Iran says nuclear fuel deal with Russia imminent (Agencies) Updated: 2005-02-17 23:12
Russia will sign a deal with Iran next week to start nuclear
fuel shipments for the Russian-built reactor there, an Iranian official said on
Thursday.
The United States, which accuses Iran of secretly working to develop nuclear
weapons, has long called on Russia to avoid supplying the Islamic state with
nuclear fuel.
"A fuel deal for the Bushehr nuclear power plant will be signed on Feb. 26,"
Assadollah Sabouri, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told state
television.
The comments indicated that the two countries had settled disagreements over
the terms of their accord after years of negotiations.
Russian Atomic Energy Agency chief Alexander Rumyantsev, confirming Iran's
announcement, said ways of accelerating the reactor's start-up will be discussed
during his visit to Tehran next week, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.
The 1,000-megawatt Bushehr reactor, Iran's only nuclear power plant, is due
to start up in late 2005 and reach full capacity in 2006.
Oil-rich Iran denies that it is developing nuclear arms and says its program
is solely for generating electricity.
Israel said on Wednesday that Iran was just six months away from having the
knowledge to build nuclear weapons.
A source at the agency said this month that the first fuel containers would
be supplied about two months after the signing.
Spent fuel will be sent back to Siberian storage units after about a decade
of use -- a condition Russia thinks should allay U.S. concerns that Iran could
use the material to make weapons.
The European Union, represented by France, Britain and Germany, has been
trying to persuade Iran to scrap potentially weapons-related activities in
return for economic incentives.
But Iran has repeatedly said it will never permanently end its disputed
nuclear activities.
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