Posted on 09/20/2002 5:20:56 PM PDT by knighthawk
MOSCOW, Sept 19 (AFP) - Russia has not yet received Iran's agreement for Moscow to import radioctive fuel waste from an Iranian nuclear power plant that Russia is constructing in Bushehr, the atomic energy ministry said on Thursday.
A month ago, Russia's atomic energy minister said that Moscow had all agreements necessary for the transfer of the nuclear waste. But a ministry official told the Interfax news agency that the Iranian side had not signed up.
A new clause to the Russian-Iranian accord on Bushehr project "has been presented to Iran," the unnamed official said.
"As soon as Iran makes a judgement on documents concerning the return of spent nuclear fuel, the clause will be added to the agreement," he added, without saying when this would happen.
The environmental group Greenpeace in June claimed that Iran had refused to return the spent fuel to Russia, charging that its only use for Iran was "to equip itself with nuclear weapons."
The Russian atomic energy ministry official insisted that Moscow would continue to press for the return of the radioactive material.
"The position of the atomic energy ministry has not altered. We will not supply nuclear fuel to the Bushehr nuclear power plant until we sign an agreement on its return to Russia," he said.
The ministry expects the used nuclear fuel to be stored in a cooling basin on the premises of Bushehr for three years before being transported to Russia. Transportation is impossible without prior storage, the official underlined.
The low-grade spent reactor fuel could in theory be upgraded to make atomic bombs in addition to so-called "dirty bombs" of lower radioactivity.
Bushehr, whose construction is due to earn Russia some 800 million dollars, is expected to come into operation in the first half of 2004.
Moscow's nuclear cooperation with Tehran has complicated Russia's relations with Washington, which views Iran as a member of an "axis of evil" that seeks to develop a arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.
Moscow's conflict with Wasington threatened to boil over in July when Russia announced plans to expand its Iranian program to include construction of five new nuclear reactors, in addition to the one at Bushehr.
The Russian government appeared to backtrack from those plans following a visit here by a senior US delegation, after which Moscow called the Iranian program a framework agreement whose details had not yet been finalized.
Middle East list
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
Also, who wouldn't want another country to take it's nuclear waste - unless you needed it for bombs.
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