U.N. experts in Iran to inspect new nuclear site

Note by Marc Aupiais

Reuters (Secular; Independent; British) has an interesting article, on the most recent Iranian weapons proliferation scare, read the rest at the link below the short quote:


"By Hossein Jaseb

TEHRAN (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors have arrived in Iran to examine a nuclear site that has heightened Western fears of a covert program to develop atomic bombs, an accusation the Islamic Republic rejects.
(Paragraphing possibly altered)
"They arrived late last night for routine inspections," Ali Shirzadian, a spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told Reuters on Sunday. He gave no further details.

The U.N. experts were due to inspect Iran's second enrichment plant, under construction 160 km (100 miles) south of Tehran. Iran hid the site for three years until last month, fanning Western suspicions.

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.

World powers regard the two steps as litmus tests of Iran's stated intent to use enriched uranium only for civilian purposes, and as a basis for follow-up talks on curbing enrichment itself, which would bring Iran trade and technology rewards in return. "

[Read on at source:]

http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/FullArticle/CTOP/ntopNews_uUSTRE59O05V20091025?p=1