Iran invites IAEA to visit Arak plant: Amano
Iran Press TV
Thu Nov 28, 2013 9:55AM GMT
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano says Iran has invited the agency to visit the Arak heavy-water production plant on December 8.
"I can inform the board that we have received an invitation from Iran to visit the Heavy Water Production Plant at Arak on 8 December," Amano told a regular, closed-door meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday.
The text of his speech was released by the agency.
He was speaking at a regular, closed-door meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria.
Iran's invitation to the IAEA comes after Tehran and the UN nuclear body signed a joint statement earlier this month under which Tehran agreed, on a voluntary basis, to allow IAEA inspectors to visit the Arak heavy-water plant.
"This joint statement outlines a roadmap that clarifies bilateral cooperation on the outstanding issues," Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said in a joint press conference with Amano after the signing of the agreement in Tehran on November 11.
He added that the statement included an annex with six articles, adding that Tehran's cooperation with the IAEA was within the framework of the Safeguards Agreement.
This will be the first time for the IAEA to visit the plant since August 2011.
Under the IAEA Safeguards Agreement, Iran is not obliged to allow such inspections. However, under a new deal between Iran and the UN nuclear agency, Tehran will, on a voluntary basis, also allow the Agency's inspectors access to the Gachin uranium mine in Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.
The IAEA chief, Amano, and the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, have already signed an agreement for more cooperation on outstanding issues.
AR/NN/HJL
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