Iran's 'secret' site gets visitors

TEHERAN: A team from the UN nuclear watchdog inspected a nuclear site in Iran yesterday that has heightened Western fears of a covert program to develop atomic bombs, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Iran added to global concerns over its nuclear intentions in September by revealing the existence of the site in central Iran after Western spy services penetrated a three-year veil of secrecy.

"The inspectors ... visited the facility in central Iran. They are expected to visit the site again," Mehr reported, without giving a source.

There was no immediate confirmation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The IAEA inspectors arrived in Iran early yesterday to examine the site, under construction 160 km south of Teheran.

Refined uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants and also to provide material for bombs if enriched further.

Iran, which says it wants only peaceful nuclear energy, agreed to open the new site to monitoring at talks with six world powers - the United States, Germany, France, Russia, China and Britain - held in Geneva on October 1.

But a second understanding struck in the Swiss city stumbled on Friday when Iran cast doubt on a plan to send abroad much of its enriched uranium reserve for processing into special fuel for a reactor used to create radioactive isotopes for medical purposes.

A member of parliament's foreign affairs and national security commission made clear he opposed the draft agreement.

"I'm against accepting the deal ... It is not in Iran's interest," ISNA news agency quoted Mohammad Karamirad as saying.

Iran has said the centrifuge plant being built in a military compound buried inside a mountain near the Shi'ite holy city of Qom would refine uranium only for civilian nuclear energy.

Western diplomats and analysts say the site's capacity appears too small to fuel a nuclear power station but enough to yield fissile material for one or two nuclear warheads a year.

The IAEA's four-strong team led by the agency's safeguards division, Herman Nackaerts, who oversees the Middle East region including Iran, declined comment to reporters in Vienna before boarding their flight.

The team is likely to stay in Iran until tomorrow.

The inspectors intend to compare engineering designs to be provided by Iran with the actual facility, interview employees and take environmental samples to verify the site has no illicit military dimension.

A senior lawmaker said Iran, with the UN inspections, sent a message of "confidence-building, good interaction and transparency" and it would be "good that the Westerners receive this message correctly", IRNA news agency reported.

MP Hassan Sobhaninia added: "The inspectors can see for themselves... (the) new facilities and like always become aware of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities."

Reuters

(China Daily 10/26/2009 page8)