Nuclear Iran: A Headache or a Heal?

Part - III

By Sohail Parwaz

When the newly elected Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad rejected a broad compromise package with incentives put forth by the European Union (EU), Iran commenced uranium conversion at its nuclear facility in Esfahan for the first time since November 2004. As a result the EU called off its negotiations with Tehran. The ‘ever vigilant’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board adopted a resolution three days later on August 11, 2005, demanding Iran halt nuclear fuel work, however the non-aligned nations expressed their reservations.

Now a cold war started between the IAEA and Iran. Almost a month later Tehran threatened to resume uranium enrichment, block UN inspection and abandon the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if it was referred to the UN Security Council (UNSC). On September 24, 2005, the IAEA passed a disputed resolution reserving the right to send Iran’s case to the UNSC with the Russians and Chinese abstaining. In November the same year, to tone down the severity of the issue, the Russians made an offer to allow Iran to enrich uranium on their soil. The proposal was promptly backed by the US and the EU. However, Iran responded to the offer in January 2006 and besides breaking off negotiations with the Russians, Tehran insisted on enriching uranium on its own territory. The same month the tensions mounted a lot.

On one side, the Iranians removed the IAEA seals on equipment related to uranium enrichment at its nuclear facility in Natanz, while Britain, France and Germany said that the time had come for the UNSC to become involved and call for an emergency IAEA meeting. Iran did not miss a moment and threatened to halt cooperation with the IAEA if it had gone to the Security Council. The five permanent Security Council members and Germany agreed to a draft resolution asking the IAEA board of governors to inform the UNSC about Iran’s nuclear programme. Recommendations for the punitive measures were removed from the draft at Russia’s request. Seeing Iran’s stance and attitude, Russia and China dropped their earlier opposition, and agreed to support Western powers by voting for a resolution to refer Iran to the UNSC over its disputed nuclear activities, during an emergency session of the IAEA board of governors held on February 2, 2006.

Presently Iran has more than a dozen identified nuclear facilities. However, details about their reallocation (if any) and operation could not be confirmed.  Presently, there are two light water nuclear power plant reactors at Bushehr. A heavy water moderated reactor is being constructed at Arak, which is likely to be commissioned in 2014. Iran’s first uranium ore mines are expected to have a deposit of about 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes of uranium oxide at a density of about 500 ppm over an area of 100 to 150 square kilometres at Saghand. The most prominent and much talked about nuclear facility is at Natanz. This uranium enrichment facility is for converting uranium ore into a form usable by power plants besides having the capability of creating highly enriched uranium. The nuclear research centre located at Tehran is named after the city and known as Tehran Nuclear Research Centre (TNRC). It is being run by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI). It is equipped with a US-supplied five megawatt nuclear research reactor capable of producing 600g of plutonium annually in spent fuel.

Ispahan has at least two nuclear facilities. A nuclear technology centre meant for nuclear research, currently operates four small nuclear research reactors supplied by China. It is also run by the AEOI. The other one is a uranium conversion facility that converts yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride. The Atomic Energy Research Centre of Bonaab investigates the applications of nuclear technology in agriculture and again being run by the AEOI. The Karaj Centre of Agricultural Research and Nuclear Medicine is located at Hashtgerd, established in 1991. There is a nuclear fuel site located at Ardekan, which has recently been completed according to some reports. Laskarabad has an isotope separation pilot plant. It used to carry out laser enrichment experiments, however it was shut down when Iran declared that it had no intentions of enriching uranium using the laser isotopes separation technique. There is a radiation processing centre located at Yazd, while a wastage storage site is located in nearby vicinity at Anarak. There are a few other suspected facilities, but those are not confirmed even by the IAEA and those are at Parchin, Lavizan and Chalous.

Iran claims that nuclear power is necessary for a booming population and rapidly industrialising nation. Honestly speaking, it has as much right to achieve the nuclear capability as the Americans, the French or any other free nation. The Iranian claim points to the fact that Iran’s population has more than doubled in 20 years. Iran questions why it should not be allowed to diversify its sources of energy, especially when there are fears of its oil fields eventually being depleted.

(to be concluded)

Tags: Iran nuclear-sites USA, Germany France Russia