Will Iran Become a Nuclear Waste Dumping Ground for Other Countries?

The Guardian Council has not approved Iran’s accession to the Convention on the Management of Radioactive Waste. Does joining this convention pose a danger to the people and the environment? Or is the real danger elsewhere? A conversation with Behrouz Bayat, an expert on nuclear issues

The Guardian Council did not approve the Parliamentary resolution on Iran’s accession to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. The Guardian Council’s reasoning is: “The convention has ambiguities and it is unclear whether its terms are binding or not.”

A few days earlier, Ayatollah Yazdi, one of the Guardian Council’s jurists, also expressed concerns on this matter, saying: “Recently, a bill that was approved by parliament was brought to the Guardian Council. This bill is about allowing imperialist governments to bury their atomic energy waste in the country; imperialism always buries this waste in backward countries and everyone knows that the radiation from this type of waste will harm the people of the country. Parliament had approved that if an agreement is reached, atomic fuel waste can be buried in the country, but I announced that this is contrary to Islamic law, contrary to law and contrary to national interest, and others also accepted this.”

The Islamic Consultative Assembly approved this bill in late Tir (June/July). With the reasoning that Iran should also have, like many other countries, “an appropriate cemetery for burying nuclear waste and observe the necessary standards.”

Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization, stated in this regard: “Accession to this convention does not create concerns.” According to him, the volume of atomic waste in Iran is increasing, and for this reason, steps should be taken to bury and manage them within international frameworks.

The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization emphasized that the management of nuclear waste should be centralized and under the control of a specific institution, and the view of the aforementioned convention should not be “political” since this accession is “solely for the improvement of safety for people and the environment.”

However, the Guardian Council’s insistence on concerns about the approval of this bill continued until August 11, when Hashmatalah Falahatpishe, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Parliament, told “Khabar Online” about “planning a mechanism to resolve ambiguities at the Guardian Council.” He said: “In none of the provisions of this convention is there any reference to member states being obligated to accept waste from other countries.” He emphasized that “the vast majority of other countries that use this energy have also acceded to it.”

The Convention on the Management of Radioactive Waste recommends that countries with this energy use the experiences and information of other countries in order to prevent, as much as possible, the disasters that this waste could create for the environment and citizens.

Is Accession to the Nuclear Waste Convention Dangerous for Iran?

Behrouz Bayat, an expert on nuclear issues, told Deutsche Welle that he does not believe Iran’s goal in acceding to the aforementioned convention is to leave the door open for other countries to transfer nuclear waste.

But does it not mean something else if approving accession to the Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management indicates that Iran has not yet implemented the necessary measures to ensure security in this field? For example, has Iran created an appropriate cemetery for nuclear waste?

Behrouz Bayat says: “This convention was created so that an international standard could be implemented in different countries of the world for the burial and protection of this waste. There are many countries that have nuclear programs but have not yet acceded to this convention, but the fact that they have not acceded does not mean they have not observed fundamental issues in terms of the security of waste burial since the past.”

According to Behrouz Bayat, this waste in Iran is still not on a large scale. Referring to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, he says: “Bushehr’s waste is also returned to Russia and this is part of the agreement between Iran and Russia. In this respect, no waste has been generated on a large scale in Iran. What has been generated is from Tehran’s research reactor and waste from the use of radioactive materials in various sectors such as industry, agriculture, medicine and other fields, and both their volume and their dangers are less.”

Behrouz Bayat refers to a center near Isfahan that apparently was built to protect nuclear waste, emphasizing that he does not have precise information about the details of this center. He adds: “If such news is true, it is very important that it be properly protected. Because radioactive materials entering the environment is dangerous for people in the vicinity, and more than that, if we go beyond the level of small-scale waste, maintaining waste produced from reactor fuel in very large quantities is an enormous problem that has not yet found a final solution anywhere in the world, even in advanced countries such as Germany.”

Storage on a Thousand-Year Scale

This nuclear expert told Deutsche Welle about the serious dangers of nuclear waste: “The problem is that this waste must be stored for thousands of years. Such a thing has never been practical before. This waste is protected in underground caves. But these caves do not have the capability to maintain nuclear waste for thousands of years. Water may penetrate them. There is a possibility of an earthquake occurring and for various reasons these materials could come to the earth’s surface and contaminate groundwater.”

He emphasizes that nuclear waste is a very big problem “but Iran is not yet facing it to that extent. Because it does not have much nuclear fuel. But if this country wants to expand its nuclear program, then it will face a serious danger.”

Nuclear Energy is Neither Clean Nor Cheap

Behrouz Bayat refers to the misconception that nuclear energy is “clean” and “cheap,” saying: “The mere fact that you must build a center that is capable of maintaining atomic waste for thousands of years has created a very heavy cost. Apart from that, the safety costs of nuclear power plants must be considered, which are very high. Therefore, if we consider all aspects of nuclear energy, nuclear energy does not have the advantages attributed to it.”

According to this expert, perhaps one could discuss the “cost-effectiveness” of nuclear energy in some countries. But regarding Iran, “it can be said with certainty that this country, given its abundant renewable energy resources, has no need whatsoever to incur heavy costs for nuclear energy. This energy is neither useful nor economical for Iran.”

Source: DW