Iran announces design of upgraded Tehran reactor fuel

The Islamic Republic's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna has announced the start of the design of an upgraded type of fuel for the Tehran research reactor and said that all stages of this program have been notified to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Kazem Gharibabadi, the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to International Organizations in Vienna, announced on Wednesday, January 14, that the design of an upgraded type of fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor has begun. According to IRNA, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency has informed the member states of this issue by publishing a report. According to Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's activities in this field are carried out in three stages, and in the first stage, metallic uranium is produced using natural uranium.

He told reporters: "All of these steps have been and will be brought to the attention of the Agency, and the Agency's inspectors also visited the fuel plate production plant three days ago." Kazem Gharibabadi claimed: "This measure will technically place Iran among the leading countries in the production of new fuels."

Following the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, the Islamic Republic gradually increased its nuclear activities, trying to not only confront the US, but also put pressure on the European Union to confront US sanctions. Iran's distancing from its JCPOA commitments has accelerated in the last two months, to the point where Ali Rabiei, the spokesman for the Iranian government, announced on Monday, January 5, that the gas injection process at the Fordow power plant has begun and Iran's first enriched uranium product is being produced.

He also said in an interview with IRNA that the 20% enrichment process was carried out following notification to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Islamic Republic has increased uranium enrichment to 20 percent, the level it had before the nuclear deal and the start of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This is a move that is deeply concerning for the 27 member states of the European Union. They considered the 20 percent enrichment of uranium at the underground Fordow facility a serious step in the development of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programs and called for its immediate halt.

Iran's move has even alarmed China and Japan, with China calling for restraint from both sides. Last week, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said the Iranian nuclear issue was "at a critical juncture" and "extremely complex." Russia's representative to the IAEA also said after the news was released that Moscow was not "enthused" about Iran's move.

The European Union has called on the Islamic Republic to give diplomatic means to resolve differences instead of expanding its nuclear activities. This is while the Iranian parliament, in December, through a rapid process, reviewed and approved the “Strategic Action Plan to Lift Sanctions and Protect the Interests of the Iranian Nation” and passed the approval of the Guardian Council. The law obliges the government to suspend all monitoring beyond safeguards, including the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, within two months of its entry into force in the parliament “if the commitments of the 4+1 countries towards Iran are not fully implemented and banking relations are not fully normalized and obstacles to the export and sale of Iranian oil and oil products are not fully removed and the foreign exchange proceeds from the sale are not fully and promptly returned.”

Source: DW