Isfahan, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to
disclose the country's new atomic developments on Iran's so-called
Nuclear Day on Thursday in the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
Ahmadinejad is to inspect the Natanz plant near Isfahan, where
currently 6,000 centrifuges are operative and according to Iran's
Atomic Energy Organization, at least 4,000 more centrifuges are
planned to be installed during the current year.
According to ISNA news agency, the Iranian president is also to
inaugurate the Fuel Manufacturing Plant (FMP) in another plant in
Isfahan.
The Iranian media claim that the launch of the FMP would mean that
Iran has mastered the final stage of the lengthy nuclear fuel
production process.
The FMP is reportedly able to produce nuclear fuel tablets, rods
and assemblies for Iran's Arak 40-megawatt research reactor, to be
launched within the next two or three years.
Isfahan's FMP can also produce nuclear fuel assemblies for the
Bushehr nuclear power plant that is a joint project with Russia with
its first phase scheduled to be completed later this year.
The FMP in Isfahan will convert enriched uranium hexafluoride into
uranium dioxide (UO2) powder, which will later be processed into
pellet form, Tehran's Press TV said on its website.
The pellets will then be stacked into tubes of corrosion-resistant
metal alloy called fuel rods. The finished fuel rods will be
assembled together to build up the nuclear fuel core of a power
reactor.
Tehran says that its nuclear programmes are only for civil and
peaceful purposes, but the West fears that Iran might use the same
technology for making nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad has several times said that Iran would be ready for
negotiations with the West, however not for following international
demands of suspending the controversial nuclear enrichment but for
removing concerns over alleged secret military programmes.
On Wednesday, the United States said it would join other permanent
members of the UN Security Council and Germany in talks with Iran
over its nuclear activities, indicating a significant shift from
former president George W Bush's stand that US participation in any
talks with Iran would depend on its suspension of all nuclear work.
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