Tehran's Reactor Fuel Will be Produced Domestically
Tehran, Dec. 02, 09 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lastly did put an end to all speculations and arguments concerning nuclear fuel swap needed for Iran’s medical centers. Today, at a gathering in the historical city of Isfahan, one of Iran’s main industrial hubs, Ahmadinejad announced Tehran would soon begin enriching uranium for up to 20% required for its research reactor.
’We asked for 20 percent enriched uranium fuel which according to the regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) they can provide us with. However, they refused to do so,’ Ahmadinejad said to a cheering crowed in Isfahan. He then continued, ‘God willing, Iran will produce [nuclear] fuel enriched to a level of 20 percent.’
Several top Iranian officials flatly rejected the IAEA’s proposal last Friday which calls on Iran to halt enrichment activities, halt construction of Ferdow enrichment plant and give unlimited access to any sites or installations the IAEA asks to visit.
Some officials called for Iran’s withdrawal from the NPT, while others sought expansion of enrichment activities. But one thing almost all Iranians agreed on, from government officials to ordinary people and that was Iran’s nuclear program must go on without a single stop.
Ahmadinejad’s latest announcement calms anxieties over the needed fuel for Tehran’s reactor, the main facility in Iran that produces radioisotopes for all the hospitals around the country. The reactor is nearly out of fuel for optimal operations and no time could be wasted over counting on fresh fuel supplies from some international producers such as the US or France to ever reach Iran on time. Although, Iran had already announced that it prefers to buy the fuel from outside producers.
On Iran’s rights for having access to higher enriched uranium fuel, Deputy Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Baqeri said earlier, ‘Based on legal terms, we have no problem to obtain the fuel for the Tehran reactor as enrichment to a level of more than 5 percent or 20 percent is not prohibited to be carried out by different countries [that are signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)].'
MSN - - - Wikipedia - Hamsayeh.Net
