Ahmadinejad to disclose new atomic developments on Nuclear Day

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.