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Iran receives nuclear fuel from Russia

Iran received a sixth shipment of nuclear fuel yesterday from Russia, destined for a power plant being constructed in the southern port of Bushehr, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The report said the 11-tonne load of enriched uranium arrived in Iran and was transferred to the light-water Bushehr nuclear power plant Thursday morning. The remainder of the fuel will arrive in two separate shipments in the coming weeks, it said.

"Of 82 tonnes of initial fuel needed for the Bushehr nuclear power plant, 66 tonnes have been shipped to Iran so far," the agency reported.

Iran received the fifth shipment of nuclear fuel from Russia on Tuesday. The first shipment arrived on Dec. 17 after months of dispute between the two countries, allegedly over delayed construction payments for the reactor.

Iran has said Bushehr, the country's first nuclear reactor, will begin operating in the summer of this year, producing half its 1,000-megawatt capacity of electricity.

Russia's decision to ship nuclear fuel to Iran follows a US intelligence report released last month that concluded Tehran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in late 2003 and had not resumed it since.

Iran has insisted it would continue enriching uranium to fuel a 300-megawatt light-water reactor in the country's southwest.
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