Friday, November 15, 2013

IAEA Report: IRAN SLOWS DOWN on Nuclear PROGAMs

Iran has stopped expanding its uranium enrichment capacity, a UN inspection report showed on Thursday, in a potential boost for diplomacy to end Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West, Reuters reported. 
 
The quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also said that since August no further major components had been added to the Arak heavy water site. 
 
The marked slowdown in the growth of nuclear activities may be intended to back up Rouhani's diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute and strengthen Tehran's hand in talks with world powers due to resume on November 20.
c_330_235_16777215_0_http___172.19.100.100_images_stories_famous_02_am32.jpg 
The six powers - the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia, and China - are pressing Iran to curb its nuclear program. 
 
Iran halted a previously rapid increase in its capacity to refine uranium "when their team changed" in August, a senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA report said, referring to Rouhani and his administration.
 
But Iran is still pressing ahead with the enrichment of uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, the report showed. 
 
The Arak reactor, which Iran previously said it would start up in the first quarter of 2014 but later postponed, is a bone of contention. 
 
France said during talks between Iran and world powers in Geneva last week that Tehran must suspend building Arak.
 
However, the IAEA report showed that Iran has "more or less frozen" construction of the heavy water reactor, the diplomat said, making clear he did not believe it would be up and running any time soon. "Major components are missing from the plant." 
 
The quarterly IAEA document was the first that included developments only since Rouhani took office on August 3, prompting a diplomatic opening during which Iran and the world powers have made progress towards a possible nuclear accord.  
 
It was issued the same week as Iran agreed to grant IAEA inspectors access to two nuclear-related facilities as part of a cooperation pact to resolve outstanding issues between the two. 
 
"Iran has now taken two unilateral steps to show it wants a deal - it has stopped expanding its nuclear program and begun to provide more transparency," said Middle East expert Cliff Kupchan of risk consultancy Eurasia group. This was "clever diplomacy - it puts the onus on the West to respond."
 
The report also showed that Iran's stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium had risen by about 5 percent to 196 kg (431 pounds) since August, largely due to a temporary halt in converting the material into reactor fuel.
 
The IAEA said Iran had installed only four first-generation IR-1 centrifuges - machines used to refine uranium - at its Natanz plant since August, making a total of 15,240. In the previous three-month period, May-August, it put in place an additional 1,800. Not all of the centrifuges are operating. 
 
The report also said Iran had not installed any more advanced centrifuges, which can refine uranium much faster than the IR-1 model. 
 
Rouhani succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in August, promising to try to settle the nuclear row and ease sanctions.
 
Negotiations between Iran and the six major powers are scheduled to resume in Geneva next week. They want Iran to restrict its program in exchange for limited sanctions relief as part of a confidence-building deal. 

No comments:

Post a Comment