Isfahan, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on
Thursday inaugurated the country's first nuclear fuel manufacturing
plant (FMP) located near the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
The FMP, reportedly based solely on work by Iranian experts, is to
provide the Arak 40-megawatt research reactor with fuel, producing
nuclear fuel tablets, rods and assemblies for the Arak plant, that is
to be launched within the next two or three years.
Iran says that with the launch of the FMP, Iran has de-facto
mastered the final stage of the nuclear fuel production process.
Ahmadinejad opened the plant on Iran9s so-called Nuclear Day.
He is also to inspect the Natanz uranium enrichment plant near
Isfahan, where currently 6,000 centrifuges are operative and
according to Iran9s Atomic Energy Organization, at least 4,000 more
centrifuges are planned to be installed during the current year.
Isfahan9s 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, Tehran9s 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 Bush9s stand that US participation in any
talks with Iran would depend on its suspension of all nuclear work.
USA
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