An edict was issued on Wednesday by Iranian authorities ordering Isfahan’s 1.5 million residents to leave the city because pollution in the area “has reached emergency levels.”
Skeptical of Iran’s explanation for the evacuation, some believe it to have been prompted by more than just your average pollution. (h/t Uncle Samuel)
[O]utside observers suspect that the evacuation order may corroborate previous reports indicating that a uranium enrichment facility near Isfahan had been leaking radioactive material.
Tehran went to great lengths in December to deny these reports, telling state-run media outlets that “the rumors about leaking and contamination at Isfahan’s [Uranium Conversion Facility] are not true at all.”
November reports indicated that a radioactive leak might have poisoned several workers at the nuclear plant, which converts highly toxic yellowcake uranium into material that could be used in the core of a nuclear weapon.
The head of Iran’s emergency services agency said at the time that residents have no reason to worry about possible contamination resulting from a possible leak.
Stories about the potential leak soon disappeared from state-run news websites, Trend reported in late November.
In this instance, the full scale evacuation of a city points to the possibility of far more serious conditions on the ground than the Iranian government is letting on.
“Pollution in Isfahan is a problem but in the past, Iranian authorities respond by closing schools and the government to keep people at home and let the pollution dissipate, not by evacuating people,” said Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser on Iran and Iraq who has written about Isfahan’s battle against pollution.
“Mass evacuations suggest a far more serious problem,” Rubin explained. “There are two possibilities here: There is a radiation leak and the regime is lying or there is really bad pollution and no one believes the regime’s explanations.”
Rubin also pointed out that Iranian officials have a history of lying to both Western officials and their own citizens.
It remains unclear whether the technology has been properly inspected for safety because Iran has denied Western officials access to many of its nuclear sites.
In addition to the possibility of poor safety conditions, the nuclear site also sits on an active fault line.
“Given that Iran is on an earthquake zone and has lost tens of thousands of people with regularity suggests that a devastating nuclear accident is only a matter of time,” said Rubin.
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In other news, after severe cutbacks in Medicare payments doctors are providing X-Ray film sheets to patients and telling them to hold the film next to their chests while turning their backs toward Iran.
Developing……
“In addition to the possibility of poor safety conditions, the nuclear site also sits on an active fault line.”
Gosh! If that’s true, the Iranian nuclear situation may be what we Michigan farm boys refer to as a “self-resolving problem.”
Fred Pruitt’s take on the matter is here at Rantburg. I’m still snickering.
Uranium enrichment plant work with the gaseous form of uranium as Uranium Hexaflouride. “Hex” is a chemical that can cause irritation, renal injury/failure and death. Leaking Hex is definitely a non-routine operating mode. While the leadership may not care about the local populace this is not an efficient way to run the plant. It suggests they are in a rush to get enough bombgrade material.
As I recall from watching History Channel bits on the Manhattan Project, “hex” is highly corrosive, and will destroy any unlined pipes or other exposed metals. Teflon was first developed to combat this problem.
If they’re using such pipes, they still need to be replaced, as teflon merely slows the rate at which the corrosion occurs. I as believe that they’re going all out right now to get as much fissionable material as they can, and such routine maintenance would slow their schedule.
They’re cutting corners to hit deadlines. “Hex” is also highly reactive with water vapor in the atmosphere, and the by-products are toxic. Allah help them if they get a serious leak.
There have been warnings various inspectors that Iran was at high risk of becoming another Chernobyl because in their pride and haste to become a nuclear power, Iran decided to use and re-vamp old equipment from an earlier attempt instead of starting with new equipment.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8262853/Stuxnet-virus-attack-Russia-warns-of-Iranian-Chernobyl.html
More from the NYT – http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/opinion/global/the-next-chernobyl.html?_r=0
You read the NYT?
Stop it or you will go blind.
All boldface below is mine. From the post:
An edict was issued on Wednesday by Iranian authorities ordering Isfahan’s 1.5 million residents to leave the city because pollution in the area “has reached emergency levels.”
Clicking though to the freebeacon.com link in the post brings me to:
An evacuation that big? Wow! Well, if it’s the BBC, I guess it’s worth checking out:
I’m surprised that LI considers this worth a post at this time. Based on the information currently available, it seems premature to give the incident much attention.
The NYT thought it was appropriate to publish a new story on Iran’s sub-standard equipment two days ago… perhaps because there have been reports of radiation exposure and illness in Iran.
[…] This can’t be good: Evacuation of large Iranian city near nuclear site raises eyebrows […]
Persians keep screwing up, there will not be “eyebrows” to raise.
A 50 foot rubber duckie is sailing in Sydney Harbour – check it out .
Yours truly is entered in an ocean swim amidst a general state shark warning . If I finish Iget a mini bottle of whiskey .
F*ck Iran . I hope they self explode.
The fluorine gas is itself is naturally corrosive so if the Persians are making uranium hexafluoride why are they making it near a populated area? There comes a point in time when insh’allah can’t cover barbaric actions on one’s own people.
Evacuate 1.5 million people because of air pollution? Sounds more like a radiation leak. What is amazing is that they are so full of hateful ambition that they would be willing sacrifice one of their own large cities to see their plans to fruition. Amazing.
[…] Evacuation of large Iranian city near nuclear site raises eyebrows An edict was issued on Wednesday by Iranian authorities ordering Isfahan’s 1.5 million residents to leave the city because pollution in the area “has reached emergency levels.” […]