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President: Iran has complete cycle for processing nuclear fuel

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-12 14:17

TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that his country now has a complete cycle for producing and processing nuclear fuel, local Fars news agency reported.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (C) waves as he poses with officials outside a nuclear fuel manufacturing plant during its inauguration ceremony in Isfahan, Iran, on April 9, 2009. [Xinhua]

"Iran now is a country that has (a complete nuclear) fuel cycle and all the needs of the country in this regard will be provided through using nuclear energy and building (nuclear power) plants domestically," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

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He said that Iran was "moving towards advancements very speedily and its progress in different fields is stunning."

Ahmadinejad's remarks came two days after he inaugurated Iran's first nuclear fuel manufacturing plant in the central Iranian city of Isfahan on Thursday.

The Isfahan plant will process enriched uranium into nuclear fuel pellets, which will then be stacked into tubes of corrosion- resistant metal alloy called fuel rods.

The finished fuel rods will then be assembled together to build up the nuclear fuel core of a power reactor.

On Thursday, Ahmadinejad also disclosed that Iran was running around 7,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz also in central Iran, and the country has tested "two new kinds of centrifuges with capacity several times greater than the existing ones."

Iran's nuclear program is questioned by many parties. The United States and other western countries claim that Iran intends to secretly develop nuclear weapons. The UN Security Council also requires Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activity.

Iran, however, insists that its nuclear plan is only for peaceful purposes, vowing to continue its uranium enrichment activity despite pressure and sanctions from western countries.