USS NImitz (AFP Photo/Navy Media Content Services/HO/Raul Moreno - think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
SitiWanMahani - Rusia
memberi 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.
