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Iran denies nuclear slowdown, sets big expansion
Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:14pm EST
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By Hossein Jaseb
BUSHEHR, Iran (Reuters) - Iran said on Wednesday it plans a nearly 10-fold expansion of its uranium enrichment capacity in the next five years, denying a U.N. report which said its nuclear activities had slowed.
"Our plans to install and run centrifuges is not based on political conditions ... We have neither slowed down or accelerated our work there," Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told a news conference.
He was speaking in southwestern coastal town of Bushehr where Iran is building its first nuclear power plant. Iran said on Wednesday it had carried out successful tests at the Russian-built plant, taking it a step closer to its launch.
The visiting head of Russia's state nuclear company, Sergei Kiriyenko, hailed "significant improvements" in the Islamic Republic's first such plant to produce electricity.
Aghazadeh said Iran would over the next five years install 50,000 centrifuges used to enrich uranium at its Natanz plant in the central desert, up from the 6,000 he said were now running.
"We will increase our activities to install more by the end of next (Iranian) year (to March 2010)," he said.
He did not specify whether all 6,000 were enriching uranium. Iran was feeding uranium into just under 4,000 as of February 1 but had another 1,600 installed with most being tested at the time, the International Atomic Energy Agency said last week.
The latest IAEA report showed Iran had added few centrifuges to production since August in what U.N. officials assessed to be a "considerable" slowdown in the expansion of the program.
But the report also showed a notable buildup in Iran's stock of enriched uranium, in theory giving it enough to convert into fuel for one atom bomb if it so chose. But this would require a raft of technical steps taking two or more years, experts say.
The West accuses Iran of covertly seeking to build nuclear weapons, something Tehran denies, insisting its activities are aimed at generating electricity to meet soaring demand in the world's fourth largest oil producer.
Last week IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said the reason for the perceived slowdown may have been political -- to keep open the chance of talks with U.S. President Barack Obama's new administration -- rather than caused by technical issues.
Obama has said the United States is prepared to talk to Tehran, in a break from his predecessor's approach, but his administration has also warned of tougher sanctions if Iran continues to defy U.N. demands to suspend enrichment.
"FACE REALITY, AMERICA"
"America should face reality and accept living with a nuclear Iran. This acceptance will allow America better access to Iran's (nuclear) market," Aghazadeh said, adding that a fresh nuclear achievement would be announced on April 9.
He did not give details. Continued...
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