Anarak
Iran has stated that small amounts of imported UO2 were prepared for targets at JHL, irradiated at TRR, and sent to a laboratory belonging to the MIX Facility in Tehran for separation of I-131 in a lead-shielded cell. Iran has informed the Agency that the remaining nuclear waste was solidified and eventually transferred to a waste disposal site at Anarak. The operators at TRR and the MIX Facility have provided supporting documentation, which is being examined. The Agency is still awaiting relevant updated design information for the MIX Facility and TRR. Plans are in place to visit the waste site at Anarak in June 2003.
In the report Implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Report by the Director General International Atomic Energy Agency [06 Jun 2003], the Director General identified a number of corrective actions by Iran which were necessary to enable the Agency to verify the previously unreported nuclear material declared to have been imported by Iran in 1991. These actions included the provision of design information on the waste storage facility at Esfahan, and the granting of access to that facility as well as to Anarak and Qom, where waste resulting from the processing of the imported material is stored or has been disposed of.
There are reportedly rich occurrences of uranium ore near Anarak, not far from Yazd. The famous Talmessi Mine (Talmesi Mine), near Anarak produced the first specimen of Seelite in 1955 (but were analysed and recognised as such in the early 1990's). Seelite occurs here together with Uranospinite. Uranospinite is named for the uranium content and Greek spinos, a green finch, referring to the green color.
