA could have "privatized" war).

The reason Tehran is in the doghouse is because Khomeini's revolutionaries booted the US puppet "king" out, and took back the Iranian oil. The Iranians didn't like that the majority of profits from Iranian oil went abroad, and that the profits left over were spent, by the US puppet, on US military products designed to keep the population under guard.

Believe it, the Ayatollahs are a distinct voice and have a real power.
And so have the Russian voices, and voices of the Chinese and Venezuelans and so on, real power.
The voices in the breakaway Georgian territories have real power.

You've gotta put Cheney and co. in perspective. They are "privateers", in it for their profit, and the profit of their clients. They have close to zero understanding of the duty that gov't has to a population, other than furtherance of private profit. If you put people like that in charge of a country's internal and foreign policies, it will certainly drive THAT country's social/economic outlook into a downward spiral. Folk living in other countries might experience chagrin, when mentioning it. But there isn't a "holding your nose" feeling. The US population is very similar in outlook to the population of every other country in the world. There's a fellow feeling, a recognition of a common plight.

[TankLV]

7. ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!

sorry - I was channeling mcINSANE again...

GET OUT OF MY MIND!!!

ack...

[cobalt1999]

8. I can't see the Israelis allowing it.

Expect an attack soon. They've done it before, they'll do it again.

[iconicgnom]

10. The Israelis need to reign in their own terror.

No country should inflict such paranoia on a region that the entire region is under seige. A regime that continues to buy, design, build and sell every weapon known to humankind, including nuclear weaponry, while espousing an explicitly racist ideology in an expansionist state, should not be allowed to dictate to the world. It's time for all parties to "come to the table", or forfeit moral standing. Or forfeit "face".

[sofa king]

9. Wonder how much AP was paid to include "launch" in the headline?

And people wonder why nuclear power is so feared.