Iran has consented to sending back all waste nuclear fuel from its new power plant to Russia, paving the way for the signing of a fuel supply agreement. Signing is expected to take place on Wednesday, December 25, Iranian officials told Reuters.
Coming under intense American pressure, Moscow required the Iranian guarantee prior to commencing fuel deliveries to the nuclear plant, built near Iran’s southern port of Bushehr. The Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant has already manufactured 180 fuel rods for the first reactor unit, due to come on stream at the end of 2003.
“Moscow was committed to completing a nuclear power plant in southern Iran and would not give in to pressures,” Russia's Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyanstev stated on Tehran radio, during his four-day visit to the Iranian capital. Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran was enhanced earlier this year, with the signing of a 10-year deal to build six nuclear reactors in Bushehr and Ahvaz, with capacity of 1,000 MW each.
The US claims that Tehran is building nuclear weapons and pursuing access to rocket technology, presumably under the guise of Russian assistance to the country's civilian atomic energy program. Iran was included in President Bush’s "axis of evil," along with Iraq and North Korea, marking it a terrorist harboring state. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
