Deputy AEOI Chief: None Of Nuclear Centers To Be Shut Down, Or Eliminated

Tehran, Feb 9, IRNA – None of Iran’s nuclear centers will be shut down, or eliminated and there is no need to heed the hue and cry of the foreign media, deputy managing director of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) for safeguards and security affairs said Saturday. “Unity and solidarity of the nation needs to be preserved in order to reach the high peaks of scientific progress, which will grant our nation prestige and give our country might,” said Asghar Zare’an, during the opening ceremony of Arak Nuclear Center. He argued that materializing the demands of the wise Iranian nation will be possible while preserving the prestige and might of the System, as necessities of pursuing the country’s nuclear talks with six world powers (The UN Security Council Big 5 plus Germany). Referring to the endeavors of the nuclear technicians amid full silence, and commemorating the exalted nuclear scientist Marty Dr. Majid Shahriari, he reiterated, “Piety, self-confidence, trust in God, and following the orders of the Supreme Leader are among the secrets for the great success of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Zare’an who is also the head of the Crisis Management and Civil Defense Committee of the Iranian Nuclear Industries also referred to the other projects pursued by the oppressor world powers, such as Iranophophia and Isalmophobia. “We need to be careful not to fall preys to playing in the field of the enemy, keeping in mind that the enmity of the enemies against the political system of the Islamic Republic of Iran is endless, and therefore, resorting to wisdom, we need to turn the enemies’ hope into hopelessness.” The AEOI website also reported that Zare’an on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of Arak Nuclear Site also visited the project for production of Oxygen-18, whose usage is in medical studies, research programs, and distinguishing different types of cancers. During that visit he said that keeping in mind the observed progress in the project it is hoped that it will be put to use and start production until the end of the current Iranian year (in 40 days). Arak Heavy Water Nuclear Reactor, also known as the IR-40, is an Iranian 40 megawatt (thermal) heavy water reactor under construction near Arak. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was informed on May 5, 2003 that construction would begin in June 2004. Iran announced that the reactor will begin nuclear operation in 2014. Iranˈs leadership decided to begin designing the reactor in the 1980s. The basic design was completed in 2002. The current Iranian research reactor, Tehran Research Reactor, is nearing the end of its operational life having been in use since 1967. The reactor was originally going to be constructed at a location in Esfahan, though after the designs were completed Iran decided to build instead at its present location near Arak. In August 2006, mixed reports came out about when the reactor would go into operation, one stating that the plant would start up in 2009, while another reported that operation would be postponed until 2011./end