I never comment on the nuclear issue and whether Iran should have nuclear energy, and its because I feel I know very little about the subject to make a worthwhile comment. What I do know however, is that like all other free nations we should have the right to debate the issue. Why should we not be able to freely discuss the nuclear question and debate whether we need this form of energy or not? Why can't we ask whether it is safe and whether it is economically justifiable or not, without fearing the consequences of what we think and say? Why should anyone be branded as traitors to Iran's "national security" if they feel nuclear energy is not the right path to choose. To be able to debate the nuclear issue, is definitely our inalienable right.
It is one of many points of contention I have with the pompous Western 'useful idiots'. Why do they think we should not have the privilege of having a free debate on the nuclear energy issue like they have? Why can they go and march against the nuclear reactors and yet think people in Iran should not have that right?
This is why I found this newspaper article, printed in Jomhouri Eslami, the newspaper of the Islamic Republic Party back in 1979 at the height of the post-revolutionary fever, so interesting.
The headline reads "Nuclear Reactors, a Blatant Betrayal of Our People"
And the first paragraph says "The anti-people regime of the Shah which intended to make our nation more and more dependent on Western imperialism decided to spend the oil income on building 20 nuclear reactors and sign their contracts with Western countries to produce 2400 Mega Watts of electricity"
The cost of building these reactors is said in the article to be equivalent of $2.5 Billion using the exchange rate at the time. Then the Iranian proverb is quoted "Whenever a loss is stopped, it should be counted as a profit" to justify that the building of these nuclear reactors should be stopped immediately.
It further argues that the technology will make our country dependent on the Western powers and all our Petro-Dollars will be spent on buying the technology. The article then refers to some facts and figures which show the nuclear power stations are lesser viable options economically compared to other forms of power stations like the gas power stations. It gives examples of some of these gas power stations already built by the lovely cuddly Russians in Iran. Added to all this is the huge cost of transport related to nuclear power, the article argues. All this claim of nuclear power stations not being economically viable is backed up by a joint MIT-Harvard research commission, carried out in 1976, which concludes the costs of a nuclear power station increase ten times faster than the costs of living every year.
Having proved that nuclear power stations are not economically viable, the article then examines the dangers of nuclear energy to our health and to the environment. "When radio-active particles are released in the environment they enter our bodies in various ways and create poisonous substances in our cells. These poisonous substances result in all kinds of diseases and deformities in children"
So there you go, one year after the 1979 Islamic revolution, the Islamic Republic Party newspaper, the mouthpiece of the hardline clergy, proves to us that nuclear power is economically unjustifiable, it has serious health risks and it was all part of the bad bad Shah's plans to waste Iran's Petro-Dollars.
It is one of many points of contention I have with the pompous Western 'useful idiots'. Why do they think we should not have the privilege of having a free debate on the nuclear energy issue like they have? Why can they go and march against the nuclear reactors and yet think people in Iran should not have that right?
The headline reads "Nuclear Reactors, a Blatant Betrayal of Our People"
And the first paragraph says "The anti-people regime of the Shah which intended to make our nation more and more dependent on Western imperialism decided to spend the oil income on building 20 nuclear reactors and sign their contracts with Western countries to produce 2400 Mega Watts of electricity"
The cost of building these reactors is said in the article to be equivalent of $2.5 Billion using the exchange rate at the time. Then the Iranian proverb is quoted "Whenever a loss is stopped, it should be counted as a profit" to justify that the building of these nuclear reactors should be stopped immediately.
It further argues that the technology will make our country dependent on the Western powers and all our Petro-Dollars will be spent on buying the technology. The article then refers to some facts and figures which show the nuclear power stations are lesser viable options economically compared to other forms of power stations like the gas power stations. It gives examples of some of these gas power stations already built by the lovely cuddly Russians in Iran. Added to all this is the huge cost of transport related to nuclear power, the article argues. All this claim of nuclear power stations not being economically viable is backed up by a joint MIT-Harvard research commission, carried out in 1976, which concludes the costs of a nuclear power station increase ten times faster than the costs of living every year.
Having proved that nuclear power stations are not economically viable, the article then examines the dangers of nuclear energy to our health and to the environment. "When radio-active particles are released in the environment they enter our bodies in various ways and create poisonous substances in our cells. These poisonous substances result in all kinds of diseases and deformities in children"
So there you go, one year after the 1979 Islamic revolution, the Islamic Republic Party newspaper, the mouthpiece of the hardline clergy, proves to us that nuclear power is economically unjustifiable, it has serious health risks and it was all part of the bad bad Shah's plans to waste Iran's Petro-Dollars.
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