Austrian Media: Iran Astonishes West By Producing N-fuel rods

Vienna, Jan 3, IRNA – Austrian media referred to Iran's success in manufacturing nuclear fuel rods for Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) emphasizing Monday night that the move has astonished the West. The official Austrian Press Agency, APA, wrote, “Iran has achieved another success in its nuclear program, manufacturing the first sample of the much needed nuclear fuel rods for its Tehran Research Reactor.” APA quoted comments made by Austrian experts in the field, reiterating that the locally manufactured nuclear fuel rods for the TRR would be placed in the core of the TRR facility in near future, ending the lingering Iranian requests from the West to provide them for Iran, in accordance with their respective commitments. A Salzburg daily, too, referring to the astonishment of the west due to Iran’s local manufacturing of the nuclear fuel rods, reiterated, “As the Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi had said in December, 2011, that Iran would manufacture the fuel rods before February, 2012, the Iranian scientist have managed to do so before that date.” The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced two days ago that the AEOI scientists and researchers have managed to manufacture the prototype of nuclear fuel rods, inclusive of the 20% enriched uranium. According to the report, the locally manufactured prototype was inserted into the heart of the TRR after passing the entire physical and nuclear tests aimed at surveying its functioning under the operational conditions. The Iranian made nuclear fuel rod has endured 1500 megawatt/hours of radiation, gone through the neutron tests for checking that it has no radioactivity leaking in initial phases under various pressures, and passed the entire other standard tests for such batteries quite successfully. The fuel rod in question is now under survey in long period conditions at the core of the TRR, under radiation. The Iranian nuclear technicians had managed to produce the needed radio-medicines in Iran taking advantage of the facilities at the TRR for special patients, which was halted due to the inhumane western imposed sanction as of a couple of years ago, but the TRR would once again be restarted using Iranian made fuel rods in very near future after completion of this prototype’s final tests. The NECN website, too, wrote Monday that the Iranian scientists have produced the nation's first nuclear fuel rod, a feat of engineering the West has doubted Tehran capable of, the country's nuclear agency said Sunday. The announcement marks another step in Tehran's efforts to achieve proficiency in the entire nuclear fuel cycle — from exploring uranium ore to producing nuclear fuel — despite UN sanctions and measures by the US and others to get it to halt aspects of its atomic work that could provide a possible pathway to weapons production. Tehran has long said it is forced to seek a way to manufacture the fuel rods on its own, since the sanctions ban it from buying them on foreign markets. Nuclear fuel rods are tubes containing pellets of enriched uranium that provide fuel for nuclear reactors. Iran's atomic energy agency's website said the first domestically made rod has already been inserted into the core of Tehran's research nuclear reactor. But it was unclear if the rod contained pellets or was inserted empty, as part of a test. 'Scientists and researchers at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran have succeeded in producing and testing the first sample of a nuclear fuel rod,' said the announcement. The US and some of its European allies accuse Iran of using its nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying the program is for peaceful purposes only and is geared toward generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients. Although the rods are tough to make, Iran is also seeking to produce the pellets, which are even more difficult to manufacture, with enriched uranium. But so far it is not known whether Iranian nuclear scientists have been able to overcome the technical hurdles to do so. Tehran focused on domestic production of nuclear fuel rods and pellets in 2010, after talks with the West on a nuclear fuel swap deal ended in failure as Iran backed down on shipping a major part of its stock of enriched uranium abroad in return for fuel. The announcement on the fuel rod came just a day after Tehran proposed a new round of talks on its nuclear program with six world powers. The last round of negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany was held in January in Istanbul, Turkey, but it ended in failure. The UN has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can lead to making a nuclear weapon. Separately, the US and the European Union have imposed their own tough economic and financial penalties./end