Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire - Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry. Nuclear Activities
 Iran invites foreign diplomats to tour its nuclear sites (Update 1) |
Iran is building a reactor at Arak, where it already has a heavy-water production plant 
The reactor building at Bushehr was built with Russian help 
Yellowcake is used in the preparation of fuel for nuclear reactors 
Men making hexafluoride gas at the Isfahan uranium conversion facility 
Iran is planning new facilities at Natanz 
IAEA says work started on Qom site earlier than Iran suggests 
 Iran produces first uranium yellowcake from southern mineTehran (AFP) Dec 5, 2010 - Iran has produced its first batch of uranium yellowcake, the raw material for enrichment, from a mine in the south of the country, atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday. "The West had counted on the possibility of us being in trouble over raw material but today we had the first batch of yellowcake from Gachin mine sent to Isfahan (conversion) facility," Salehi said on state television. Conversion is the process by which yellowcake is converted into uranium hexafluoride for enrichment. The atomic chief said the new step made Iran "self-sufficient" in the entire nuclear fuel cycle as it had previously been obliged to import yellowcake from abroad but he declined to reveal the amount of the first domestically produced batch. "We cannot cover the overall need of the Isfahan facility but we will produce a significant part of it" from the Gachin mine near the Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas, Salehi said. He said Iran would formally notify the International Atomic Energy Agency of its yellowcake production. The announcement came as Iran is poised to hold a new round of talks with world powers on its controversial nuclear programme in Geneva on Monday. Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of Western concerns about Iran's nuclear activities as the process can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or in highly extended form the fissile core of an atom bomb. Iran denies seeking a weapons capability but has pressed on with uranium enrichment in defiance of repeated UN Security Council ultimatums. |
Image via WikipediaIran's disputed nuclear drive will top the agenda of a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog this week, a prelude to the resumption of long-stalled talks between Tehran and world powers. The International Atomic Energy Agency convenes for its traditional year-end board meeting at its Vienna headquarters on Thursday and Friday, with the latest report on its long-running investigation into the Islamic republic's nuclear activities set to dominate debate.
 US sanctions have failed: top Ahmadinejad aideWashington (AFP) Nov 24, 2010 - Despite Western nations tightening the screws on Iran, a top aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said increasingly tough sanctions had failed, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. On the eve of fresh negotiations with Western powers tentatively set for December 5, Ahmadinejad confidant Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi said it was time for them to "stop fooling themselves" over the effectiveness of measures designed to pressure Iran into abandoning its uranium enrichment program. Banning Iranians ships from European ports, a fuel blockade against Iran Air, growing financial restrictions and other punitive measures have had "no noticeable effect," he added in an interview with the Post. "The delay in the negotiations has been a good opportunity for the other side to realize the effects of its political decisions." He also claimed the failure of sanctions had prompted the West to relaunch the long-stalled talks, a direct contradiction of the US position. Iran is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, which is at the center of fears about Tehran's atomic ambitions. It has also faced military threats and alleged technological attacks on its controversial nuclear program. Tehran and the so-called P5+1 that groups the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany have agreed to return to the negotiating table for the first time since October 2009 for a meeting tentatively scheduled to take place next month in Geneva. If Western powers do not respond to Iran's request to broaden discussions beyond its nuclear program to also discuss Israel's alleged nuclear weapons stockpile and declare they are committed to nuclear disarmament, Iran would be forced to take a harder position, Samareh Hashemi said. It would mean "they have not chosen the path of friendship," he added. "Not answering these questions will mean they have decided not to commit to nuclear disarmament and support the Zionist regime being armed with nuclear weapons." But the 52-year-old foreign policy expert also said Iranian negotiators will consider proposed changes to a nuclear fuel swap proposal that failed at the talks last year. |
