Topic: Future of Nuclear Power
Country: Iraq
Delegate Name: Max Keene
School: Ann Arbor Community High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Iraq position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
Iraq supports the use of nuclear power. They have had nuclear three nuclear reactors that were all destroyed. One was destroyed by an Israeli bombing raid in 1981 and the other two, of which were Saddam Hussein’s, were bombed by US and British military forces in 1990. Since then Iraq has been lobbying for approval to again become a nuclear player again.
Iraq’s science and technology minister, Raid Fahmi, insists Iraq has "only peaceful applications" in mind for a nuclear program, "including the health sector, agriculture and water treatment". The Iraqi government can’t meet the needs of their residents that are being served by outdated electricity networks and water distribution that need an overhaul. Most other service sectors, including science and technology, are also unable to receive the energy they need, making relatively cheap and efficient nuclear energy an attractive alternative.
The two ruined reactors remain largely as they were left after the 1990 bombing, with their contaminated cores now filled with concrete and water. a nuclear engineer, Adnan Jarjies, said the main phase of the four-part decommissioning program of the two plants, which he supervises, started in 2007 and should be finished by the middle of next year. Fahmi admitted there were "some impediments" to the plan. "At the moment, UN resolutions, including 707, don't allow us to enter this field, so we are lobbying for the resolutions to be lifted," he said.
