Iran Loads Fuel Rods Into Nuke Plant
The New York Times reports:
Iran on Tuesday celebrated the start of the process of loading 163 fuel rods into the core of its first nuclear reactor, putting the Bushehr nuclear power plant within months of operation.
The Bushehr reactor, cast by Tehran as a showcase of its peaceful nuclear intentions, is separate from other more contentious operations elsewhere in the country where Iran is seeking to enrich uranium. But the timing is delicate in diplomatic terms, as tighter sanctions are being put in place against Tehran by the United Nations Security Council, the United States and the European Union.
Iran has not yet formally responded to an invitation to join international powers for talks on its nuclear program in Vienna in mid-November.
Ramin Mehmanparast, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Tuesday, “Political pressure and sanctions have not prevented Iran from proceeding with its peaceful nuclear activities according to schedule.”
“The Bushehr power plant is a major project which will help us to take one step toward future alternative energy supplies,” he said, according to the semiofficial IRNA news agency. “We will also pursue our peaceful nuclear activities in other areas.”
The reactor, in southern Iran, has a long and tangled history. Construction began in 1975 under a contract signed with Germany, the state-run Press TV reported on Tuesday, but Germany withdrew from the project after the Islamic revolution in 1979. An agreement with Russia in 1995 should have been completed in 1999 but the plan fell prey to long delays.
The United States once opposed the plant. But the International Atomic Energy Agency monitors it, and the United States dropped its objections after Russia provided assurances of controls on the fuel supply and the disposal of spent fuel rods. Russia has agreed to take back the spent rods, removing the possibility that Iran could use them to make nuclear-grade fuel.
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