Japan’s Nuclear Accident Should Prompt Review

The news that Monday's earthquake in Japan damaged a nuclear power plant and caused a radioactive spill that could result in long-term health hazards should prompt leaders in the region to consider the issue of nuclear energy in a new light. Much of the debate over Iran's nuclear energy production has focused on Western allegations that its atomic program serves as a ruse for producing weapons. Little attention has been paid, however, to the health and safety issues surrounding the production of nuclear fuel, and these matters ought to be of primary concern, both to Iranians and to citizens in neighboring countries.

Accidents of the kind that occurred in Japan are all too likely to take place in Iran, which has seen seven major earthquakes in as many years and is located in one of the most seismically active zones in the world. The coastal city of Bushehr, where Iran is in the process of building a nuclear reactor in cooperation with Russia, has already been completely destroyed three times by earthquakes in recent history.

To their credit, Iran's leaders have decided to build the country's nuclear power plants away from densely populated Iranians cities. But because of the veil of secrecy that has recently surrounded the country's nuclear program, Iranian leaders have been unable to completely reassure their neighbors that they have taken adequate steps to ensure that an accident would not have devastating consequences on surrounding states or in the shared waters of the Gulf.

Iran, like any country in the world, has a right to produce nuclear energy. Indeed that right is guaranteed under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which Iran is a signatory, unlike nuclear-armed Israel, which frequently chooses not to abide by international resolutions and treaties. But rights do not absolve Iranian leaders of responsibilities, and they must act responsibly to ensure the wellbeing of their own citizenry as well as the safety of their neighbors. One way that Iran's leaders can contribute to protecting the lives and livelihoods of people of the region would be to ensure a greater level of transparency and cooperation over its nuclear program.