USS NImitz (AFP Photo/Navy Media Content Services/HO/Raul Moreno - think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
MADAyuMadyan - Rusia beri AMARAN bencana Nuklear jika Syria di Serang. Satu serangan tentera ke atas Syria boleh membawa kepada malapetaka nuklear jika peluru berpandu adalah untuk memukul reaktor yang mengandungi radioaktif uranium, jurucakap Kementerian Luar Rusia memberi amaran. Kata-kata ini datang sebagai Amerika Syarikat terus menolak untuk menyerang tentera di Syria.
“Jika kepala peledak, dengan reka bentuk atau secara kebetulan, adalah untuk memukul Neutron Miniature Source Reactor (MNSR) berhampiran Damsyik, kesan-kesan boleh jadi bencana,” kata Aleksandr Lukashevich dalam satu kenyataan hari ini.
Kementerian Luar Rusia menggesa Agensi Tenaga Atom Antarabangsa PBB (IAEA) untuk menyiapkan penilaian risiko seperti Amerika Syarikat terus untuk mendapatkan sokongan untuk tindakan ketenteraan. Ia meminta agensi untuk “bertindak pantas” dan menjalankan “analisis risiko yang dikaitkan dengan serangan Amerika mungkin pada MNSR dan lain-lain kemudahan di Syria.”
Lukashevich menyatakan bahawa rantau ini boleh menjadi berisiko “pencemaran uranium sangat kaya dan ia tidak lagi mustahil untuk menyumbang bahan nuklear, keselamatan dan kawalan.” Beliau menambah bahawa bahan itu boleh jatuh ke tangan yang salah.
IAEA berkata bahawa ia sedar kenyataan itu, tetapi ia sedang menunggu untuk permintaan rasmi meminta agensi untuk menyiapkan penilaian risiko. “Kami akan mempertimbangkan soalan yang dibangkitkan jika kita menerima apa-apa permintaan ,” Reuters memetik dari seorang jurucakap IAEA sebagai berkata.
Kata agensi itu dalam satu laporan kepada negara anggota minggu lepas bahawa Syria telah diisytiharkan terdapat “jumlah kecil bahan nuclear” di MNSR, sejenis reaktor penyelidikan biasanya didorong oleh uranium sangat kaya.
Walaupun jenis reaktor ini tidak mengandungi banyak bahan nuklear, ia akan menjadi cukup untuk menyebabkan “bahaya radiasi tempatan yang serius” jika reaktor dilanda, nuklear pakar Mark Hibbs dari Carnegie Endowment for International Peace kepada Reuters.
Jawatankuasa Amerika Hubungan Luar Senat Amerika mengundi pada hari Rabu untuk meluluskan rancangan Presiden Obama untuk menyerang Syria sebagai membalas dendam terhadap penggunaan yang dikatakan senjata kimia oleh rejim Presiden Bashar Assad.
Sekiranya Kongres bergerak meluluskan permintaan presiden, Amerika Syarikat tidak lama lagi boleh memulakan serangan terhad di Syria.
Sebaliknya, Moscow memerlukan bukti yang meyakinkan - bukan khabar angin - daripada pakar-pakar PBB bahawa senjata kimia telah digunakan di Syria, Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin berkata dalam satu temu bual dengan AP dan Saluran 1 pada Selasa.
“Kami percaya bahawa sekurang-kurangnya kita perlu menunggu keputusan pemeriksaan suruhanjaya PBB di Syria,” kata Putin. Beliau berkata setakat ini tiada maklumat mengenai apa yang bahan kimia telah digunakan dalam serangan di pinggir bandar Damsyik, atau yang berada di belakangnya.
Russia warns of nuclear disaster if Syria is hit
A military strike on Syria could lead to a nuclear catastrophe if a missile were to hit a reactor containing radioactive uranium, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman warned. The remark comes as the US continues to push for a military strike on Syria.
"If a warhead, by design or by chance, were to hit the Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) near Damascus, the consequences could be catastrophic," Aleksandr Lukashevich said in a Wednesday statement.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry urged the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to complete a risk evaluation as the US continues to seek support for military action. It asked the agency to “react swiftly” and carry out “an analysis of the risks linked to possible American strikes on the MNSR and other facilities in Syria.”
Lukashevich stated that the region could be at risk of “contamination by highly enriched uranium and it would no longer be possible to account for nuclear material, its safety and control.” He added that such material could fall into the wrong hands.
The IAEA said that it is aware of the statement, but it is waiting for a formal request asking the agency to complete a risk evaluation. “We will consider the questions raised if we receive such a request," Reuters quoted an IAEA spokesperson as saying.
The agency said in a report to member states last week that Syria had declared there was a “small amount of nuclear material” at the MNSR, a type of research reactor usually fuelled by highly enriched uranium.
Although this type of a reactor would not contain a lot of nuclear material, it would be enough to cause "a serious local radiation hazard" if the reactor was hit, nuclear expert Mark Hibbs from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told Reuters.
The United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on Wednesday to approve President Obama's plan to strike Syria in retaliation against the alleged use of chemical weapons by President Bashar Assad’s regime.
Should Congress move to approve the president’s request, the US could soon initiate a limited strike on Syria.
On the other hand, Moscow needs convincing proof – not rumors - from UN experts that chemical weapons were used in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with AP and Channel 1 on Tuesday.
“We believe that at the very least we should wait for the results of the UN inspection commission in Syria,” Putin said. He added that so far there is no information regarding exactly which chemical agent was used in the attack in the Damascus suburb, or who was behind it.
