TEHRAN (Reuters) - Russia and Iran (news - web sites) signed a nuclear fuel supply deal long opposed by Washington Sunday, paving the way for Tehran to start up its first atomic power plant next year, state media reported.
The agreement, signed by the two countries' nuclear energy chiefs at the Bushehr atomic reactor in southern Iran, came as Tehran faced heightened pressure from the United States, which accuses it of secretly developing nuclear weapons.
Iran denies the charge and has received strong backing from Moscow, which is keen to play a major role in Iran's nuclear energy program.
"This is a very important incident in the ties between the two countries and in the near future a number of Russian experts will be sent to Bushehr to equip the power station," Iranian state television quoted Alexander Rumyantsev, head of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency, as saying.
A key part of the agreement obliges Tehran to repatriate all spent nuclear fuel to Russia. Moscow hopes this will allay U.S. worries that Iran may use the spent fuel, which could be reprocessed into bomb-grade plutonium, to develop arms.
Rumyantsev said Bushehr would start operating in late 2006.
"We are planning the physical launch at the end of 2006. About half a year before this the first delivery of fuel will take place," Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.
Iranian officials put the plant's launch about six months earlier in mid-2006. Diplomats in Tehran said they may have been referring to the reactor's initial test phase.
TIMING DISPUTES
Rumyantsev said the first batch of enriched uranium fuel was in Siberia ready to be shipped.
Disagreements over the timing of the shipment delayed the signing of the deal, which had been due to be inked in Tehran on Saturday. Tehran wanted Russia to send the fuel earlier, Iranian officials said.
Iran said long delays in signing the agreement, which has been under negotiation for more than two years, were technical and had nothing to do with pressure exerted by Washington, which wants Russia to halt nuclear cooperation with Iran.
"My understanding is that international developments have had no effect on this contract," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told state radio.
Once operational Bushehr will generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Initiated before Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and badly damaged during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq (news - web sites) war, the project was later revived with Russian help and has cost about $800 million.
Iran has announced plans to build several more power plants, generating 7,000 MW from nuclear power by 2021. Russia hopes to claim a significant share of this new business.
The Bushehr power station has aroused less concern in the West than Iran's plans to produce its own nuclear fuel for future reactors using uranium mined, processed and enriched inside the country.
The European Union (news - web sites) and United States want Iran to scrap its uranium enrichment plans entirely. Iran has refused but has suspended enrichment while it tries to reach a negotiated settlement with the European Union.
(Additional reporting by Sonia Oxley in Moscow)
The agreement, signed by the two countries' nuclear energy chiefs at the Bushehr atomic reactor in southern Iran, came as Tehran faced heightened pressure from the United States, which accuses it of secretly developing nuclear weapons.
Iran denies the charge and has received strong backing from Moscow, which is keen to play a major role in Iran's nuclear energy program.
"This is a very important incident in the ties between the two countries and in the near future a number of Russian experts will be sent to Bushehr to equip the power station," Iranian state television quoted Alexander Rumyantsev, head of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency, as saying.
A key part of the agreement obliges Tehran to repatriate all spent nuclear fuel to Russia. Moscow hopes this will allay U.S. worries that Iran may use the spent fuel, which could be reprocessed into bomb-grade plutonium, to develop arms.
Rumyantsev said Bushehr would start operating in late 2006.
"We are planning the physical launch at the end of 2006. About half a year before this the first delivery of fuel will take place," Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.
Iranian officials put the plant's launch about six months earlier in mid-2006. Diplomats in Tehran said they may have been referring to the reactor's initial test phase.
TIMING DISPUTES
Rumyantsev said the first batch of enriched uranium fuel was in Siberia ready to be shipped.
Disagreements over the timing of the shipment delayed the signing of the deal, which had been due to be inked in Tehran on Saturday. Tehran wanted Russia to send the fuel earlier, Iranian officials said.
Iran said long delays in signing the agreement, which has been under negotiation for more than two years, were technical and had nothing to do with pressure exerted by Washington, which wants Russia to halt nuclear cooperation with Iran.
"My understanding is that international developments have had no effect on this contract," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told state radio.
Once operational Bushehr will generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Initiated before Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and badly damaged during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq (news - web sites) war, the project was later revived with Russian help and has cost about $800 million.
Iran has announced plans to build several more power plants, generating 7,000 MW from nuclear power by 2021. Russia hopes to claim a significant share of this new business.
The Bushehr power station has aroused less concern in the West than Iran's plans to produce its own nuclear fuel for future reactors using uranium mined, processed and enriched inside the country.
The European Union (news - web sites) and United States want Iran to scrap its uranium enrichment plans entirely. Iran has refused but has suspended enrichment while it tries to reach a negotiated settlement with the European Union.
(Additional reporting by Sonia Oxley in Moscow)
