Iran plans several new nuclear reactors
Iran’s top nuclear official announces plans to build "four to five" nuclear research reactors, following the successful production and testing of second- and third-generation Iranian-brand centrifuges.
“Iran plans to build four to five new reactors with a capacity of 10-20 megawatts in different provinces within the next few years to produce radio-medicine and perform research,” Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereydoun Abbasi told ISNA on Monday.
"To provide the fuel for these reactors, we need to continue with the 20-percent enrichment of uranium," he added.
Abbasi reiterated that fuel production or uranium enrichment to a purity level of 20 percent will not be halted, noting that the country “will produce fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor in due course.”
The AEOI chief also announced Iran’s plans to build a new enrichment site and to increase the amount of uranium enriched up to the 20-percent level.
"We will boost the enrichment level of uranium up to 20 percent, based on the country’s requirements, and in doing so, we will not seek anyone’s permission," Abbasi emphasized.
He noted that Iran is carrying out its enrichment activities under the surveillance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) while the agency’s inspectors conduct “regular and even snap” inspections of the Islamic Republic’s enrichment facilities.
The Iranian top nuclear official expressed optimism that the IAEA would cooperate with Tehran and “avoid listening to those who lack adequate and precise information and relay incorrect data to international bodies.”
Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, insists on its legal right to utilize nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Earlier on Sunday, Abbasi announced that Iran successfully produced and tested domestically-built second- and third-generation centrifuges.
“In line with optimization of centrifuge machines, aimed at increasing the separation power, second- and third-generation machines have also been produced and inspected, both of which have been successfully tested,” he said.
Also on Monday, Iran’s top presidential advisor Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi said that the project to produce nuclear fuel plates with a purity level of 20 percent is in its final stages.
Source: presstv.ir
