Iran has begun mining uranium deposits at Saqand, 200 km from the city of Yazd. The Iranian president Mohammad Khatami was quoted as saying “We cannot leave our future in the hands of others who can be the target of all manner of influences. It is for us Iranians to decide if we prefer to use our own [nuclear] fuel, although that will in no way change our agreements with the Russians.” Iran has had a “long-term” programme to attain nuclear self-sufficiency, he stressed, but emphasised a continuing commitment to developing nuclear energy for peaceful ends. To tap the “major reserves” of uranium ore found some 200 km from Yazd, Iran plans to develop a range of facilities. A uranium oxide plant has already been completed in the central city of Isfahan, complemented by an enrichment plant under construction near Kashan. Work has also begun in Yazd province on a plant to produce yellow cake, while another facility at an undisclosed location will complete the cycle, turning out finished fuel entirely made in Iran. Other mines near Ardakan, in central Iran, have also begun extracting uranium from underground reserves, according to Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, who said that uranium processing was about to start.
Iran’s representative at the IAEA, Ali-Akbar Salehi, noted that the IAEA was informed of Iran’s activities in Isfahan with respect to uranium conversion during a visit from its officials three years ago. IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said Iran’s uranium project has been known for some time. “We have been aware of this uranium exploration project for several years now.” A senior IAEA official had visited the mine in 1992, she said, “and the Iranians announced to us officially in September their plans to develop an ambitious nuclear-power programme that would include the entire nuclear fuel cycle.” However she noted that, “We have no safeguards on natural uranium. These safeguards are enforced up to a certain degree of enrichment.” But the US state department expressed reservations. “Iran’s ambitious and costly pursuit of a complete [closed] nuclear fuel cycle only makes sense if it’s in support of a nuclear weapons programme,” said spokes-man Richard Boucher. “We continue to have very grave concerns that Iran is using its supposedly peaceful nuclear programme as a pretext for advancing a nuclear-weapons programme”. Boucher added that if reports suggesting that Iran will reprocess spent fuel were accurate, this would “directly contradict” Iran’s agreement with Russia to return all of the spent fuel to Russia. “That would cause us further concern, as it would lay bare Iran’s ambition to develop the capability to produce weapons-usable fissile material under its own control.”
