Iran
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI)
About
Established in 1973, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has operational control over Iran’s civilian nuclear program. The organization’s original purpose was to oversee the planned implementation of a 23,000 MWe nuclear program under the Shah. 1 The body has five separate divisions: (1) Research Division; (2) Nuclear Power Plant Division; (3) Nuclear Fuel Production Division; (4) Planning, Education and Parliament Affairs Division; and (5) Iranian Nuclear Regulatory Division. 2
In 1998, AEOI officials met with A.Q. Khan to negotiate the purchase of centrifuge enrichment technology. 3 The organization also owned the companies Iran used for secret centrifuge research, such as Pars Trash and the Kalaye Electric Company. 4 The AEOI has actively attempted to provide Iran with access to foreign nuclear technology and negotiated, for example, cooperation agreements with Russia and China. 5 The organization also owns numerous front and false-flag companies, which it uses for illicit procurement operations in order to circumvent international sanctions. 6 The AEOI is the target of both U.S. and UN sanctions.
In February 2013, head of the AEOI Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani announced that Iran has identified 16 sites for the construction of nuclear power plants, and will provide the IAEA with design information questionnaires (DIQs) for all proposed plants. 7
In March 2023 after a visit by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to Tehran, the IAEA and AEOI published a joint statement announcing an agreement to cooperate on safeguards issues and increase agency monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program.8
Glossary
- Centrifuge
- Centrifuge: A machine used to enrich uranium by rapidly spinning a cylinder (known as a rotor and containing uranium hexafluoride gas) inside another cylinder (called the casing).
- Enriched uranium
- Enriched uranium: Uranium with an increased concentration of the isotope U-235, relative to natural uranium. Natural uranium contains 0.7 percent U-235, whereas nuclear weapons typically require uranium enriched to very high levels (see the definitions for “highly enriched uranium” and “weapons-grade”). Nuclear power plant fuel typically uses uranium enriched to 3 to 5 percent U-235, material that is not sufficiently enriched to be used for nuclear weapons.
- Sanctions
- Punitive measures, for example economic in nature, implemented in response to a state's violation of its international obligations.
- Nuclear power plant
- Nuclear power plant: A facility that generates electricity using a nuclear reactor as its heat source to provide steam to a turbine generator.
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- IAEA: Founded in 1957 and based in Vienna, Austria, the IAEA is an autonomous international organization in the United Nations system. The Agency’s mandate is the promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, technical assistance in this area, and verification that nuclear materials and technology stay in peaceful use. Article III of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) requires non-nuclear weapon states party to the NPT to accept safeguards administered by the IAEA. The IAEA consists of three principal organs: the General Conference (of member states); the Board of Governors; and the Secretariat. For additional information, see the IAEA.
Sources
- Dr. M. Ghannadi-Maragheh, “Atomic Energy Organization of Iran,” World Nuclear Association, 2002, p.1, www.world-nuclear.org.
- Dr. M. Ghannadi-Maragheh, “Atomic Energy Organization of Iran,” World Nuclear Association, 2002, p.1, www.world-nuclear.org.
- Yonah Alexander and Milton M. Hoenig, The New Iranian Leadership (London: Praeger Security International, 2008), p. 119.
- Yonah Alexander and Milton M. Hoenig, The New Iranian Leadership (London: Praeger Security International, 2008), p. 120.
- Yonah Alexander and Milton M. Hoenig, The New Iranian Leadership (London: Praeger Security International, 2008), pp. 144-149.
- “UN Security Council Resolution 1747 (2007),” 24 March 2007, www.un.org.
- “Report on the Implementation of Safeguards in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” International Atomic Energy Agency, 22 May 2013, iaea.org.
- “Joint Statement by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” International Atomic Energy Agency, 4 March 2023, www.iaea.org.