Iran produces 1st N. Fuel Rod Needed for Tehran research reactor

Iranian experts produced and successfully tested the first home-made uranium rod to fuel the Tehran research reactor, sources announced on Sunday. Iranian scientists transferred the home-made nuclear fuel rod into the heart of the Tehran research reactor after conducting all the necessary physical and dimensional tests to study its function in operational conditions. According to the report, the fuel rod with 1,500 mw/h of radioactivity has passed neutron and non-leakage tests successfully and is now under study for longer duration of radioactivity. The achievement came while the western states refrained from supplying nuclear fuel to the research reactor in a violation of their NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) undertakings. Iranian experts produced the fuel rod for the Tehran research reactor in December after enriching uranium to the purity level of 20% and it took them almost a month to carry out the initial tests. A report released by "The Nuclear Iran" website said the country had at the time "finalized production of the 20-percent-enriched fuel for the Tehran research reactor" thanks to the efforts made by a number of Iranian nuclear scientists and through relying on home grown know-how and technology. Late in October, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi had said "around 70 kilograms of (20-percent-enriched) uranium had been produced in Iran" by then, according to the latest inventory report he had seen, dating from September. In June, Iran's permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asqar Soltaniyeh said that Iran had produced over 50 kg of 20-percent-enriched uranium till then. Soltaniyeh said that "we need 120 kg of enrichment up to 20 percent ... for the Tehran reactor". After western suppliers shrugged off Iran's request for the supply of nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to provide and install the necessary equipments to start enriching uranium to the purity level of 20% to feed the research reactor which produces radioisotopes for medicinal use. The country on February 2, 2010, started injecting gas into a cascade of centrifuges to enrich uranium to the purity level of 20% to supply fuel for its research reactor, all under the supervision of the IAEA inspectors. After Iran announced to the IAEA that it had run out of nuclear fuel for its research reactor in Tehran, the Agency proposed a deal according to which Iran would send 3.5%-enriched uranium and receive 20-percent-enriched uranium from potential suppliers in return, all through the UN nuclear watchdog agency. The proposal was first introduced on October 1, 2010, when Iranian representatives and diplomats from the Group 5+1 held high-level talks in Geneva. But France and the United States, as potential suppliers, stalled the talks soon after the start. They offered a deal which would keep Tehran waiting for months before it could obtain the fuel, a luxury of time that Iran could afford as it was about to run out of 20-percent-enriched uranium. Iranian lawmakers rejected the deal after technical studies showed that it would only take two to three months for any country to further enrich the nuclear stockpile and turn it into metal nuclear plates for the Tehran Research Reactor, while suppliers had announced that they would not return fuel to Iran any less than seven months. Iran then put forward its own proposal that envisaged a two-staged exchange. According to Tehran's offer, the IAEA safeguards nearly one third of Iran's uranium stockpile inside the Iranian territory for the time that it takes to find a supplier. The western countries opposed Tehran's proposal. After West's opposition to Iran's proposal, Iranian, Brazilian and Turkish officials on May 17, 2010, signed an agreement named the 'Tehran Declaration' which presented a solution to a longstanding standoff between Iran and potential suppliers of nuclear fuel. According to the agreement, Iran would send some 1200 kg of its 3.5% enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for a total 120 kg of 20% enriched fuel. But again the western countries showed a negative and surprising reaction to the Tehran Declaration and sponsored a sanctions resolution against Iran at the UN Security Council instead of taking the opportunity presented by the agreement. Russia, France, and the US, in three separate letters, instead of giving a definite response to the Tehran Declaration, raised some questions about the deal, and the US took a draft sanctions resolution against Iran to the UN Security Council, which was later approved by the Council. Iran in a letter responded to the questions raised by the Vienna Group on the Tehran Declaration and voiced its preparedness to hold talks. In a later move, IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano proposed a plan to resume talks between the two sides, and Iran's former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced Tehran's agreement with Amano's proposal. "Iran is ready to take part in the meeting brokered by Amano," the then Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said. Yet, the western suppliers postponed the meeting, making it unclear if they would ever start considering Iran's request seriously. Accordingly, Iran announced that it would continue domestic enrichment plans to supply fuel for its reactor as it would never allow the western powers to play games or trample upon its rights in exchange for nuclear fuel.