Iranian officials declared victory for country's nuclear program

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iranian officials declared victory for the country's nuclear program, a day ahead of a ceremony in which Russia is set to load fuel for the first time into Iran's first nuclear plant, the WSJ reported.

"With the launch of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, our country will be among the few states in the world with complete control and in full command of their nuclear-fuel cycle," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, said.

The plant, located in south of Iran on the shores of the Persian Gulf, was built in 1974 before the Islamic revolution that toppled the shah. The project was largely abandoned from 1979 and revived in 1995 after Iran signed a $1 billion contract with Russia to help make the plant operational.

Since then, international concern and suspicions that Iran might be pursuing nuclear weapons delayed the project. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes and fueling the plant isn't banned under the United Nations sanctions against Iran. The Obama administration, which has previously been critical of Moscow's role in Bushehr, has largely voiced support for the plant launch.

The Bushehr plant will enrich uranium to a low level of about 3.5%, too low for making a nuclear bomb. Iran is already enriching uranium at that level and it has started a pilot program to increase its enrichment to 20% for medical research purposes. Uranium has to be enriched to 90% level for warheads.

Iranian nuclear officials as well as the head of Russia's state nuclear agency, Rosatom will attend a ceremony at the Bushehr plant on Saturday. Russia says the project will give Iran incentive to negotiate with the West and limit its nuclear program to peaceful purposes.

"It is a most important anchor which keeps Iran within the regime of nonproliferation," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. "It is fully protected from any proliferation risks whatsoever. This idea is shared by all the leaders of Western countries."

Iranian officials said it would take about a month before the plant generates electricity, a key milestone in the country's pursuit long pursuit of nuclear program.