Russia Delays Iranian Nuclear Plant for “Technical Reasons”

Russian officials announced yesterday that the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran will not begin operations until at least 2006, a year behind schedule (see GSN, Oct. 10).

Russia is helping Iran build the facility in the face of U.S. protests that Tehran is using civilian nuclear projects to mask a nuclear weapons program.

The beginning of operations was pushed back by a “technical decision,” according to Russia’s Atomic Energy Ministry. A Russian official said the decision was not based on politics or recent pressure from the International Atomic Energy Agency for Iran to allow intrusive inspections of its nuclear activities. The official also said that talks are progressing on a pact to ensure the return of spent nuclear fuel from the plant to Russia (Jack/Dempsey, Financial Times, Oct. 13).

“There is a huge amount of equipment that is needed. Equipment (that we thought) would work is not going to work,” said Nikolai Shingaryev, a senior spokesman for the Russian nuclear agency.

The Russian Foreign Ministry reiterated Moscow’s support for Iran’s nuclear development.

Russia will “continue cooperation with Iran because it does not run counter [to] the principles of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said (BBC News, Oct. 13).

Meanwhile, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei will visit Tehran Thursday to discuss the agency’s Oct. 31 deadline for Iran to demonstrate greater transparency of its nuclear activities.

“As agreed with Iranian officials, the purpose of Dr. ElBaradei’s visit would be for Iran to provide the IAEA during that visit with all the remaining information required to clarify important questions that are still outstanding about Iran’s nuclear programs,” IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Oct. 14).

An IAEA team is currently in Iran conducting routine inspections, the Associated Press reported yesterday (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 13).

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s representative to the IAEA, dismissed the importance of the deadline and said that Tehran is cooperating with inspectors.

“The pace of cooperation has quickened since the recent Tehran talks (with an IAEA delegation earlier this month) and we are counting on it accelerating still further in the coming weeks now that we have drawn up a work plan,” Salehi said. “If the way we are working together is acceptable to both Iran and the agency, then logically one cannot declare that the cooperation has failed just because all concerns have not been addressed by the deadline,” he added.

Officials also sought to play down the discovery of enriched uranium on some nuclear equipment. Iran has said that the equipment was already contaminated when it was imported.

Salehi also said that inspectors would be given access to “all sites where the equipment was stored so that samples can be taken” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Oct. 13).

An Iranian exile group, meanwhile, has accused Iran of hiding another nuclear facility. In the past, the National Council of Resistance of Iran has revealed previously unknown nuclear sites.

“We have information about another secret nuclear facility in Iran,” according to an NCRI official (Reuters/Jordan Times, Oct. 14).

The group accused Iran of hiding a centrifuge test facility near Isfahan in central Iran. NCRI officials also said that Iran could have nuclear weapons by 2005, Reuters reported (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters, Oct. 14).

Iran denied the allegations.

“We have certainly not” hidden any facilities, Salehi said (Hughes/Charbonneau, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Oct. 14).

The European Union yesterday urged Iran to accept the Additional Protocol to its IAEA safeguards agreement, which would allow more intrusive agency monitoring.

“We confirm our urgent invitation (to Tehran) to sign without any preconditions,” said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, whose country currently holds the rotation EU presidency.

“The EU remains gravely concerned by Iran’s failure to cooperate fully with the IAEA,” said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw (Agence France-Presse/EU Business, Oct. 13).

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