Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Bushehr nuclear power plant is a peaceful project -Rumyantsev

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Moscow, Feb 28, Itar-Tass/ACSNA/IRNA -- The Bushehr nuclear power 
plant, which Russia is building in Iran, will be used for nothing but 
peaceful purposes and in strict accordance with the IAEA Charter, 
Rosatom Head Alexander Rumyantsev stated here on Monday. 
He returned from Iran last night, where he and his Iranian 
counterpart Gholam Reza Aqazadeh had signed several documents at 
Bushehr, giving the green light to deliveries of nuclear fuel from 
Russia. 
"We have signed a confidential Protocol, containing a schedule for
the delivery of fuel to the Bushehr nuclear power plant," Rumyantsev 
told reporters at Bushehr the day before. In addition to this, the 
sides have signed an Intergovernmental Protocol on the return of spent
nuclear fuel to Russia and some amendments to their fuel contract. 
"In accordance with these documents, Iran has assumed a commitment
to transport the spent nuclear fuel from Bushehr to Russia, and the 
latter is obliged to accept it for long-term storage or reprocessing,"
Rumyantsev stressed. 
He refuted all the critical allegations about the Russo-Iranian 
cooperation in the domain of nuclear energy. "Indeed, we sometimes 
hear critical statements about the Russo-Iranian cooperation in this 
domain and our answer to them boils down to the following: our 
interaction is fully in keeping with the international legislation on 
the use of atomic energy, which is today in force throughout the 
world," Rumyantsev stated. 
"We are not violating any norms or rules adopted by the 
international community," he noted, stressing that `Russia is building
the Bushehr nuclear power plant for Iran, which is to be used only for
peaceful purposes` and in strict accordance with the IAEA Charter. 
Rumyantsev recalled that `there are now five nuclear powers in 
world and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons bans 
any further increase of this number`. 
"There are many more countries, which possess so-called fuel cycle
technologies -- extraction of uranium, enrichment of uranium-235 to be
used as fuel for nuclear power plants, manufacture of fuel assemblies 
and their operation in the active zone of a reactor," Rumyantsev 
stated. 
He stressed that spent nuclear fuel `is removed from a reactor, 
cooled for a while, and then passed over for processing and long-term 
storing`. 
"Many countries want to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, 
but do not have their own fuel cycle," the Rosatom chief stated. 
According to the IAEA Charter, the countries, which have a fuel 
cycle, are to help nations wishing to use nuclear energy for peaceful 
purposes, and which have acceded to the Treaty on the 
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, he stressed. These are precisely
the principles on which cooperation between Russia and Iran is based, 
Rumyantsev stressed. 
He noted that `Iran is strictly observing the international 
legislation on nuclear energy and had even signed an additional 
protocol with the IAEA, which makes its work even more transparent`. 
Rumyantsev wants the nuclear problem of Iran to be settled only by
diplomatic means. "I am a peaceful person, and I denounce any 
hypotheses on the launching of military actions," Rumyantsev stated 
when asked about his opinion concerning the US leadership`s statements
on the possibility of military attacks on Iran. 
"All the problems should be discussed by diplomatic means among 
civilized nations, to which Russia, USA and Iran belong," Rumyantsev 
stressed. "I refuse to analyze any hypothetic possibilities," he 
reiterated. 
Rumyantsev referred to President George Bush`s statement after his
talks with Putin in Bratislava that Russia and the United States have 
a common view on Iran`s atomic program. "Thereby, the Americans have 
admitted that our cooperation with Iran is fully in keeping with the 
international norms and I see no contradictions," Rumyantsev stated. 
The first generating unit of the Iranian nuclear power plant will 
be commissioned at the end of next year. 
"We are planning to launch it at the end of 2006 and the necessary
fuel will be delivered approximately six months before that," 
Rumyantsev stated, specifying that it would amount to approximately 
one hundred tons. 
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