A defiant Iran yesterday began loading fuel into its Russian-built first nuclear power plant in the face of stiff opposition from world powers to its controversial atomic programme.
Despite leading Western opposition to the Islamic republic’s project to enrich uranium in defiance of four sets of UN sanctions, the US said it saw no “proliferation risk” from the new plant.
Western nations suspect that Iranian uranium enrichment masks a weapons drive, a charge strongly denied by Tehran.
After three-and-a-half decades of delay, engineers finally began transferring the atomic fuel supplied by Russia in the presence of UN inspectors into the plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.
“Despite all pressures, sanctions and hardships forced by Western nations, we are witnessing Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities through the start of the Bushehr power plant,” Iran’s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters.
“This is the symbol of the heroic Iranian nation’s resistance and determination in achieving its goals,” he said, adding that Bushehr’s construction came after “lots of ups and downs”.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Darby Holladay told AFP the reactor “underscores that Iran does not need an indigenous enrichment capability if its intentions are purely peaceful”.
“We recognise that the Bushehr reactor is designed to provide civilian nuclear power and do not view it as a proliferation risk,” Holladay said.
Russian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko, in Bushehr for yesterday’s ceremony, said that the “countdown” for the actual running of the nuclear power plant had now begun.
“Today is a great day and we have entered the physical launch of the Bushehr plant,” he said.
Kiriyenko later said the Bushehr facility was built under the supervision of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, adding that any “country which sticks by IAEA norms and safety regulations has the right to peaceful nuclear technology.”
“For us it (completion of Bushehr) is a proof of Russia meeting its obligations,” he said, adding that there were no talks with Moscow on Russia building further nuclear power stations for Tehran.
The much-anticipated fuel loading comes despite Moscow, a long-time nuclear ally of Tehran, hardening its position on Iran’s nuclear programme. (AFP)
In June, Russia backed the fourth round of UN sanctions against Iran for enriching uranium, the most controversial aspect of its atomic drive.
Iran says it is enriching uranium to power nuclear reactors so they can eventually generate electricity of around 20,000 megawatts.
Despite being OPEC’s second-largest crude oil exporter and having the world’s second-largest gas reserves, Iran insists it needs nuclear power for when its fossil fuels eventually run out.
Doubts over Bushehr had been raised on July 12 after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tehran was close to attaining the potential to build a nuclear weapon, the harshest comment so far by a Russian leader.
But yesterday, Salehi thanked Moscow, saying the Bushehr plant had become an “important symbol of cooperation between the two nations.”
Last week, Salehi said the fuel transfer would be complete by September 5. Russia has supplied 82 tonnes of fuel for Bushehr and plans to take back the spent material for reprocessing.
The actual commissioning of the one-billion-dollar plant is expected in October or November when it connects to the country’s national grid.
Britain remains concerned over Iran’s nuclear programme.
“Until Iran suspends its proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities and responds in full to IAEA concerns about potential military dimensions, it will be in contravention of six UNSC (UN Security Council) resolutions and have to bear the economic cost of sanctions,” Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said.
German contractors from Siemens began work on the Bushehr plant, which is not targeted under UN or other sanctions, back in the 1970s under the rule of the US-backed shah.
The project was shelved when the shah was toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution, but was revived a decade later under Iran’s current supreme leader Ali Khamenei. In 1994, Russia agreed to complete its construction.
Bushehr has always been seen as a potential target in the event of a military strike by Iran’s arch-foes, the US and Israel, which have not ruled out military action against Tehran’s nuclear programme.