Jordan Times
Monday, July 26, 2004
Dimona poses no threats — Khader
By Jamal Shteiwi
AMMAN — The government on Sunday reiterated Israel's Dimona nuclear plant poses
no radiation threats to Jordan.
Minister of State and Government Spokesperson Asma Khader told Al Rai and The
Jordan Times that the Jordan Nuclear Energy Commission conducts round-the-clock
measuring of radiation and has not so far recorded abnormal levels in areas
adjacent to Israel.
Khader was commenting on Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu's
statements to the London-based Al Wassat weekly, published by Al Hayat
newspaper. Vanunu told the magazine that Jordan should test residents in the
border regions with Israel to be sure that they have not already been exposed to
any radiation and administer the necessary medicine.
Last month, Israel said it would distribute anti-radiation pills for residents
living near its two nuclear reactors in Dimona and Arad.
Such tablets, Khader said, contain iodine, which Jordan already adds to table
salt, and therefore, there is no need to distribute them.
In the interview, Vanunu also warned that “Dimona's chimneys do not operate
unless winds blow in the direction of Jordan.”
But Khader said that such chimneys are always filtered regardless of the wind's
direction.
She reiterated that Jordan supports all international efforts to create a
nuclear-free Middle East. The 40-year-old Dimona nuclear plant in the southern
Negev desert could constitute a “second Chernobyl” through any “leaking of
nuclear radiation, threatening millions of people in neighbouring countries,”
following a possible accident, Vanunu said.
The Ukrainian government estimates that 15,000 people died after the number four
reactor exploded at Chernobyl power plant in 1986 in the world's worst civilian
nuclear catastrophe. More than three million Ukrainians including 1.2 million
children receive disability compensation as a result of Chernobyl and the
radioactive contamination it caused.
The former technician was jailed for 18 years for revelations on the inner
workings at Dimona that he made to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper in 1986,
effectively blowing the whistle on Israel's nuclear programme. Vanunu was
released in April and has since been refused permission to travel abroad or
associate with foreigners.