Yahoo News: Iran, Russia sign key nuclear fuel deal

Iran, Russia sign key nuclear fuel deal

February 27
By Paul Hughes

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Russia and Iran (news - web sites) signed a nuclear fuel supply deal long opposed by Washington on Sunday which will pave the way for the Islamic state to start up its first atomic power plant next year, state media reported.

The agreement, signed by the two countries' nuclear energy chiefs at the Bushehr atomic reactor in southern Iran, came as Tehran faced heightened pressure from the United States, which accuses it of secretly developing nuclear weapons.

Iran denies the charge and has received strong backing from Moscow, which is keen to extend its commercial interest in Iran's drive to produce electricity from nuclear reactors.

"This is a very important incident in the ties between the two countries and in the near future a number of Russian experts will be sent to Bushehr to equip the power station," Iranian state television quoted Alexander Rumyantsev, head of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency, as saying.

A key part of the agreement is aimed at addressing U.S. concerns, obliging Tehran to repatriate all spent nuclear fuel to Russia.

Moscow hopes this will allay U.S. worries that Tehran may use the spent fuel, which could be reprocessed to make bomb-grade material, to develop arms.

FIRST BATCH OF FUEL READY TO GO

Details on the timing for the supply and repatriation of fuel were not disclosed. Iranian officials said on Saturday disagreements over when Russia would send the first shipment of fuel to Iran had delayed the deal's signing by 24 hours.

Rumyantsev said the first batch of enriched uranium for Bushehr, which is surrounded by anti-aircraft defenses against possible attack, was ready to go.

Gholamreza Aghazdeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said Bushehr would be ready to go on-line some time after March 2006.

"Based on the agreement, the installation and assembly of the power station's equipment will finish in the next 10 months and six months after that ... the official launching of the power station starts," television quoted him as saying.

When operational Bushehr will generate 1,000 MW of electricity. Initiated before Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and badly damaged during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq (news - web sites) war, the project was later revived with Russian help in the late 1980s and has cost about $800 million.

Iran has announced plans to build several more power plants, generating 7,000 MW from nuclear power by 2021. Russia hopes to claim a significant share of this new business.

The Bushehr power station has aroused less concern in the West than Iran's plans to produce its own nuclear fuel for future reactors using uranium mined, processed and enriched inside the country.

The European Union (news - web sites) and United States want Iran to scrap its uranium enrichment plans entirely. Iran has refused but has suspended enrichment while it tries to reach a negotiated settlement with the European Union.

(Additional reporting by Sonia Oxley in Moscow)