VIENNA, Austria – Radiation levels in the Gulf region remain normal following the 12-day conflict that severely damaged several nuclear facilities in Iran, director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday, citing regional data reported regularly to the IAEA through the International Radiation Monitoring System (IRMIS), Director General Grossi noted that 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,” director general Grossi said.
Stressing again that nuclear facilities should never be attacked, he reiterated the IAEA’s current assessment – based on information received from Iran’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority – that this month’s Israeli and US 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.
The director-general also emphasised the need for IAEA inspectors to continue their verification activities in Iran, as required under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) with the Agency.
