Tehran's Medical Reactor Would be Using the Produced Fuel Over Time.

 

Tehran, February 10, 2010 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Iran head of the Atomic Energy Organization  said today, Iranian nuclear technicians are making satisfactory progress in producing 20 percent enriched fuel for Tehran’s medical reactor two days into the process.

 

Ali Akbar Salehi also said the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will provide more detail on the ongoing process tomorrow on the occasion of the 31^st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. 

 

According to Salehi, a special enrichment unit dedicated to produce 20 percent fuel would turn out 3 to 5 kilograms of that fuel per month, which is nearly double the monthly usage at Tehran’s reactor. The additional fuel will be kept in safe storage for future use.

 

To raise the level of enrichment low enriched fuel stocks are fed into supersonic machines called centrifuges over a period of time. Once the fuel is ready, it will be shipped to Isfahan nuclear facility for further processing into fuel rods.

 

The 5 megawatts research reactor currently in operation has almost ran out of nuclear fuel. Iran on many occasions asked the IAEA to supply the fuel, but the agency, under constant pressures from certain countries, has so far neglected its lawful duty to provide the required fuel for medical use to Iran as a member of the NPT.