Tehran reactor loaded with domestically produced fuel

TEHRAN, Feb. 16 (MNA) -- The Tehran reactor was loaded with domestically produced nuclear fuel plates during a ceremony held on Wednesday to unveil Iran’s latest nuclear achievements. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Director Fereydoun Abbasi, presidential aide Mojtaba Hashemi-Samareh, the Chinese and Russian ambassadors to Iran, and a number of other foreign diplomats attended the event. During the ceremony, a number of domestically produced radioisotopes, which are used for the treatment cancer, were also unveiled. On the sidelines of the Group of 15 summit, which was held in Tehran on May 17, 2010, Iran, Turkey, and Brazil issued a declaration, according to which Iran was to ship 1200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel to power the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment. But the United States and its allies rejected the deal, which Iran had offered as a goodwill gesture, and imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran in June 2010. In response, Iran decided to produce 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel and convert it into plate type nuclear fuel and constructed an advanced plant at the Isfahan nuclear facility for manufacturing nuclear fuel plates. After the plant was inaugurated, Iran became one of the few countries with the capability to manufacture both nuclear fuel rods and nuclear fuel plates. New centrifuges installed at Natanz enrichment facility On Wednesday, the first cascade of a new generation of centrifuges was also installed at the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility and was brought on line. With the installation of the new centrifuges, the capacity of the facility for the production of 3.5 percent enriched uranium was increased by 50 percent.