International Nuclear Watchdog ISSUE STARK WARNING ASSAGE OF THE STIPS OF THE USATENSE IRAN

The idea of ​​attacking the structures that work to develop nuclear energy could immediately remember the worst images of disasters such as Chernobyl and Fukushima. But experts say that even if the strikes affect crucial materials, it is likely that the enrichment sites of uranium do not produce a large -scale nuclear catastrophe. Despite the concerns for widespread radiation, AIEA keep That “he expects there to be health consequences for people or the environment outside targeted sites,” Grossi said in a previous update released on Sunday.

The greatest environmental risk from these sites, says Aiea, is local. Uranium enrichment systems contain toxic gases and chemicals, similar to that which would be stored in any large industrial chemical system.

The material in the enrichment systems, Wofsthal says: “It is not yet to the point where it can reach a chain reaction in which it can support a large -scale nuclear explosion”. (Aiea estimates that Iran has enriched the uranium up to 60 percent, not yet Quite high To create a nuclear weapon, according to the bulletin of atomic scientists.) Wolfsthal compares the damage that affects sites like Natanz can cause analogous to a car accident.

“There is petrol in your car,” he says. “You have a collision with your car or an accident, you may have a fire, it could even explode. There is a toxic material that could be released. But it will be quite limited damage.”

There is a possibility, he adds, that the attacks in Isfahan could have damaged the barrels with the Gas of Hexafluoride of Uranium, a radioactive chemical compound, which could spread in the area. But the damage from this explosion is likely to have a limited area.

“It is only a large and heavy gas molecule, so it will not go very far”, Emily Caffrey, director of the health physics program at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, said ABC news.

There is a structure in Iran that could cause significant damage if it is hit. The only commercial nuclear reactor of Iran is located near the city of Bushehr; The site contains thousands of kilograms of nuclear material subjected to chain reactions to produce fuel. (Research reactors, like those of Isfahan, use much less fuel than commercial reactors and operate at much lower temperatures, making them less dangerous in the event of an accident) in comments Delivered one day before the United States hit, Grossi said that a strike on the plant “could cause a very high release of radioactivity to the environment”. The Israeli government declared last week that his strikes had hit Bushehr, but later Israeli officials I walked these statements back.

“In my technical evaluation, attacking a nuclear reactor is really, really, really stupid,” says Wolfsthal.

There is also a larger and long -term environmental threat at hand: the possibility that Iran buys final steps following these attacks to actually build a nuclear weapon.

“It is not lost on anyone that Israel and the United States both have nuclear weapons and have attacked Iran, this does not,” says Wolfsthal. “Russia has nuclear weapons and Ukraine does not. North Korea, which has nuclear weapons, is pretty sitting. The message here is that nuclear weapons bring you security and immunity and authorize you to act against your opponents. This is a very dangerous message that we are sending to countries that were on the cusp of nuclear options and could decide to pursue them.”

The gross observations on Monday echoed this concern.

“One thing is certain, and this is the simple truth: we will not be safer if there are more nuclear weapons all over the world,” he said.