Iran presses on with Arak heavy water research plant

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

TEHRAN, Sep 11 (Reuters) Iran is pressing ahead with construction at its Arak heavy-water research reactor, a top Iranian nuclear official said today after UN inspectors reported the work had slowed down.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly urged Iran to reconsider the Arak project and late last month reported building work was lagging behind the Iranian timeline for completion in 2009.

But today, the official IRNA news agency quoted Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, as saying: ''The Arak heavy-water research reactor's (construction) is going ahead firmly.'' Tehran says it will produce radio-isotopes for medical care and agriculture. Western leaders fear it could yield plutonium, one of the two prime components -- besides highly enriched uranium -- in atom bombs.

Iran says Arak would replace a light water research reactor in Tehran, built by the United States before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In a show of transparency meant to help ward off harsher sanctions over its disputed nuclear activity, Tehran allowed UN inspectors to revisit the Arak site in July, a place off-limits since April.

The access was part of an ''action plan'' to defuse suspicions of a covert atom bomb project, as demanded by the UN Security Council.

Iran has agreed with the IAEA to explain the murky scope of its nuclear programme.

Western powers have cast doubt on the deal, saying it allows Tehran to string out answers to questions about past, hidden nuclear work while leaving intact its uranium-enrichment programme, a possible path to atom bombs.

The United States is seeking support for a third round of UN sanctions against Iran over its uranium enrichment programme, which Washington fears could be used to build atomic bombs. Tehran says it only wants to produce electricity.

IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei yesterday said Iran must take measures well beyond its limited plan for atomic transparency to remove distrust in its atomic intentions, adding that the plan was ''an important step in the right direction''.

The pact allows Iran to settle questions one by one over a timeline the IAEA says would run to December -- even as it adds centrifuges to its Natanz enrichment plant, nearing the 3,000 needed to start producing usable quantities of nuclear fuel.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran would never bow to Western pressure over its atomic work, adding that there was growing acceptance of Tehran's stance in the row.

REUTERS SBC BD1627

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