Iran’s Nuclear Sites: President Donald Trump announced that the United States launched major military attacks alongside Israel on Iran’s nuclear program, saying that Iran’s most important nuclear facilities were “completely and totally obliterated.” These strikes happened overnight on June 13, targeting the deeply buried Fordow site along with other key locations. Trump confirmed that sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan were hit by the U.S., right after Israel carried out attacks on several nuclear facilities earlier, including ones in Tehran, Arak, Isfahan, and Natanz.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Sunday that it didn’t find any increase in radiation outside the areas that were attacked. Experts also mentioned earlier that strikes on Iran’s uranium enrichment plants usually carry more chemical risks than nuclear ones. For now, it seems there haven’t been any dangerous levels of radiation released.
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Which Nuclear Sites Were Attacked?
So far, both Israel and the United States have attacked multiple nuclear sites across Iran. The U.S. military focused on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Trump said those attacks destroyed the major enrichment facilities completely. Israel, on the other hand, struck other places like Arak, which is also called Khondab, and even parts of Tehran. According to ET, the IAEA confirmed that damage was done earlier at the Natanz enrichment facility, the Isfahan complex which includes the Uranium Conversion Facility, and also at centrifuge production facilities located in Karaj and Tehran.
The Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor, which Israel attacked, was still being built and had not started working yet. It didn’t have any nuclear materials inside it, so there was no radiation risk, according to the IAEA. However, the nearby plant that makes heavy water was also hit. Even though it wasn’t operational, heavy-water reactors can still be dangerous in the future because they can make plutonium, which can be used in nuclear weapons just like enriched uranium.
Experts said that most of the attacks so far have been on the earlier stages of Iran’s nuclear fuel process. That means the risk is more about chemicals than radioactive materials.
One expert from the RUSI think tank in London, Darya Dolzikova, said, “attacks on facilities at the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle… pose primarily chemical, not radiological risks.” Uranium hexafluoride, or UF6, is what people worry about most in enrichment sites.
Another expert, Simon Bennett from the University of Leicester, said underground facilities don’t usually spread nuclear materials around because they’re buried under “thousands of tonnes of concrete, earth and rock.” James Acton from the Carnegie Endowment also explained that uranium before it goes into a reactor is “barely radioactive,” and while uranium hexafluoride is toxic, “it actually doesn’t tend to travel large distances and it’s barely radioactive.”
Worries about Water Security
The biggest fear now is that someone might hit the nuclear reactor at Bushehr, which is located near the Persian Gulf. A huge scare happened on June 19 when Israel said it had struck Bushehr, but later said it made a mistake and hadn’t attacked it. Experts believe that if Bushehr is hit hard, the outcome could be disastrous.
Acton said that if the Bushehr reactor gets attacked, it “could cause an absolute radiological catastrophe.” Richard Wakeford, a professor from the University of Manchester, warned that if a large power reactor like Bushehr gets damaged badly, it could release radioactive materials into the air or into the sea.
The Gulf states are very nervous about this because most of their drinking water comes from desalination plants along the Gulf coast. If there is even a small chance of radioactive contamination in the Gulf waters, it could affect drinking water for millions. Right now, the Gulf Cooperation Council is on alert and watching closely for any signs of environmental contamination. So far, nothing dangerous has been detected, but emergency plans are already in place to protect water and food supplies.
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Some countries, like Bahrain and Qatar, get all of their drinking water from desalinated seawater. The United Arab Emirates depends on desalinated water for more than 80% of its supply. Even Saudi Arabia, which has more natural groundwater, still gets about half its drinking water from desalination. And while some Gulf countries like Oman, UAE, and Saudi Arabia can use water from more than one sea, others like Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait are stuck along one smal coastline in the Gulf, which makes them more vulnerable.
Nidal Hilal, a water expert and professor at New York University in Abu Dhabi, said that “if a natural disaster, oil spill, or even a targeted attack were to disrupt a desalination plant, hundreds of thousands could lose access to freshwater almost instantly.” He also said that “coastal desalination plants are especially vulnerable to regional hazards like oil spills and potential nuclear contamination.”
For now the situation is very tense. The attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites have caused serious damage to some parts of its program, but they have also made nearby countries deeply worried about their safety, especially their water. The world is watching closely, hoping that the strikes don’t lead to something much worse.
