No unusual radiation levels have been detected in the Gulf, after the US launched strikes on nuclear sites in Iran.
A crisis department of the Gulf Co-operation Council is monitoring radiation levels after the American attacks on three sites in Iran. The department says it will publish regular updates from early warning systems in the region.
"In light of the events witnessed in the region today, no abnormal radiation levels have been detected in any of the GCC countries to date," it said. "Environmental and radiation indicators remain within safe and technically permissible levels."
After the attacks, US President Donald Trump called the attacks a “spectacular military success”. While there have been growing concerns about radiation, experts stressed that the risk of contamination from the strikes so far remains minimal.
The UAE's Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation said on Sunday there was no impact in the country from the strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran, state news agency Wam reported.
The authority said it was monitoring the situation in co-ordination with international partners, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and urged the public to rely only on official news channels.
To date, the facilities struck have been those associated with potential weapons-related nuclear activity, said Pete Bryant, honorary professor in physics at the University of Liverpool.
This includes sites producing centrifuge components (non-nuclear materials), the Arak research reactor (under construction, no nuclear material), the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, the Isfahan site, which handles both enrichment and uranium conversion, and the Fordow enrichment plant, reportedly attacked, but with no confirmed damage.
“It’s important to begin by emphasising that a release of radiation from these enrichment facilities is highly unlikely,” he told The National. “While there may be localised internal contamination, there is no risk to the public or environment outside the facility, and certainly no current risk to neighbouring Gulf countries.”
James Acton, co-director of nuclear policy programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also said the risks of radiological contamination from a strike on the Fordow plant are “extremely slight”.
“The uranium present in enrichments plants is barely radioactive and significant off-site spread is unlikely,” he said.
However, if Israel were to attack Iran's operational Bushehr nuclear power plant, “there would be very real risk of a radiological catastrophe”, Mr Acton added.
Since the beginning of the conflict on June 13, Israel has attacked nuclear sites inside Iran, including Natanz, Arak and Isfahan. Israel has said its attacks on Iran are aimed at preventing it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
There was confusion this week over whether Israel attacked Bushehr, Iran's only functioning nuclear power plant. An Israeli military official said on Thursday that an earlier statement saying a strike had been carried out on Bushehr was a “mistake”.
Such an attack could have serious consequences, with the need to monitor radiation levels for several hundreds of kilometres, the UN nuclear watchdog has said.
