Iran claims uranium self-sufficiency
Source: Agencies |
December 6, 2010, Monday
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SCIENTISTS in Iran claimed another advance in its disputed nuclear activities yesterday, a day before opening a new round of talks on that work with world powers.
The country's nuclear chief said that for the first time the country had mined its own uranium - which can be processed into material used to make nuclear energy or nuclear weapons - giving it a way to bypass United Nations' sanctions prohibiting the material's import.
The announcement displays Iran's determination to master nuclear technology without outside help just a day before world powers meet Iranian officials in Geneva in another attempt to persuade them to freeze key aspects of that work.
Nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the uranium ore concentrate, known as yellowcake, was produced at the Gachin uranium mine in southern Iran and delivered to the uranium conversion facility in the central city of Isfahan for reprocessing.
Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the delivery was evidence that last week's assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist and the wounding of another in mysterious bombings will not hamper Iran's nuclear progress.
"Today, we saw the shipment of the first domestically produced yellowcake ... from Gachin mine to the Isfahan nuclear facility," said Salehi.
Iran is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions that forbid the supply of nuclear materials to Tehran.
In 2009, Western nations claimed Iran was running out of raw uranium for its nuclear program. Tehran issued denials but, whatever the truth, has in recent years sought to extract uranium from its own deposits.
Iran acquired a considerable stock of yellowcake from South Africa in the 1970s under the former US-backed shah's original nuclear program, as well as unspecified quantities of yellowcake obtained from China long before the UN sanctions.
Salehi, who is also the country's vice president, said the step meant Iran was now self-sufficient over the entire nuclear fuel cycle - from extracting uranium ore to enriching it and producing nuclear fuel.
He added that the message to those meeting with Iran in Geneva today and Tuesday was that they cannot stop Iran's nuclear work.
"No matter how much effort they put into their sanctions ... our nuclear activities will proceed and they will witness greater achievements in the future," he said in an interview with state-run Press TV after the announcement.
Salehi said the activity will be carried out under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The country's nuclear chief said that for the first time the country had mined its own uranium - which can be processed into material used to make nuclear energy or nuclear weapons - giving it a way to bypass United Nations' sanctions prohibiting the material's import.
The announcement displays Iran's determination to master nuclear technology without outside help just a day before world powers meet Iranian officials in Geneva in another attempt to persuade them to freeze key aspects of that work.
Nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the uranium ore concentrate, known as yellowcake, was produced at the Gachin uranium mine in southern Iran and delivered to the uranium conversion facility in the central city of Isfahan for reprocessing.
Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the delivery was evidence that last week's assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist and the wounding of another in mysterious bombings will not hamper Iran's nuclear progress.
"Today, we saw the shipment of the first domestically produced yellowcake ... from Gachin mine to the Isfahan nuclear facility," said Salehi.
Iran is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions that forbid the supply of nuclear materials to Tehran.
In 2009, Western nations claimed Iran was running out of raw uranium for its nuclear program. Tehran issued denials but, whatever the truth, has in recent years sought to extract uranium from its own deposits.
Iran acquired a considerable stock of yellowcake from South Africa in the 1970s under the former US-backed shah's original nuclear program, as well as unspecified quantities of yellowcake obtained from China long before the UN sanctions.
Salehi, who is also the country's vice president, said the step meant Iran was now self-sufficient over the entire nuclear fuel cycle - from extracting uranium ore to enriching it and producing nuclear fuel.
He added that the message to those meeting with Iran in Geneva today and Tuesday was that they cannot stop Iran's nuclear work.
"No matter how much effort they put into their sanctions ... our nuclear activities will proceed and they will witness greater achievements in the future," he said in an interview with state-run Press TV after the announcement.
Salehi said the activity will be carried out under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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