Iran, Russia Ready to Sign Protocol on Return of Nuclear Waste

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 23, 2003

Iran, Russia Ready to Sign Protocol on Return of Nuclear Waste

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Iran confirmed on Friday its readiness to sign a protocol on the return of spent nuclear fuel from its Bushehr Nuclear Plant to Russia, following Russia's approval of a draft document in this regard. Gholarem Reza Agazade, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, highlighted unchanged position of his country that Tehran is prepared to sign the document as soon as Russia finishes working on it, according to a press release from the Iranian embassy in Moscow.

The press release came out right after the Russian cabinet passed on Friday a draft protocol, under which Iran will transfer, and Russia will accept the used nuclear fuel from the plant "for temporary storage and subsequent reprocessing after it has been extracted," the Interfax news agency said, quoting the Government Information Department.

The Russian cabinet entitled the Ministry of Atomic Energy to negotiate and sign the document with Iran on Russia's behalf.

Iran sees no obstacles in signing the document, the Iranian press release said.

The nuclear fuel for Bushehr is now stored in the TVEL company in Novosibirsk, and the first consignment of nuclear fuel for the Bushehr reactor will be delivered as soon as the signature was made, the Ministry of Atomic Energy said.

The first unit of the plant should be finished in 2004 and switched to the Iranian power grid in 2005.

A total of 160 nuclear fuel assemblies weighing about 80 tons will be delivered to Iran by truck, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Russia and Iran signed a contract in 1995 to jointly build an 800-million-US-dollar nuclear power plant in the coastal city of Bushehr.

The United States, which has been expressing concern over the Iranian nuclear program, calls on Russia not to make fuel deliveries to Bushehr before getting additional guarantees of fuel return.

Both Moscow and Tehran have rejected Washington's allegation that Iran may use the plant for developing nuclear weapons, and Russian officials previously insisted that the absence of the protocol on returning nuclear waste was an obstacle to the start of Russian nuclear fuel deliveries to Bushehr.

Russia has pledged to continue cooperating with Iran on peaceful nuclear projects, but it has also urged Iran to sign a protocol allowing more inspections of its nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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