BUSHEHR, Iran, 28 February 2005 — Iran and Russia signed a nuclear fuel agreement yesterday, despite US objections to Russian support of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, paving the way for Iran to get its first reactor up and running.
Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh and Alexander Rumyantsev, the head of Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency, signed the agreement at the Bushehr nuclear power plant. The signing was delayed by a day, and came after the two senior officials toured the $800 million complex.
Both officials refused to discuss the details of shipping the nuclear fuel to Iran and the spent fuel back to Russia, but insisted that the agreement respects all regulations concerning nuclear activities.
Under the agreement, Russia will supply Iran with enriched uranium. The first fuel is expected to be delivered to Iran from Siberia in mid-2006. Bushehr will be commissioned in late-2006.
To allay concerns of Washington, which is bitterly opposed to the deal, Iran will return spent fuel from the reactor to Russia. Spent nuclear reactor fuel can be reprocessed to make bomb-grade plutonium. Iran denies US charges that it is secretly developing nuclear arms.
Bushehr will have an operating capacity of 1,000 MW. Iran says it wants to generate 7,000 MW of its growing electricity needs from nuclear reactors by 2021. Iran and Russia are currently in talks over the construction of a second reactor at Bushehr.
Construction of Bushehr was begun with the help of German and French scientists by the US-backed Shah before the 1979 Revolution. The plant was badly damaged during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. The project was later revived with Russian help and has cost about $800 million to build.
“Today, a very important development occurred, and that was the protocol on returning nuclear fuel, which we signed together. In the next few weeks, many Russian technicians will arrive in Bushehr to speed up the assembly operation” to finish the plant, Rumyantsev said in a press conference with Aghazadeh.
“Our cooperation conforms with international regulations. Iran observes all the regulations on the prohibition of the spread of nuclear weapons,” Rumyantsev said.
