Iran, Russia to Cooperate in Supplying Nuclear Fuel for Bushehr, Says Salehi

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran and Moscow will have cooperation in supplying nuclear fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

“We inked an agreement with the Russians in 1995 in which they have announced their preparedness that if Iran produces four fuel batches by itself or with the help of others every year, they will do the needed tests and evaluations over them for maximum 26 fuel batches in 10 years, and if they don’t see any technical problem, they will load them into the heart of the reactor,” Salehi said on Sunday.

Noting that Iran will display the first fuel batch produced inside the country on April 9, he said a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has also been signed by Iran and Russia to provide fuel for the nuclear power plant.

Salehi also referred to an agreement between the two countries for building two 1,000-MW nuclear power plants in Bushehr, and said construction of the two power plants will take 10 years.

Construction of the first one will take 8 years, he said, and explained that building the second plant will start 2 years after the construction of the first power plant starts.

In relevant remarks in November, Salehi stressed that the recent agreement between Tehran and Moscow on the construction of two new nuclear power plants for Iran would further strengthen the country’s stance in the nuclear talks with the six world powers.

Salehi said in a televised interview that the recent agreement between Iran and Russia for construction of two power plants and the protocol to produce nuclear fuel in Iran “will make our stances stronger in talks with Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany”.

Reacting to certain reports by Western media about transfer of Iran’s produced fuel to Russia , he said rumors that Iran agreed to transfer its fuel to Russia or other countries, or is negotiating on the issue, are not correct. “There is no reason to send our fuel to Russia,” Salehi added.

The top nuclear officials of Iran and Russia in a meeting in Moscow in November signed an agreement on the construction of two new nuclear power plants for Iran.

The agreement was signed by Salehi and Head of Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko in the Russian capital.

Upon arrival in the Russian capital, Salehi told reporters that he is also due to “discuss mechanisms for nuclear fuel swaps” with the Russian side.

Difficult path ahead of Iran, world powers – Salehi

On the other hand, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran and the 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany) group of powers have a hard path to pave as the two sides try to reach a final comprehensive nuclear deal in the next few months.

“I hope that the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the Group 5+1 will finally result in a win-win deal and of course there is a rugged path ahead,” Salehi said on Sunday.

He noted that good steps have already been taken in the nuclear talks, and said, “I hope other steps will also be taken properly with the help of God.”

On Saturday, Salehi announced that the technical issues with regard to Tehran’s nuclear program had been resolved in his recent talks with US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz in Switzerland.

“We were facing a type of deadlock in the technical negotiations and the higher-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic assumed as necessary my presence in the negotiations and holding talks with the highest-ranking official of the other side, meaning the US secretary of energy, over details,” Salehi said.

Noting that his talks with Moniz were fruitful and good steps were taken, he said, “We held talks on (uranium) enrichment, Arak research reactor, research and development (R&D), Fordo (uranium enrichment facility) and some other smaller issues.”

“We took very good steps in issues related to enrichment and Arak reactor and managed to remove their fabricated concerns with the technical proposals that we raised, and we defended our national interests and nuclear industry which is a great achievement of the AEOI and those dear people who work in it,” Salehi said.

Stressing that the negotiations were balanced, he said, “We can say that the technical deadlocks were removed in the two technical meetings.”

FNA

R.S