Iran claims nuclear advance ahead of talks
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A day ahead of meeting between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and European Union (EU) foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton on behalf of the five UN Security Council permanent members and Germany (G5+1), Iran announced a nuclear achievement on Sunday.
Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali-Akbar Salehi said Sunday that Iran has become self-sufficient in producing nuclear yellowcake.
Salehi said the country's first domestically produced nuclear yellowcake was shipped to central city of Isfahan for processing, according to a live broadcast from Iran's IRINN state TV channel.
Yellowcake is a kind of uranium concentrate powder obtained from leach solutions, in an intermediate step in the processing of uranium ores. Typically yellowcakes are obtained through the milling and chemical processing of uranium ore is insoluble in water and contains about 80 percent uranium oxide, the raw material for enrichment.
The first consignment of yellowcake was shipped from Gachin mine in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, to Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) under the surveillance of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA), Salehi said in an exclusive interview with local Press TV on Sunday.
Iran would speed up exploration, extraction, and conversion of uranium ore to yellowcake in the near future, he said, adding that yellowcake had been previously imported to the country.
"Today, we are witnessing a very remarkable achievement," he was quoted as saying.
Salehi's remarks came a day before the first high-level discussions between Iran and G5+1 in Geneva since October 2009.
Iran's envoy to IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said in Vienna on Saturday that Tehran is against any move which would lead to nuclear apartheid, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Soltanieh dismissed a proposal made by the U.S. and certain other western countries on the establishment of a nuclear fuel bank.
Referring to the studies on providing nuclear fuel made in the past three decades, he said the talks have had no outcome and that no progress has yet been made in that regard.
All the IAEA member states need enough time to reach an acceptable result since they are still suspicious about all dimensions and impacts of the fuel bank issue and there is still lack of confidence on supplying nuclear fuel, he was quoted as saying.
He reiterated that members of the agency are seriously concerned over efforts aimed at depriving other countries of producing nuclear fuel, according to IRNA.
Tehran opposes any restrictions over access to nuclear fuel production, he said, stressing that the Islamic Republic is also against denying undeniable rights of all countries for development of nuclear technology and know-how for peaceful purposes.
He emphasized that the proposal of establishment of the nuclear fuel bank is not a solution to the existing problems, noting that it will pose a new problem and will create political tensions among the member states, said IRNA.
Iranian officials have reiterated that the country will not negotiate over its inalienable rights of nuclear enrichment in the upcoming talks with the six world powers.
The West has long accused Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under a civilian disguise, although Tehran has always denied such charges.
