Iran resumes works on nuclear fuel cycle: official
Channel News Asia
29 Mar 2004
TEHRAN : Iran has resumed work on a key part of the nuclear fuel cycle, its atomic energy body chief announced, in an apparent step back from a deal with the UN nuclear watchdog to suspend all uranium enrichment-related activity.
Gholam Reza Aghazadeh told state television that "the experimental phase of the Isfahan processing installation has begun and by the end of this phase, in the next 20 days, experimental production at this facility will start."
"The uranium processing plant in Isfahan will produce all raw materials for the fuel cycle," he added.
The Isfahan installation is listed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF), where the refining of yellow cake takes place to produce materials that can be then used to produce enriched uranium.
In a European-brokered deal with the IAEA struck late last year, the Islamic republic agreed to suspend uranium enrichment -- and all related activities -- while UN inspectors delved into suspicions the country was using a bid to generate atomic energy as a cover for developing nuclear weapons.
Iran, under massive international pressure to maintain the suspension, has consistently emphasized its right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to resume the production of the fuel for peaceful purposes at any time.
Tehran also appears to be seeking to narrow the terms of its suspension, which the Europeans had hoped would effectively halt Iran's work on the highly sensitive nuclear fuel cycle.
Aghazadeh said the "voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment in Iran was a move to build trust with the IAEA, and based on the order of the Supreme National Security Council secretariat, the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation will suspend in the field of building parts and facility construction."
He did not elaborate, but state television only added in a commentary that the Isfahan facility, situated near the historic city in the centre of the country, was "not part of the deal with the IAEA" and had been declared to the body in 2000.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council is headed by Hassan Rowhani, the official charged with negotiations with the IAEA and who negotiated the deal with the European Unions big three: Britain, France and Germany.
Aghazadeh, who is also one of the country's vice president, confirmed that IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei would visit Tehran on April 6 for talks with "high-ranking officials".
And he said a team of IAEA inspectors presently in the country had visited an enrichment facility in Natanz, south of Tehran, on Sunday and would also visit the Isfahan installation.
In the state television report, Aghazadeh pointed to the "good relations" between Iran and the Vienna-based non-proliferation watchdog.
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