Iran resumes work on nuclear projects after talks collapse
Source: Agencies |
April 10, 2013, Wednesday
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IRAN said yesterday operations had begun at two uranium mines and a milling plant and that Western opposition would not slow its nuclear work, days after talks with world powers made no breakthrough.
Iran opened the Saghand 1 and 2 mines in the central province of Yazd and the Shahid Rezaeinejad yellowcake plant in the town of Ardakan in the same region to mark the country's National Nuclear Technology Day.
Yellowcake can be further processed into enriched uranium to make fuel for nuclear power plants, Iran's stated aim, or to provide material for atomic bombs if refined much more, which the West fears may be the Islamic Republic's ultimate goal.
Talks between Iran and six world powers held in Kazakhstan last week failed to make progress in resolving a decade-old dispute that threatens to trigger a new war in the Middle East. Iran denies Western accusations that it is seeking an atomic weapons capability.
Iran has for years carried out construction work at Saghand and Ardakan, and yesterday's announcement was apparently intended to show that it is becoming increasingly self-sufficient in the production of nuclear fuel, despite tightening sanctions.
The Ardakan plant will handle the ore from Saghand and can produce 60 tons of yellowcake annually, IRNA said.
Iran, a major oil producer, says it is enriching uranium for a planned network of nuclear power stations.
Western nations have "tried their utmost to prevent Iran from going nuclear, but Iran has gone nuclear," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech at Iran's Atomic Energy Organization yesterday.
"This nuclear technology and power and science has been institutionalized ... All the stages are in our control and every day that we go forward a new horizon opens up before the Iranian nation."
The International Institute for Strategic Studies said the Saghand deposits had been discovered in 1985.
But because of the depth of the deposits and the ore's low uranium content "the cost of yellowcake produced from the Saghand mine is likely to exceed current world market prices several times over," the think-tank said in a 2011 report. "Iran has invested in the Saghand mine to help it develop an independent source of uranium for its nuclear requirements but project development has proceeded very slowly," it added.
As of mid-2010, construction at both Saghand and the Ardakan milling facility was continuing and there was no visible production taking place, ISIS said. It said it appeared that all Iran's uranium mining and milling had been carried out at another mine, Gchine, in the south.
A report published last week by US think-tanks said the scarcity and low quality of Tehran's uranium resources "inevitably compel Iran to rely on external sources of natural and processed uranium."
"Despite the Iranian leadership's assertions to the contrary, Iran's estimated uranium endowments are nowhere near sufficient to supply its planned nuclear program," it said.
Iran opened the Saghand 1 and 2 mines in the central province of Yazd and the Shahid Rezaeinejad yellowcake plant in the town of Ardakan in the same region to mark the country's National Nuclear Technology Day.
Yellowcake can be further processed into enriched uranium to make fuel for nuclear power plants, Iran's stated aim, or to provide material for atomic bombs if refined much more, which the West fears may be the Islamic Republic's ultimate goal.
Talks between Iran and six world powers held in Kazakhstan last week failed to make progress in resolving a decade-old dispute that threatens to trigger a new war in the Middle East. Iran denies Western accusations that it is seeking an atomic weapons capability.
Iran has for years carried out construction work at Saghand and Ardakan, and yesterday's announcement was apparently intended to show that it is becoming increasingly self-sufficient in the production of nuclear fuel, despite tightening sanctions.
The Ardakan plant will handle the ore from Saghand and can produce 60 tons of yellowcake annually, IRNA said.
Iran, a major oil producer, says it is enriching uranium for a planned network of nuclear power stations.
Western nations have "tried their utmost to prevent Iran from going nuclear, but Iran has gone nuclear," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech at Iran's Atomic Energy Organization yesterday.
"This nuclear technology and power and science has been institutionalized ... All the stages are in our control and every day that we go forward a new horizon opens up before the Iranian nation."
The International Institute for Strategic Studies said the Saghand deposits had been discovered in 1985.
But because of the depth of the deposits and the ore's low uranium content "the cost of yellowcake produced from the Saghand mine is likely to exceed current world market prices several times over," the think-tank said in a 2011 report. "Iran has invested in the Saghand mine to help it develop an independent source of uranium for its nuclear requirements but project development has proceeded very slowly," it added.
As of mid-2010, construction at both Saghand and the Ardakan milling facility was continuing and there was no visible production taking place, ISIS said. It said it appeared that all Iran's uranium mining and milling had been carried out at another mine, Gchine, in the south.
A report published last week by US think-tanks said the scarcity and low quality of Tehran's uranium resources "inevitably compel Iran to rely on external sources of natural and processed uranium."
"Despite the Iranian leadership's assertions to the contrary, Iran's estimated uranium endowments are nowhere near sufficient to supply its planned nuclear program," it said.
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