Feb 9, 2010, 16:52 GMT
Tehran/Vienna - Iran on Tuesday started the 20-per-cent uranium enrichment process, the head of the country's Atomic Energy Organization said.
'The process started in the research hall in the Natanz plant and a cascade of 164 centrifuges have been prepared for the 20-per-cent enrichment process,' Ali-Akbar Salehi told the Iranian Student's News Agency (ISNA), apparently on his way to the Natanz plant.
'This cascade can produce 3 to 5 kilogrammes of 20-per-cent uranium per month for the Tehran medical reactor,' he added.
He said the process would be supervised by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), based in the capital Tehran.
A spokesman at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna confirmed that inspectors of his agency were present in Natanz, explaining they had already been there for a routine visit.
However, he said the IAEA would not comment on the activities in Natanz.
A Vienna-based diplomat said that while there was a possibility that Iran had already started the actual enrichment, the preparation stage of the process usually takes some time.
Salehi further said that the new process line was separate from the routine enrichment line of 3.5 per cent.
He added that the monthly production of 3 to 5 kilogrammes of the 20-per-cent-enriched uranium would be twice the quantity the Tehran reactor would need per month.
The atomic chief reiterated that Tehran was still prepared to hold negotiations for nuclear cooperation 'if the world powers stopped wasting time and acting more rationally.'
Unlike similar occasions in previous years, Iran kept the ceremony comparatively low profile. Apparently only state-run television was present at the site but has not yet sent any footage.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said the new enrichment process had nothing to do with the IAEA-brokered plan to ship low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for processing later into fuel for the Tehran medical reactor.
'The talks on the uranium exchange deal could still be continued but as we have to build new nuclear power plants in the near future for covering our energy and medical needs, we also have to consider the relevant fuel for these plants,' Mehmanparast said.
Salehi claimed on Monday that Iran would build 10 new enrichment plants within the next Persian year which starts on March 21.
'Some plants need uranium with a (enrichment) grade of 3.5 per cent and others would need a 20-per-cent grade, therefore we have to act according to our needs,' Mehmanparast added.
Iran has been sending conflicting signals on its latest enrichment drive. The Foreign Ministry said that the new enrichment process had nothing to do with the fuel swap, but Salehi claimed the higher-grade enrichment would be stopped as soon as the swap deal was realized and implemented.
Mehmanparast rejected Western charges that Iran's position was just a delaying tactic and called them 'political games and merely rhetoric.'
'We have clear plans and we have clear nuclear rights and we cannot wait forever for others to make up their mind (whether to cooperate with Iran or not),' he said.
'The issue of the medical Tehran reactor (also used for the treatment of cancer) is a humanitarian one as we cannot make sick patients wait for political agreements but should rather seek their cure,' the spokesman added.
Mehmanparast also said that plans by world powers to impose renewed sanctions on Iran would be futile.
'Such moves would be a mistake and just lead into another dead- end,' the spokesman said while reiterating that such threats would not make Iran halt its nuclear projects.
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