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.
Source: RT
When will all these endless wars end from these war-mongers in the Whitehouse and in congress? Now ,they are all concerned about the killings in Syria. Not a world. for years, about all the killings and murders in Africa.We need to say out the Syria and let the UN take care of the conflect. That why we give them billions and billions each year. What have a all these recent war brought us. NOTHING, but getting brave American Soldiers killed, making billions and billions for the military- inustrial complex and run up out national debt to a point we can never replay it. One of the big selling points of the Iraq. war was that we were going to get their oil to pay for the war. How has that worked out? Just another bunch of crap from these war-mongers. Don’t those stupid fools know that they could start world war III with this Syria campaign/
I do hope I am 100% wrong. Obama will push it so that he will force Putin to keep his word about the Nukes. doesn’t that sound like Obama? OR, hell, he may set one off then blame it on Russia. You know how he is….think of Sandy Hook and Boston on a GRAND SCALE.
It may not be Putin at all!
On the other hand, do you remember the article about Obama “giving our missile codes to Putin”?
there is ALOT of cajones swinging going on o_o…I can even smell it in the air, smh -_-
Just drop one on his head and leave the rest of us alone.
lol XD….unfortunately where there is one evil puppet, there are many more. #filthyroaches
Hmmm. “It could happen”.
And you could be hit by a car crossing the street. And a Nuke from Dyess AFB could fallout of the sky and hit Charleston SC. Oh wait! Lindsay Graham already said that. Only he claimed it would be a terrorist attack if the US DID NOT attack Syria first.
His math is different than mine.
Yes, we do need to go bomb Syria…Americans don’t want this stuff here…If they can kill their own people and not think a thing about it then what would they do to the rest of the world…Russia, China, Iraq, Iran and North Korea are all with Syria…I say bomb their asses and make them think twice again before doing this…You will never stop war..It has been since the beginning of time and it always will be…Syria should of thought twice before bombing with the sarin gas…They broke the law..not us…So if they have a nuclear reactor somewhere then that’s on them..Next time they need to think on this…
If they can all sit by and do analyzing and strategic studies, it shows that THEY DON’T NEED to attack Syria in the first place. How can the world let these idiots do this?
This would be the least on Obama’s mind as he intends to carpet bomb Damascus.