10 April 2009

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday inaugurated Iran's first nuclear fuel plant, marking a major breakthrough in the Islamic republic's atomic program.

The Iranian leader cut the ribbon at the fuel facility in the central province of Isfahan at a ceremony marking national nuclear day.

Speaking during the event, Ahmadinejad declared that the Islamic republic has tested "two kinds of new" high capacity centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. He also said Iran had notched up two achievements -- the manufacture of nuclear fuel and "testing of two kinds of new centrifuges having greater capacity (to enrich uranium) than the existing ones."

A diplomatic source told Al-Manar website that the Islamic Republic was seeking to achieve two main goals through its nuclear program. "First, Iran is proving to the whole world that it can rely on self-sufficiency and rejects all forms of dependency on foreign forces," the source said. "Second, the Islamic Republic wants to make use and benefit from its internal sources for peaceful purposes," the source added.

"Today the nuclear fuel cycle has been practically completed and there is no room for the idea of halting (uranium) enrichment in the negotiations" with global powers, the head of Iran's parliamentary commission of national security and foreign policy, Alaeddin Borujerdi said after the plant was opened.

Iranian news agency Mehr said the fuel plant can produce 10 tons of nuclear fuel annually to feed the heavy water 40-megawatt Arak reactor as well as 30 tonnes for light water reactors such as the Bushehr nuclear plant. The Bushehr plant sited in the Gulf port city of Bushehr has to have fuel that matches Russian technical specifications as the facility is constructed by Moscow.

Meanwhile, Iran's atomic chief Gholam Reza Aghazadeh on Thursday declared the Islamic republic has installed around 7,000 centrifuges at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility.

"Today in Natanz there are around 7,000 centrifuges installed," Aghazadeh told a gathering in the central province of Isfahan as Iran marked its national nuclear day. He also said Iran had reached a "new phase (generation) of acquiring the technolgy of uranium enrichment."

The announcement comes a day after the United States announced it would participate directly in group talks with Iran over its nuclear program, another significant shift from former President George W. Bush's policy toward a nation he labeled part of an axis of evil.

Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia announced Wednesday they were inviting Iran to a new session of negotiations aimed at breaking a deadlock in the talks. A senior adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that Iran will decide on the offer of nuclear talks after reviewing the details. "We will review it and then decide about it," Ali Akbar Javanfekr said.