Iran Needs 30 Tons of Enriched Uranium A Year: AEOI Chief
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi made it clear that the country needs an annual amount of 30 tons of enriched uranium for its nuclear power plant in Bushehr.
Speaking in a television talk show on Saturday night, Salehi said Iran is now enriching 2.5 tons of uranium each year, while the minimum need is assessed to be 30 tons a year.
He, however, noted that the West does not agree even on that amount of enrichment.
He said a contract with Russia, which built the Bushehr nuclear power plant, will expire after 8 years and Iran should be allowed to fuel the plant by itself afterwards.
“Eight years later, our (uranium) enrichment capacity must be 190,000 SWUs (Separative Work Units), and that amount would supply the 30 tons of enriched uranium for the Bushehr power plant,” Salehi explained.
Back in July 2014, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined that Iran’s uranium enrichment was a vital issue, adding that the country definitely needed an enrichment capacity of 190,000 SWUs.
The Leader had warned that the West's objective in the issue of uranium enrichment is to persuade the Islamic Republic of Iran to limit its enrichment capacity to 10,000 SWUs.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) are now in nuclear talks with the aim of hammering out a final agreement to end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Amid diplomatic negotiations, reports suggest that how to lift anti-Iran sanctions and Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity and the number of its centrifuge machines make up the main stumbling blocks to the nuclear talks.