Envoy: Iran starts R&D activities to produce new fuel for Tehran reactor

Iran’s permanent representative to Vienna-based international organizations says research and development (R&D) activities have begun to produce new fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.

“R&D activities related to the design of an improved type of fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor has started. Natural uranium will be used to produce uranium metal in the first stage,” Kazem Gharibabadi tweeted on Wednesday.

He also noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been notified of Iran’s plan, saying, “@iaeaorg received the updated DIQ for Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant and conducted an inspection.”

In a statement, the IAEA confirmed that “Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi today informed IAEA Member States about recent developments regarding Iran’s plans to conduct R&D activities on uranium metal production as part of its declared aim to design an improved type of fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.”

According to the IAEA’s confidential report to member states, obtained by Reuters, Iran is seeking to produce uranium metal from natural uranium and then uranium metal enriched up to 20 percent for fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor.

The “modification and installation of the relevant equipment for the mentioned R&D activities have been already started” at the Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant in the city of Isfahan, the report said.

Russia has warned that there is nothing to overdramatize about Iran’s “predictable” announcement that it was enriching uranium to a higher level, while China has invited all sides involved to exercise restraint.

The measure was taken under a law, dubbed the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions, which has been already approved by the Parliament (Majlis).

The legislation requires the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to produce at least 120 kilograms of 20-percent enriched uranium annually and store it inside the country within two months.

It also urges the AEOI to start the installation, gas injection, enrichment and storage of nuclear materials up to an appropriate enrichment degree within a period of three months using at least 1,000 IR-2m centrifuges.

In 2015, Iran showed to the world the peaceful nature of its nuclear program by signing the landmark nuclear deal with six world powers, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The agreement was also ratified in the form of a UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

However, Washington left the JCPOA in May 2018 and re-imposed illegal sanctions against Tehran in flagrant violation of Resolution 2231.

The Islamic Republic remained fully compliant with the deal for an entire year, waiting for the co-signatories to fulfill their end of the bargain by offsetting the impacts of Washington’s bans on the Iranian economy.

As the European parties failed to do so, Tehran moved in May 2019 to suspend its JCPOA commitments under Articles 26 and 36 of the agreement covering Tehran’s legal rights.