Gulf states need a contingency plan to face any nuclear radiation leaks in the region in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Muhammad Mubarak bin Dinh, executive vice president of the Supreme Council for the Environment (SCE).
“The existence of nuclear projects in the region, and the incident with the Fukushima reactor in Japan has raised concerns in Gulf countries,” he added.
Bin Dinh said the SCE is to meet on the sidelines of IAEA’s meeting in Vienna to discuss the drafting of a contingency plan to face any radiation leakages, either from within the region itself, or from surrounding countries.
“The Vienna meeting will discuss the final draft of the contingency plan submitted by a Canadian consultancy firm. The plan is under the supervision of the Gulf States,” said Bin Dinh. “Once the plan is approved it will be adopted and implemented. The essential part of it is linking Gulf countries with joint monitoring stations to measure radiation levels, and to exchange data so each country can warn the others if high radiations levels are detected.”
He said the study would clarify mechanisms of action if increased levels of radiation were found, and how to deal with the problem. All government agencies, including the Ministry of Defense and the Civil Defense Department would have to be included. “The aim is to execute a joint emergency plan,” he added.
The vice president pointed out that the General-Secretariat of GCC countries and the council both intend to mutually supervise the contingency plan until the GCC Disaster Management Center will take the lead and host the process.
“The majority of the nuclear projects in GCC countries are implemented in cooperation with the IAEA, on both technical and physical levels,” said Bin Dinh, adding that the Canadian consultancy firm was familiarized with the plan of each individual country, and had gathered information prior to the development of the joint plan.
GCC plans to deal with possible nuclear leakage
