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Iran to develop nuclear program, cooperate with IAEA

23 October 2013 02:56 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced Wednesday that the Islamic republic has plans to develop its nuclear program and is ready to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog on "outstanding issues," APA reports quoting Xinhua

Ali-Akbar Salehi, head of AEOI, said that the Islamic republic has plans to construct new nuclear power plants on the Persian Gulf coast, Press TV reported.

"What we have in mind is to build (nuclear) power plants on the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea coasts, but we have prioritized the Persian Gulf shores as we are going to pave the way for desalination of water for the southern provinces," Salehi was quoted as saying by Press TV.

He did not provide further details about the plan but reiterated earlier remarks of Iranian officials to build more nuclear power plants across the country. Renewal of the remarks is significant as the Islamic republic and some world powers are preparing for "serious" nuclear talks next month.

Salehi also said Iran will operate a production line of enriched UO2 (uranium dioxide) in three months, Tehran Times daily reported on Wednesday.

The enriched UO2 would be used to provide nuclear fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant, said Salehi.

UO2 is a black, radioactive and crystalline powder that naturally occurs in the mineral uraninite. It is used in fuel rods for nuclear reactors.

On Sept. 23, Iran took over control of Bushehr nuclear power plant from Russia. Salehi said that during the first two-year period, Russian engineers would provide support to Iranian technicians, who after two years would completely control the plant.

Construction of the Bushehr plant began in 1975 by several German companies. However, work was halted when the United States imposed an embargo on hi-tech supplies to Iran after the 1979 revolution. Russia signed a contract with Iran to complete the construction of the plant in 1998.

In accordance with the contract, Russia started to deliver nuclear fuel to the Bushehr plant in December 2007 and pledged to provide fuel to the 1,000-megawatt plant for 10 years. Under the agreement the spent fuel from the plant would be sent back to Russia.

Commenting on the recent nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+ 1 -- the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain plus Germany -- Salehi said Wednesday that he is optimistic about the future of the talks between Iran and the six major world powers and Tehran seeks a win-win approach in the negotiations.

Iran and the P5+1 countries held a fresh round of talks in Geneva on Oct. 15-16, and agreed to meet again in the Swiss city on Nov. 7-8.

Iran's nuclear chief said Tehran is acting in nuclear sector based on its own national interests headless of the threats of the country's enemies, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Tehran is also prepared to voluntarily cooperate with the IAEA on "outstanding issues" related to its nuclear program, pro- conservative Tasnim news agency quoted Salehi as saying on Wednesday.

He said that his country is prepared to cooperate with the IAEA over "the issues raised about possible military dimension to its nuclear program, although the matter is outside the purview of the UN agency."

"The only unresolved dispute between Iran and the IAEA is the discussion of a possible military dimension to the country's peaceful nuclear program," he added.

On Sept. 27, Iran expressed its willingness to reach an agreement with the IAEA over nuclear inspection after the talks between Iranian new negotiation team and the UN nuclear agency in Vienna.

The first tentative talk, after the appointment of Iran's new negotiating team, was announced to be constructive and to continue on Oct. 28.

Reza Najafi, Iranian new ambassador to UN nuclear agency, said he was looking forward to reaching an agreement in the future with the agency.

Iran and IAEA have held 11 rounds of talks over the "structured approach," aimed at conducting inspection beyond the safeguard agreement to resolve the outstanding issues in Tehran disputed nuclear program, however, until now, no deal was made.

Iran's Parchin military site has been the main concern of the IAEA for possible nuclear weapon-grade experiments since November 2011. Iran has previously refused to grant access to the site unless an agreement has been reached on a "structured approach," a framework which would allow UN inspectors to look into Iran's nuclear activities and also, as Iranians say, "has to close Iran's nuclear dossier."

On Wednesday, Salehi said that Tehran has expressed preparedness to cooperate with the IAEA, since the Islamic Republic firmly believes that its nuclear activities are peaceful and pursues a transparent approach, according to Tasnim.