 Iran's nuclear programme suffered one-day outage: IAEAVienna (AFP) Nov 23, 2010 - Iran's uranium enrichment activities came to a complete halt for at least one day this month, a new restricted UN report revealed Tuesday, amid speculation the activities were the target of a cyberattack. "On November 16, no cascades (of uranium-enriching centrifuges at Iran's Natanz enrichment nuclear plant) were being fed with UF6 (uranium hexaflouride)," the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote in a restricted report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. During a visit on November 5, IAEA inspectors had verified that more than 4,800 such centrifuges were being fed with nuclear material. And almost the same number were up and running again on November 22. There was no indication yet how long the outage lasted, or whether it was longer than just one day, according to a senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA's investigation. The IAEA report did not contain any explanation about the possible reasons for the outage. And the diplomat also refused to speculate that it was caused by a computer worm, called Stuxnet, that has infiltrated Iran's nuclear facilities recently. Last week, the computer security firm Symantec said Stuxnet may have been specifically designed to disrupt the motors that power gas centrifuges used to enrich uranium. That has given rise to speculation the worm was intended to sabotage nuclear facilities in Iran, especially the Russian-built atomic power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. The report revealed that Iran has now amassed a stockpile of 3,183 kilogrammes of low-enriched uranium in defiance of orders by the UN Security Council to halt all such activity. Low-enriched uranium or LEU can be used to make nuclear fuel, but can also be refined still further to build an atomic warhead. The West accuses the Islamic republic of seeking to build a bomb, a claim Tehran vehemently denies. The IAEA has been trying to determine for seven years now the exact nature of Iran's nuclear drive, but has so far been unable to say it is entirely peaceful as Tehran claims. Earlier this year, Iran also began enriching uranium to 20 percent, ostensibly for use as fuel in a research reactor that makes radioisotopes for medical treatment. As a result of its decision to move to higher enrichment, the Security Council slapped a fourth round of sanctions on Iran. According to the new report, Iran has since amassed 33 kilogrammes of 20-percent enriched uranium. IAEA inspectors found that while Iran was feeding nuclear material into more and more uranium-enriching centrifuges at its plant in Natanz, the actual daily rate of production of LEU was not increasing significantly. That also could be an indication of possible technical problems, experts say. |
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Image from MSNBC
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A worker works in a part of the electricity generating plant of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran, Oct. 26, 2010. Iran has begun loading fuel into the Bushehr nuclear power plant, the first in Iran, on Tuesday. (Xinhua/ Mehr News Agency/Majid Asgaripour)
World powers still waiting for Iran response on fresh talksWashington (AFP) Oct 27, 2010 - Six world powers seeking to persuade Tehran to rein in its nuclear program have yet to receive a formal reply from Iran on their proposal to resume long-stalled talks, US officials said Wednesday. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents world powers in the nuclear dialogue with Iran, has proposed to resume the long-stalled talks in Vienna, starting with a dinner meeting on November 15, followed by two days of consultations. Top Iranian officials, including Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, welcomed the offer but have yet to present a formal response. And President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said negotiations were the only solution. "The first thing we're waiting for is a response from Iran," State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said. He said the so-called P5+1 that groups the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia was prepared to discuss nuclear fuel swap proposals with the Islamic republic "if Iran is prepared to sit down and seriously debate." "But at the same time, we need to have Iran come forward and demonstrate affirmatively that it's living up to its obligations, and its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes," he added. Should they take place as planned, the talks would be the first high-level meetings between Iran and the P5+1 since another round held October 1, 2009 in Geneva. Iran has signaled it is ready to discuss a possible exchange of atomic fuel at the upcoming talks for a Tehran-based research reactor after consultations broke down last year between the Islamic republic and the Vienna group comprising France, Russia, the United States and the UN atomic watchdog. Under an initial proposal brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran would send more than 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms) of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for conversion into the fuel rods required for the Tehran reactor. In May, Iran responded by its own counter-proposal brokered by Turkey and Brazil, which was cold-shouldered by the West before the United Nations Security Council slapped a fresh round of sanctions on Tehran less than a month later, with the United States and EU taking separate measures. Crowley stressed that the fuel swap proposal "is not a substitute for the ongoing concerns that we have about the nature of Iran's nuclear program." He called for a "sustained, serious conversation, and where Iran has to convince the international community that it's abiding by its international commitments," before noting that "we have our doubts as to whether Iran is living up to its obligations." The nuclear negotiations aim to address international suspicion that Iran is seeking to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, a charge Tehran vehemently denies. |
