If Bushehr is hit, you might get an 'accident on the scale of Fukushima': Analysis

Kelly is a former IAEA inspector who's worked in Iraq, South Africa, and Libya. He's currently a distinguished fellow with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, known as SIPRI. And he joins us from Vienna. Great to have you with us, Robert. What are these dangerous repercussions that the Gulf States are warning about, uh, of targeting Iran's nuclear facilities? Good afternoon, Laura. Um, there are really no great uh concerns about targeting the facilities they've been targeting. They're releasing uranium or uranium powders, which have a very soft radiation, uh, won't be detected any great distance. So when you see that there are reports that there are no increases of radiation in the area, that's exactly what you expect. Even if all of the um uranium in these plants is released, it's not a lot of material, and it doesn't have a long-range penetrating radiation. The one thing you'd be concerned about is that would people would um would inhale it or ingest it in some way. If you get it inside your body, it's a chemical poison, and the people in the factories will have to use protective clothing. The people in the factories will look just like people did during COVID, putting on gloves, hats, uh, gowns, and then be very careful how they disrobe. Okay. I think you're going to ask now about Bushehr, right? Well, yes, that's what I wanted to get on to because I presume what you're talking about there are the the uh the enrichment facilities such as Natanz, which has been attacked an awful lot over the past week. But yes, the Gulf States, of course, are worried about Bushehr first of all because it's very close to the Gulf States, being just over the edge of the Persian Gulf, but also because of its nature. Can you explain that to us? I think the thing you need to understand about Bushehr is there are two large reactors there. One is still under construction, and the other has been operating for years, and it would be very dangerous if it were hit with a bomb or the cooling systems are interrupted. You might get a