The Fuel Manufacturing Plant (FMP) is the primary center for nuclear fuel production in Iran. On 9 April 2009, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially inaugurated the FMP, although the IAEA reported that the plant had been making fuel prior to Iran's formal declaration.[1] The FMP is supposed to produce natural uranium fuel rods for the IR-40 research reactor at Arak, [2] and could potentially manufacture fuel for the low enriched uranium-fueled Bushehr reactor, although Iran has agreed to accept Russian fuel for Bushehr. [3]

In a letter dated 5 May 2003, Iran informed the IAEA for the first time of its intention to construct the FMP at Isfahan (Esfahan). By November 2008, then-head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Gholam Reza Aghazadeh announced that Iran had produced the first nuclear fuel pellets for use in the IR-40 reactor. [4] The Uranium Conversion Facility at Esfahan provides the feedstock, and the core fuel assemblies are made from natural UO2, requiring no enrichment before engineers turn the uranium into fuel rods. [5]

On 23 May 2009 the IAEA concluded that the FMP, with the exception of the final quality control testing area, had been completed, and that one fuel assembly had been assembled. [6] On 11 August 2009, the Agency conducted both a physical inventory verification (PIV) and design information verification (DIV) at the FMP, and concluded that the final quality control equipment had been installed.[7] According to a November 2010 IAEA report, results of the PIV and DIV indicated that the inventory of nuclear material at the FMP is consistent with Iranian declarations, and that the status of the facility remains unchanged. [8]

Sources:
[1] Nazila Fathi, "Iran Opens First Plant to Produce Atomic Fuel," The New York Times, 10 April 2009, section A, p. 9.
[2] Nazila Fathi, "Iran Opens First Plant to Produce Atomic Fuel," The New York Times, 10 April 2009, section A, p. 9.
[3] "Iran Seeks to Export Nuclear Fuel," BBC Monitoring Trans Caucuses Unit, 21 April 2009.
[4] Judith Perera, "West Turns on Iran," Nuclear Engineering International, 9 January 2008.
[5] International Atomic Energy Agency, "Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran," Report by the Director General, 10 November 2003, www.iaea.org; Nazila Fathi, "Iran Opens First Plant to Produce Atomic Fuel," The New York Times, 10 April 2009, section A, p. 9.
[6] International Atomic Energy Agency, "Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council Resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008), and 1835 (2008) in the Islamic Republic of Iran," Report by the Director General, 5 June 2009, www.iaea.org.
[7] International Atomic Energy Agency, "Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council Resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008), and 1835 (2008) in the Islamic Republic of Iran," Report by the Director General, 28 August 2009, www.iaea.org.
[8] International Atomic Energy Agency, "Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council Resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008), and 1835 (2008) in the Islamic Republic of Iran," Report by the Director General, 23 November 2010, www.iaea.org.