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By Shane Croucher
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The Western media should be ringing "alarm bells" about the nuclear risks involved in the Iran conflict, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, as Israel continues to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
Israel accuses Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb and says it is acting before that can happen. The U.S. is also considering strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Iran says its nuclear program is for civil energy purposes.
"It's remarkable how little attention Western media are paying to the nuclear risks involved," Zakharova said at a meeting with journalists during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russian state media agency Tass reported.
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"No alarm bells are being rung, no calls for restraint—as if this is just another routine escalation that we've seen many times before."
Zakharova also said "precision strikes" do not preclude a nuclear disaster.
"Sure, it's easy to claim that these are targeted, carefully calculated operations, but we've already witnessed missiles going off course, triggering fires and explosions far from their intended targets," Zakharova said.
"Radiation doesn't check passports. It doesn't care about ethnicity, borders, or permissions. It seeps into water, air, and soil—and it can remain there for decades, even centuries, destroying lives."
How Big Is Nuclear Risk From Israel Strikes?
Iran enriches uranium at two key sites, Natanz and Fordow.
At Natanz, some 135 miles southeast of Tehran, uranium had been enriched to up to 60 percent purity—a mildly radioactive level and a short step away from weapons grade—before Israel destroyed the above ground part of the facility, according to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Another part of the Natanz facility is below ground, and is where most of its centrifuges are to protect them from airstrikes.
The IAEA said Tuesday it believes that most if not all of these centrifuges were destroyed by an Israeli strike that cut off power to the site. These centrifuges had been enriching up to 5 percent purity, according to experts.
While radiological and chemical contamination are likely inside Natanz, radiation levels outside the complex remain normal, Rafael Grossi, chief of the IAEA, said during an urgent session of the IAEA board on June 16.
The Fordow nuclear enrichment site is buried deep below a mountain, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tehran. Iran produces most of its near weapons-grade material there.
Its location deep underground makes it difficult to attack, which is why the U.S. is considering deploying powerful "bunker buster" bombs to destroy Fordow.
Experts say any potential radiation impact from a strike on Fordow is likely to be similar to the impact at Natanz.
Last week, Israel struck four buildings at the Isfahan nuclear site, among them a uranium conversion facility. The IAEA said there has been no sign of increased radiation at Isfahan, which is roughly 350 kilometers (215 miles) southeast of Tehran.
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Risk From Uranium Is Minimal
Even if radiation did leak from either Natanz or Fordow, experts said, the amount would be unlikely to pose a risk to people near the facilities or in the wider region.
"Very little uranium will be released in these kind of attacks," said David Albright, a physicist and nuclear weapons expert who founded the Institute for Science and International Security, based in Washington.
Uranium itself is not especially toxic, he said, and is common in parts of the environment.
A person standing near an enrichment facility with a leak would probably be exposed to no more radiation than someone who took several trans-Atlantic flights, who would receive a slightly higher dose because radiation doses are greater at high altitudes, he said.
Rather than radiation, experts said a bigger risk from any attack on nuclear enrichment sites might be from fluorine gas.
Fluorine is mixed with a concentrated form of uranium to create uranium hexafluoride, which is then fed into centrifuges. Fluorine is extremely volatile and can burn skin. It is especially deadly if inhaled.
Bushehr Is Russia's Greatest Concern
A far greater concern to the public would be if Israel were to attack Iran's only nuclear power plant, said Fabian Hinz of the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
In a nuclear power plant, the reactor core and the spent nuclear fuel are the most radioactive components. Some of it remains dangerous for thousands of years.
The Bushehr power plant is 750 kilometers (465 miles) south of Tehran. But "it seems very unlikely that the Israelis are going to strike" Bushehr, Hinz said, because it isn't considered to be part of the Iranian nuclear program geared toward developing weapons.
Russia is worried about the potential for strikes on Bushehr because it has a number of specialists working at the plant, which it helped Iran to build.
Zakharova said attacking nuclear sites keeps us "on the brink of a catastrophe whose implications will be felt everywhere, even in Israel."
She said Russia "calls on the Israeli leadership to come to its senses and immediately stop attacks on nuclear installations."
"We are particularly concerned about the safety of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which employs Russian specialists," Zakharova said.
Alexei Likhachev, CEO of the Russian state atomic energy company Rosatom, said that a strike on Bushehr could lead to a catastrophe similar to Chernobyl, according to state media reports.
Likhachev said that some Russian nuclear specialists working at Bushehr have already been removed, though others remain.
Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Israel has promised Russia that it would ensure the safety of its specialists working at Bushehr.
"We maintain very smooth, trusting relations with Israel," Peskov told RBC-TV. "Only yesterday, Putin mentioned that there is an understanding with Israel that our specialists who work in Bushehr will not be in danger and under the threat of a strike."
"Our dialogue with Israel and the trusting nature of this dialogue allow us to reach such understandings. This is very important," he said.
This article uses reporting by The Associated Press.
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