The Iranian nuclear power plant built by Russia at Bushehr is now operating. Atomstroyexport says that a self-sustained fission reaction began on Sunday. “This is one of the final stages in the physical launch of the reactor,” said Vladislav Bochkov, a spokesman for the Russian company. The plant is at “the minimum controlled power level.” This will allow the plant technicians to test the control and protection systems.
Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency stated, “The plant will continue working for two weeks before it generates electricity. The power plant will join the national grid by the next two months.”
The Bushehr plant’s single reactor is to provide as much as 2% of Iran’s electricity when it is fully operational. It also sits at the junction of 3 tectonic plates, and the city of Reig in Bushehr province experienced a 4.8 earthquake on Monday morning, local time. That’s rather mild but a 6.6 quake hit the city of Bam in 2003 and killed 26,000. The Iranians claim their plant is perfectly safe, and there is no reason to doubt them. Then again, the Fukushima reactors were just fine as well – the electricity grid in the area was not. What the world has learned from the Fukushima disaster is that the safety of a nuclear plant is dependent on the local infrastructure. Iran’s infrastructure is grounds for concern.
Another point to consider – last year, the Stuxnet virus took down the computer systems at the Nantaz uranium enrichment facility. Many blame Israel and/or the US, but whatever its origin, the virus proved that it is possible to sideline the computer controls of a nuclear site. Stopping the operation of an enrichment facility is nothing like shutting down an operational reactor’s computer system That kind of attack could result in a meltdown.