Radiation level in region normal post US attacks on Iranian N-sites: IAEA DG
New Delhi, June 28 (UNI) Radiation levels in the Gulf region remain normal following the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict while the Islamic Republic asserted that it would carry out uranium enrichment within its territory and would no longer allow installation of surveillance cameras at its nuclear facilities.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, quoting data
from the International Radiation Monitoring System (IRMS), said this 48-nation network would have detected an important radioactive release from any damaged nuclear power reactor.
'From a nuclear safety perspective, Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and the Tehran Research Reactor represented our main concern as any strike affecting those facilities – including their off-site power lines – could have caused a radiological accident with potential consequences in Iran as well as beyond its borders in the case of the Bushehr plant. It did not happen, and the worst nuclear safety scenario was thereby avoided,' he said.
Stressing that nuclear facilities should never be attacked, he reiterated that Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites would have caused localized radioactive releases inside the impacted facilities and localized toxic effects. But there has been no report of increased off-site radiation levels.
He emphasised the need for IAEA inspectors to continue their verification activities in Iran, as required under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) with the Agency.
However, Iran said it would no longer allow the IAEA DG or the installation of surveillance cameras at its nuclear facilities.
Iran has already decided to pull out of the IAEA, the organisation it had joined in 1958.
Hamid Reza Haji Babaei, Vice Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, today said Iran's decision stems from the discovery of sensitive facility data within documents obtained from the Israeli regime.
Speaking at a ceremony he said 'The recent 12-day war is a continuation of the 47-year-old hostilities led by the United States against the Iranian nation. The core of this enmity is not about missiles or the nuclear program—it's about the people of Iran.'
Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, said the Islamic Republic insists on
carrying out the uranium enrichment within its territory.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Iravani said establishing a consortium to carry out nuclear activities may act as a complement, but it will never replace Iran's domestic programme.
Iran has always sought a peaceful solution to address possible concerns about its peaceful nuclear program, the envoy said.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei had said Tehran would support establishment of a consortium to carry out nuclear activities. However, this did not mean the Islamic Republic would abandon enrichment within Iran.
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