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| Iran |
| Russian Official: Iran Plant Deal Could Be Off |
| 2003-09-12 |
| EFL: Tehran has made an unexpected and unacceptable demand that could derail Russian-Iranian cooperation on the Bushehr nuclear plant, a senior Nuclear Power Ministry official said Wednesday. To address concerns that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, Russia has said it will freeze construction on the $1 billion plant and will refuse to supply fuel unless Iran agrees to return all of the spent fuel. Both sides in recent weeks have said that an agreement was close to being signed. On Wednesday, however, Deputy Nuclear Power Minister Valery Govorukin said Iran is now demanding that Russia pay for the spent fuel, Itar-Tass reported. Usually it is the other way around; countries get paid for receiving and storing spent fuel, he said. Govorukhin chose to go public with Iran’s demand as the board of directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency debated in Vienna a U.S.-backed resolution that would find Iran in non-compliance of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which it has signed. They gave Iran till Oct 31, Iran walked out in a huff. Govorukhin insisted the dispute was commercial and said both sides have agreed to start talks, Itar-Tass reported. Should Iran refuse to withdraw its demand, Russia would have to charge Iran a higher price to include the cost of buying it back, he said. Don’t forget to include shipping, handling, environment fees, sales tax, etc. Alexander Pikaev, a security expert with the Carnegie Moscow Center, said Iran might have concluded that it can produce fuel compatible with the Russian-made reactor itself and, thus, be deliberately making unrealistic demands in order to disrupt the deal altogether. If Iran used its own fuel in the power plant’s reactors, it could then enrich the spent fuel to weapons-grade using one of the centrifuges that it possesses. I’m sure there’s a chapter in the koran on how to produce fuel for nuclear reactors. The Nuclear Power Ministry’s decision to publicize Iran’s demand during the IAEA debates may be an attempt to create international pressure on Iran to drop its demand and sign the agreement on the return of spent fuel, Pikayev and Ivan Safranchuk of the Center for Defense Information said. Moreover, Pikayev said, it may be a sign that Moscow has decided to end its lucrative nuclear cooperation with Teheran altogether because of its own security concerns. The Nuclear Power Ministry may have decided that it is time "to wash their hands" of Iran rather than continue cooperation with a country that avoids making its nuclear program fully transparent and draws constant fire from the United States, Pikayev said. Somebody been talking to Putin? Safranchuk, however, said he believes the ministry will complete the reactor unless Iran refuses to sign the fuel return agreement. Their money looks real good to the Russians. Earlier this month, the ministry said Iran had already reviewed a draft of the agreement and was ready to sign it. Officials said the agreement would be signed as soon as Govorukhin himself said in late August that the ministry intended to sign it within a month. Ministry officials said Russia should complete construction of the first reactor at Bushehr plant in 2005 but may send the first batch of nuclear fuel to Iran as soon as this year. Now what do you suppose they’d want the fuel for if the reactor isn’t going to be completed until 2005? |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 Either we bought off the Russians, or Putin caught the Tehran Turbans supplying the Chechens and they've suddenly wised up to the possibility of a muchroom cloud in Gorky Park. |
| Posted by: Douglas De Bono 2003-9-14 9:12:08 AM |
| #2 Or is Prez Putty is trying to have it both ways, again? The plant is the major component of a nuke bomb factory - Russia is even more duplitious than the French where whoring for dollars is concerned. Given the strange bedfellows arrangements of the Black Hats with the Taliban and Al Q, what makes Putty think they won't turn around and give some nuke stuff to the Chechens somewhere down the road. It would be their style. Putty's as unreliable as Chirac regards acting responsibly or for any greater good. |
| Posted by: .com (Prez for Life - My Isles of Langerhans) 2003-9-12 2:49:59 PM |
| #1 Did #41 send a message???? Or did Vlad find out something on his own? Did we guarantee some of the Iraq contracts? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-9-12 2:36:40 PM |