Bushehr nuclear facility
Photo: AP
Iran readies to start up first nuclear reactor
Tehran says Bushehr nuclear reactor finally fully operational, plans mass celebration to mark milestone
Iranian and Russian nuclear technicians made final preparations to start up Iran's first reactor on Saturday after years of delays, an operation that will mark a milestone in what Tehran considers its right to produce nuclear energy.
Nationwide celebrations are planned for the fuel loading at the Bushehr facility in southern Iran, while Russia pledges to safeguard the plant and prevent spent nuclear fuel from being shifted to a possible weapons program.
Assurances?
News agencies
(Video) New York Times says Washington has persuaded Jerusalem that Tehran would take one year or longer to build nuclear weapon, dimming prospects of a preemptive strike on Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities. 'A year is a very long period of time,' Obama's top advisor quoted as saying
The West has not sought to block the reactor startup as part of its confrontations over Iran's nuclear agenda, a clash that has resulted in repeated rounds of UN sanctions against Tehran.
Washington and other nations do not specifically object to Tehran's ability to build peaceful reactors that are under international scrutiny.
However, it is seen by hard-liners as defiance of UN Security Council sanctions that seek to slow Iran's nuclear advances – which Tehran's foes worry could eventually push toward atomic weapons.
What concerns America and others – including Russia –is Iran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to make fuel for nuclear arms.
Russia now must follow through with its agreements, signed by Iran, to remove all spent fuel at Bushehr and ship it back to Russia for reprocessing.
That's would make it impossible for Iran to use plutonium, contained in the spent fuel, for nuclear weapons. Iran has said UN nuclear agency experts will be able to verify none of the waste is diverted.
The uranium fuel used at Bushehr is well below the more than 90% enrichment needed for a nuclear warhead. Iran is already producing its own uranium enriched to the Bushehr level – about 3.5% It also has started a pilot program of enriching uranium to 20%, which officials say is needed for a medical research reactor.
President Barack Obama's top adviser on nuclear issues, Gary Samore, told The New York Times that he thinks it would take Iran "roughly a year" to turn low-enriched uranium into weapons-grade material.
The assessment was reportedly shared with Israel and could ease concerns over the possibility of an imminent Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran's envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Thursday that any military attack against an operational nuclear power plant would be a direct violation of the UN charter. It also would likely provoke international outrage by possibly unleashing dangerous radiation.
Iran has repeatedly denied it is seeking to build atomic weapons and says it has a right to produce its own fuel for several nuclear power plants it plans to build.
