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ROSATOM HEAD TO DISCUSS NUCLEAR COOPERATION IN IRAN

RIA Novosti

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Tatiana Sinitsyna)

On February 25 Alexander Rumyantsev, the director of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power (Rosatom), will leave on a two-day working visit to Iran. On the eve of his visit, Mr. Rumyantsev told journalists, "I regularly visit the construction site of the Bushehr nuclear power plant's first unit and this trip is the latest of its kind. We will also sign a protocol on returning spent nuclear fuel to Russia."

However, this is not a routine visit. Russia and Iran were previously divided over a protocol to an international agreement on the construction of the Bushehr plant. The protocol should regulate the return of spent (irradiated) nuclear fuel to Russia. Now the issues have been settled, Alexander Rumyantsev and Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who also heads Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, should soon sign this important document.

Abiding by non-proliferation logic in federal legislation, Moscow strictly adheres to the rules that dictate the return of spent nuclear fuel to its country of origin. The Bushehr plant is no exception. Spent nuclear fuel is not ordinary trash that can be dumped anywhere or recycled accordingly. Heat-producing elements become irradiated inside nuclear reactors, uranium decays and weapon-grade plutonium forms as a result. The protocol on returning the spent fuel obviously aims to eliminate the international community's concerns that Iran, a non-nuclear power, may obtain weapon-grade nuclear materials.

The initial construction agreement signed in 1992 did not stipulate the return of spent fuel, so neither did it include payments for these services. This omission had to be corrected. Iran did not object to the return of spent nuclear fuel when this issue arose, but the commercial aspects had to be analyzed. It took some time to eliminate the financial problems. However, Tehran protracted this period for so long that opinions emerged that the contractorplanned to freeze and even stop the construction project under US pressure.

Russia immediately rejected these allegations and officially announced that it would honor its contractual obligations. "I do not see any obstacles that can limit our cooperation with Iran, as it is under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is governed by international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Mr. Rumyantsev said. He consistently stuck to this position. His current visit to Tehran shows that Russia is keeping its word rather than being dishonest.

The protocol on returning the spent fuel is designed to remove a serious obstacle to the Bushehr construction project. The concerned parties will also sign a supplement to the contract on nuclear-fuel deliveries to the plant (the contract itself was concluded about two years ago). The documents allow "fresh" fuel to be delivered to Bushehr.

The first fuel batch, 180 fuel elements (total mass, about 90 tons), is already ready. However, under technical regulations, this batch cannot be shipped earlier than six months prior to the trial commissioning of the Iranian plant in early 2006.

Future bilateral cooperation will also be discussed during the visit. Russia's ambassador to Iran, Alexander Maryasov, has announced that Iran has already received a feasibility study on the construction of a second power unit. However, Tehran has not yet officially requested its construction.