Ali Akbar Salehi
Iran is ready to deliver 1,200 kilograms of low-enriched uranium in one go in return for fuel for a Tehran reactor but the exchange must be inside the country, the Javan newspaper quoted nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi.
Salehi said Iran had earlier proposed to deliver its low-enriched uranium (LEU) in batches of 400 kilograms (880 pounds).
“But this has no technical justification because those who want to produce the (20 percent enriched) fuel say that this amount has no economic justification,” Salehi said in an interview with the newspaper.
“What we are saying now is that we are ready to deliver the total amount of fuel in one go on condition that the exchange take place inside Iran and simultaneously.
“We are ready to deliver 1,200 kilos (2,640 pounds) and to receive 120 kilos (264 pounds) of 20 percent enriched uranium.”
Salehi said what was important for Iran was that the exchange of the fuel happen on its own soil and that it be given guarantees it would receive the 20 percent enriched uranium.
“When we say that the exchange has to happen inside Iran, it means the (International Atomic Energy) Agency will take control of 1,200 kilos of our LEU and then seal it,” Salehi said.
He said the UN watchdog’s representatives could then “monitor it 24 hours a day and ensure that nobody broke the seal”.
“When they (the major powers) deliver the 20 percent fuel to us, they can then take the LEU out of the country.”
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