Iran, Russia Sign Nuclear Fuel Deal Opposed by U.S.

Russia and Iran signed a nuclear fuel supply deal long opposed by Washington Sunday, paving the way for Tehran to start up its first atomic power plant next year, state media reported. The agreement, signed by the two countries' nuclear energy chiefs at the Bushehr atomic reactor in southern Iran, came as Tehran faced heightened pressure from the United States, which accuses it of secretly developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge and has received strong backing from Moscow, which is keen to play a major role in Iran's nuclear energy program. "This is a very important incident in the ties between the two countries and in the near future a number of Russian experts will be sent to Bushehr to equip the power station," Iranian state television quoted Alexander Rumyantsev, head of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency, as saying. A key part of the agreement obliges Tehran to repatriate all spent nuclear fuel to Russia. Moscow hopes this will allay U.S. worries that Iran may use the spent fuel, which could be reprocessed into bomb-grade plutonium, to develop arms. Rumyantsev said Bushehr would start operating in late 2006. "We are planning the physical launch at the end of 2006. About half a year before this the first delivery of fuel will take place," Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying. Iranian officials put the plant's launch about six months earlier in mid-2006. Diplomats in Tehran said they may have been referring to the reactor's initial test phase. [more]