TEHRAN, 23 August 2004 — Iran’s first nuclear reactor, being constructed with Russian help in the Gulf port of Bushehr, will not enter service until 2006, a year later than originally planned, atomic energy officials revealed yesterday. And no agreement has yet been reached with the Russians over the delivery of nuclear fuel, which could delay the project even further. The new commissioning date of October 2006 was marked on a document shown at a press conference by project Manager Assadollah Sabouri.
He said the process of starting up the reactor would take seven months, giving a start date in the first months of the year and would be totally operational by October of the same year.
Sabouri pointed out that Iran had until the end of 2005 to reach an agreement with the Russians over fuel for the plant. “The final date for delivery of the fuel is in the last few months of 2005”, otherwise the start-up would be further delayed, he said.
“The fuel has to be introduced in February 2006,” said head of technical operations Mehran Zia Sheikholeslami, and he admitted: “We are already behind schedule, that’s why we are putting pressure on the Russians to speed things up.”
Neither he nor Sabouri offered any reason for the delays, but delivery of the Russian fuel has been put back as Moscow bowed to pressure from the United States, who believe it could be used for military purposes.
Both the US and Israel are convinced that, under cover of producing nuclear power, Iran is secretly developing an atomic bomb, something Tehran strenuously denies.
The IAEA governing body will consider the question of Iranian nuclear power projects at a meeting at its headquarters in Vienna in September.
Iran, which has repeatedly claimed its nuclear program is entirely for civil purposes, believes it has given sufficient assurances and is demanding that the issue be left off the IAEA agenda. However, far from agreeing, the IAEA demanded further cooperation from Iran at its June meeting to provide conclusive proof that it is not secretly developing nuclear weapons.
Iran intends to produce its own fuel for the next stage of its nuclear program after making “important advances” in its production, Sabouri said.
“Important advances have been made, it will not be many years before we are in a position to produce our own fuel,” he said.
Iran’s ability to master the uranium enrichment cycle is a cause for concern in the international community and the IAEA has expressed reservations that Iran could use the technology to produce its own bomb.
