Iran Informs IAEA of Decision to Start Production of N. Fuel

TEHRAN- Iran's Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asqar Soltaniyeh informed the UN nuclear watchdog agency that Tehran plans to start enriching uranium to the purity level of 20% to supply fuel for its research reactor in Tehran.
 
Speaking to FNA, Soltaniyeh said that the letter was submitted to the IAEA officials earlier today.

The letter to the UN body followed a Sunday decision by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the start of nuclear fuel production for the Tehran reactor inside the country.

Ahmadinejad ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) yesterday to provide and install the necessary equipments to start enriching uranium to the purity level of 20% to feed the research reactor.

"Here I announce to the head of the AEOI (Ali Akbar Salehi) to begin the 20% enrichment," Ahmadinejad announced, addressing the inauguration ceremony of an exhibition on the achievements of Iran's National Center of Laser Sciences and Technologies.

Meantime, the Iranian president did not dismiss cooperation with the western countries for a nuclear fuel swap, and said the window of opportunity is still open for interaction with the West.

"Of course, if the western countries want to enter interaction and cooperation without any precondition, this path is still open," he added.

After Iran announced to the IAEA that it had run out of nuclear fuel for its research reactor in Tehran, the Agency proposed a deal according to which Iran would send 3.5%-enriched uranium and receive 20%-enriched uranium from potential suppliers in return, all through the UN nuclear watchdog agency.

The proposal was first introduced on October 1, when Iranian representatives and diplomats from the Group 5+1 held high-level talks in Geneva.

But France and the United States, as potentials suppliers, stalled the talks soon after the start. They offered a deal which would keep Tehran waiting for months before it can obtain the fuel, a luxury of time that Iran cannot afford as it is about to run out of 20-percent-enriched uranium.

The Iranian lawmakers rejected the deal after technical studies showed that it would only take two to three months for any country to further enrich the nuclear stockpile and turn it into metal nuclear rods for the Tehran Research Reactor, while suppliers had announced that they would not return fuel to Iran any less than seven months.

Iran then put forward its own proposal that envisages a two-staged exchange. According to Tehran's offer, the IAEA safeguards nearly one third of Iran's uranium stockpile inside the Iranian territory for the time that it takes to find a supplier. The western countries have not responded to Tehran's offer yet.

Western countries have not responded to Tehran's offer yet.

FNA