An ambitious project facing many problems .. What is the ability of Iraq to rebuild its nuclear reactors after killing and displacing its scientists?

Iraq is seeking to establish nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes, most notably the generation of electricity, and it suffers a huge deficit in this aspect after it spent billions of dollars over the past years without making any progress in it, and great reactions have been raised in light of a package of security, economic and health complications from which this suffers. Country.

And between killing and displacement, Iraq lost its best scientists in this field after the American invasion in 2003, so the question remains the most controversial: Are there messages hidden from this step in the midst of the Iranian-American conflict raging on the land of Mesopotamia, and is it possible to fight the project from neighboring countries or not? ?

An Iraqi reactor destroyed by an Israeli raid in the 1980s and was bombed during the 1991 Gulf War (French)

Terms and methods

And the Iraqi Commission for the Control of Radioactive Materials is in the process of identifying 20 initial sites to choose the best two among them to start implementing the peaceful nuclear program, by setting general specifications, and then using scientific projection methods adopted globally to reduce them to 5 sites, provided that only two of them are identified, one authentic and the other alternative.

The selection process was carried out in two accurate scientific ways through differential and weighting equations, the first is the "Kenny" method and the second is called "SITE" or the singular value, and by using the geographic information model "ARCGIS Info" (INFO) / ArcGis, which is about to complete the special report. By choosing the site and sending it to Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi.

The selection is based on two stages with the same objectives, in each stage the accuracy is higher to reduce the number of candidate lands, leading to more accurate determination of the site, and there is a final stage which is the security assessment, and the first includes the technical objectives, selection requirements, evaluation and consideration of issues of population distribution that is preferred to be the nearest population It is 2.5 kilometers away from the site, and the population of the area is not more than 500 people per square kilometer, and the population is no more than 65 thousand people within 30 kilometers.

As for the seismic nature of the region and earthquakes, the Earth must be free of tectonic plates, and no earthquake has been recorded more than 2 Richter during the past 50 years.

It should also be flat land and stable soil that is not washed away with torrents, and there is no height, mountain, large plateau, or valley for a distance of 20 kilometers away from the site, because the elevations with the rain may cause the erosion of massive torrents of water on the site, and it is preferable that the height of the site not exceed 340 meters above sea level for calculations of boiling and evaporation of reactor water.

Seeking fertilization

Iraq spends every month all its gas capabilities and about 20% of its oil capacity to produce electricity, and this percentage will double, according to Dr. Kamal Hussein, head of the Radioactive Material Control Authority, to doubling in 2030, and Iraq will not have any materials for export other than oil after years from now. Losses are doubled, in addition to the annual increase in the country estimated at 15% without there being any treatment for this gap, and it is increasing annually and will become 23% in 2030.

The country does not seek enrichment with this step as Iran is currently doing, which creates a big problem if it occurs - according to the head of the Radioactive Material Control Authority - but will keep its nuclear reactors peaceful, and the fuel will be taken at an enrichment rate of between 4 and 4.5%, and this can never result. In addition to the non-peaceful uses, in addition to non-interference in the mining issues of uranium.

Hussein does not support - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - resorting to the use of solar energy, which is considered an auxiliary energy and not an alternative, attributing the reason to its work at night without the day, stressing at the same time the need to find alternatives to other sources through the development of an integrated strategy.

Regarding the financial cost of the project, the Iraqi official says that the price of the plant - with a capacity of one kW and operating with oil - is one billion dollars, the annual fuel price is about 500 million, the price of the reactor with the same capacity is 3 billion, and the annual fuel price is about 20 million.

The life of the oil-fired power plant is no more than 20 years, while the lifetime of the reactor is more than 60 years.

Al-Shammari: The international community, and even the neighborhood, will not allow Iraq to possess non-peaceful nuclear reactors (Al-Jazeera)

National decision

In turn, the political analyst, Dr. Ihssan Al-Shammari acknowledges that this step cannot be outside the peaceful framework and its connection with global restrictions towards the country, because some of the parties that control decision-making sources in Iraq may be loyal to some other countries, describing the matter as "very dangerous," which means that the international community Even the neighboring countries will not allow Iraq to possess non-peaceful nuclear reactors, but rather it will be restricted and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In contrast to the head of the Radioactive Material Control Authority, Al-Shammari is not at all optimistic about this project due to the lack of the necessary capabilities required, and he describes it as "long-term" and it will remain just ideas that are difficult to implement in this atmosphere.

Despite his lack of optimism, Al-Shammari acknowledges the positive repercussions of the project in a corner of it for Iraq, in particular the economic, and will strengthen it in the industrial sectors, specifically electricity and other energy fields, more than any other side and what is related to the infrastructure.

Al-Shammari considers this project a clear message that the country has the ability to establish important projects, and its attempt to be more dependent on its capabilities in energy issues and its distancing from Iran with regard to energy imports.

He also says that the project will help Iraq open the doors of wide relations with some countries that may be responsible for the process of establishing these nuclear reactors and proving itself that it is a developed country, and he considers it a political weight.

Al-Fayez sees the difficulty of the project's success due to the financial deficit and security instability (Al-Jazeera)

Fight the project

For his part, Sheikh Hussein Al-Fayez, a member of the Oil, Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the House of Representatives, confirms the difficulty of the project’s success in the presence of the current circumstances, most notably the financial deficit and the instability of security with the proliferation of fugitive weapons, and says that the project will be fought by several countries, including Iraq’s neighborhood.

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, he regrets that Iraq has lost the minds and scientific expertise and efficiency in this field after it killed many of them in addition to the migration of others, with the ambition to establish such pioneering projects with local manufacturing, denying at the same time that Iran has any connection or relationship with the nuclear reactors project. Iraqi.