Iran plans to produce reactor fuel if talks fail

Ahead of planned nuclear discussions in Vienna, Tehran expresses optimisms that the talks will be fruitful, or else it will enrich uranium to the 20 percent required for its research reactor.

"We will write a letter and announce to the [International Atomic Energy] Agency (IAEA) that Iran would act directly to supply the fuel for the Tehran reactor," if the talks failed, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Shirzadian said Saturday.

Officials from Iran, the United States, Russia, France and the UN nuclear watchdog plan to hold talks in Vienna on October 19 as Tehran weighs its options to supply its research reactor in Tehran with enriched uranium of 20 percent for producing radiomedicine.

At its Natanz enrichment facility, Iran currently enriches uranium to the level of under 5 percent to provide fuel for its under-construction nuclear power plants.

"During Vienna talks, the sides will discuss various ways to supply fuel for the reactor," Shirzadian, who was speaking to the Iranian Students News Agency, said referring to an offer for Iran to buy 20 percent pure uranium from Russia and France in exchange for its 5 percent enriched uranium.

"Iran fully owns the enrichment technology and therefore it will sit at the negotiating table with power," he added.

The spokesman said it would be more economical for Tehran to buy the fuel for the Tehran reactor in bulk, adding, "We have told the agency that the reactor needs around 200 kilograms of 20 percent pure uranium to operate. The IAEA chief [Mohamed ElBaradei] has adopted measures."

Shirzadian said Tehran would enter the Vienna talks as a "technical organization", adding, "If an agreement is reached and then not implemented for any reason, the agency and the (3rd-party) country will be blamed."

"If the United States wants to disturb third-party deals, it is not a matter between Iran and the agency. It is a matter between the agency and the United States," Shirzadian said.

On October 1, Iranian representatives and diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Russia, China, France, Britain and the US — plus Germany (P5+1) held high-level negotiations in Geneva.

The seven-and-a-half hour meeting, based on Iran's package of proposals, paved the way for the sides to continue discussions on global crisis.