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Magnitude 6.3 Quake Strikes Near Bushehr Nuclear Plant

RIA Novosti

19:58 09/04/2013

MOSCOW, April 9 (RIA Novosti) - A 6.3 magnitude earthquake was registered on Tuesday afternoon some 90 kilometers (56 miles) away from Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in the south of the country, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

The quake was registered at 4:22 p.m. local time (11:52 a.m. GMT). Its epicenter was at a depth of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles), and it was followed by a 5.4 magnitude aftershock some ten minutes later.

Iran's FARS news agency reported that about 100 people were injured and hospitalized in the Bushehr province after the quake.

The IRNA news agency put the number of those injured at 500, citing the Deputy Head of Iran's Red Crescent Society Heidar Heidari, who is in charge of rescue operations. The official added that he had no information on the number of people killed as of yet.

IRNA also reported that the epicenter of the quake was near the city of Khurmoj in the Bushehr province, and two nearby villages, Shanbe, with a population of 1,750, and Sana, with a population of 1,250, were completely destroyed.

A spokesman for Russia's Atomstroyexport, a Rosatom subsidiary that completed the construction of the Bushehr NPP, said the earthquake did not affect the plant and it continues operating normally.

"Tremors were felt at the plant, but the earthquake did not affect the standard situation at the energy block. All personnel continues working normally, the radiation level is normal," he said.

Last February, a 5.0 magnitude earthquake also struck near the Bushehr NPP, but did not cause any damage to the plant.

The deadliest earthquake in Iran, which measured 7.7 points on the Richter scale, took place in June 1990. About 37,000 people were killed and more than 100,000 were injured in the northern provinces of Gilan and Zanjan. The quake devastated 27 towns and about 1,870 villages, according to the IRNA news agency.

Construction at Bushehr by West Germany's Kraftwerk Union AG began in the 1970s, but was plagued by delays. Germany's involvement ended in 1980 due to concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions and a regime change in the country. Russia signed a billion-dollar deal with Tehran to complete the plant's Power Unit 1 in 1995, according to Atomstroyexport.

The plant's launch in August 2010 prompted Israel and other nations to express fear that the reactor could be used to create an atomic bomb. Tehran denied the allegations, saying the facility would be used for peaceful power generation only.