Russia agrees to ship fuel for Iranian nuclear plant

MOSCOW – Russia will ship fuel to a controversial atomic power plant it is building in Iran by March under an agreement signed Tuesday – a deal that should allay Iranian suspicions that Moscow is dragging its feet and add to Western fears over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

With the European Union’s foreign policy chief slated to meet Iran’s top nuclear negotiator soon for talks on a six-nation incentive package, the agreement signed by senior Russian and Iranian nuclear officials represents a small victory for Iran, which insists its nuclear efforts are peaceful and aimed solely at generating electricity.

Iran says it needs enrichment to produce fuel for electricity-generating nuclear reactors. Enrichment can also create weapons-grade material, however, and the United States and other nations have accused Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Britain, France, Germany, the United States, China and Russia are hoping Tehran will agree quickly to suspend uranium enrichment after it missed an Aug. 31 Security Council deadline and return to negotiations. But they are considering U.N. sanctions if it does not.

Russian news agencies reported that Sergei Shmatko, head of the state-run company Atomstroiexport, and Mahmoud Hanatian, vice president of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, signed an additional protocol setting out a time frame for starting up the $800 million Bushehr plant – Iran’s first.

“The document provides for supplying Russian fuel for the atomic energy plant in March, physical startup in September 2007 and electric generation by November 2007,” Hanatian was quoted as saying by ITAR-Tass.

Shmatko said about 80 tons of fuel would be supplied, according to Interfax and ITAR-Tass.

Western nations fear Tehran could try to divert nuclear fuel used at the Bushehr plant and seek to enrich it further for potential use in a weapon.

To try to ease Western concerns over Bushehr, Russia has agreed with Iran that Tehran will ship spent fuel back to Russia. However, Iran has resisted Russia’s proposal to conduct all of Iran’s uranium enrichment on Russian soil.