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Historic nuclear deal reached with Iran

Iran and six leading world powers signed a comprehensive plan for ending international sanctions against Iran in exchange for putting restrictions on its controversial nuclear program. RT takes a look at the groundbreaking document.

The deal signed in Vienna on Tuesday is meant to break a 12-year standoff over Iran’s nuclear activities, which some nations claimed involved military research. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) acknowledges Iran’s right for peaceful nuclear development on par with any other signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The agreement provides for a joint commission to be established to monitor the implementation of the action plan and handle dispute situations. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is tasked with verifying voluntary nuclear-related measures by Iran. Iran and the six nations – China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the US, are to hold ministerial-level meetings at least once every two years to monitor the progress.

For 15 years Iran will carry out enrichment only at the Natanz facility and will only enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent. The stockpile would not exceed 300kg of uranium hexafluoride or equivalent chemical forms. The stockpile limit does not include fuel assemblies used in Iran’s nuclear reactors. Excesses are to be sold or exchanged for raw uranium.

The Fordow facility is to be converted into an internationally-supported technological center. Some of the centrifuges currently placed there would be allowed to continue spinning, but they would only produce stable isotopes and not enrich uranium. Some of the equipment will be removed completely.

Iran will start phasing out its older IR-1 centrifuges in 10 years, will not develop new models, will not increase the number of more advanced centrifuges currently in its possession, and will observe certain restrictions on testing them.

Iran will modify the Arak nuclear reactor with the help of the international community. It will be used for peaceful research and isotope production. It will not produce plutonium. Spent fuel will be shipped out of Iran for entire lifetime of the reactor. Iran keeps a leadership role in the Arak partnership.

No heavy water will be produced or accumulated for 15 years and Tehran will seek to use reactor designs not requiring heavy water.

Iran is to leave spent fuel re-processing to other nations.

Iran will adopt several additional safeguards and allow the IAEA to verify those voluntary measures. The nuclear watchdog is to monitor uranium stockpiles and centrifuges in Iran, including with modern surveillance measures like online enrichment measurement and electronic seals.

Tehran pledges not to conduct research that could conduct development of a nuclear explosive device, as specified in a technical annex to the agreement.

CIA sting spurs reassesment of Iran’s nuclear

Details of a CIA sting emerging from a court case in the U.S. may prompt United Nations monitors to reassess some evidence related to Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons work, two western diplomats said.

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in Vienna will soon have to review intelligence they received about Iran as a result of the revelations, said the two diplomats who are familiar with the IAEA’s Iran file and asked not to be named because the details are confidential. The CIA passed doctored blueprints for nuclear-weapon components to Iran in February 2000, trial documents have shown.

“This story suggests a possibility that hostile intelligence agencies could decide to plant a ‘smoking gun’ in Iran for the IAEA to find,” said Peter Jenkins, the U.K.’s former envoy to the Vienna-based agency. “That looks like a big problem.”

The UN agency is charged with deciding whether the Iranian government has been trying to develop nuclear weapons and its ruling may determine whether international sanctions against the country are lifted. While Iranian officials have consistently accused the IAEA of basing its case on forged documents, the agency has never acknowledged receiving tampered evidence.

The CIA documents were filed as evidence to an Alexandria, Virginia court on Jan. 14 for the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, who was convicted of leaking classified information about operations against Iran. Sterling worked on a CIA project aimed at misleading Iranian scientists by feeding modified designs for nuclear-weapons components to the country’s IAEA mission in Austria.

“The goal is to plant this substantial piece of deception information on the Iranian nuclear-weapons program, sending them down blind alleys, wasting their time and money,” according to a May 1997 cable submitted to the court.

The CIA sting shows the kind of tactics that the U.S. and its allies have used against Iran, according to Dan Joyner, a law professor at the University of Alabama.

“The falsification of nuclear-related documents is a very real part of such states’ efforts to frustrate Iran’s nuclear program,” said Joyner, who has written extensively on nuclear proliferation risks. “This revelation highlights the dangers of reliance by the IAEA upon evidence concerning Iran provided to it by third party states whose political agendas are antithetical to Iran.”

Source: Bloomberg

‘Security at Ukraine’s nuclear plants unreliable’

Rosatom, or the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, has asked the IAEA to check the security and safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. This was reported by Deputy Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who briefed President Vladimir Putin on Rosatom’s plans. Given that the political and economic situation in Ukraine is absolutely unstable, security and safe operation of NPPs in Ukraine is becoming both a domestic and international problem.

Today Ukraine has 15 operational power-generating units at four nuclear power plants and four shutdown units at the Chernobyl nuclear plant. The plants are operating in standard mode, but there is every reason to suspect that security officers are unreliable, Dmitry Rogozin says. Extremists invariably grow interested in facilities like that amid anarchy and chaos, to resort to blackmail for political purposes.

Besides, there have been problems recently around the transportation of nuclear fuel from Russia to Eastern Europe via Ukraine. Nor has Russia been supplying Ukraine with that fuel. The reserves that Ukraine currently has will last it for no more than a month. The situation that’s taken shape poses both a physical threat to Ukraine proper (due to likely acts of sabotage) and threatens Russia with economic risks. Ukraine may also have its energy balance upset. This is a dangerous factor, a nuclear expert Igor Ostretsov says, and elaborates.

Nuclear power production in Ukraine, Igor Ostretsov says, is of paramount importance, given that Ukraine is the world’s second-biggest nuclear power generator. Ukraine has the Rovno and Khmelnitsky nuclear power plants (four and two power generating units respectively), with the most powerful unit located at the Zaporozhe nuclear plant. In other words, Ukraine depends a lot on nuclear power production. But it’s become dangerous to run nuclear power plants in the current situation in Ukraine, above all, in the west of the country. But then, ending nuclear power generation abruptly would cause horrific consequences.

Today it is private security firms, Interior Ministry and National Security Service units that guarantee security along the perimeter of the facilities. But the security problem has become one of crucial importance, given the current anarchy and chaos in Ukraine.

This is what Deputy Head of the Duma Committee for Natural Resources, Management of Nature and Ecology, Maxim Shingarkin, said in this context in an interview with the Voice of Russia.

Today it is important in terms of ensuring security of nuclear facilities, Maxim Shingarkin says, not only to abide by energy production safety standards, but also to protect nuclear power plants as hazardous facilities. Acts of sabotage against nuclear power plants, above all, if nuclear reactors are operational there, will have unpredictable consequences. To prevent the nuclear fuel from exploding, the reactor, the plant perimeter and the power supply system should be effectively protected.

Maxim Shingarkin adds that the means of protection that Ukraine has been using to that end, namely armed security officers and covert observation cameras are clearly insufficient to guarantee security to sensitive survival facilities in a crisis situation. International practice shows that if the situation around nuclear power plants is aggravated, these plants should be protected by specially trained units. But it’s a big question whether such units are battle-worthy or available at all in Ukraine today.

Source: Voice of Russia

SA ready for nuclear

SOUTH Africa is “ready” to develop nuclear energy, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) forum held being held in St Petersburg, Russia, heard on Wednesday.

IAEA deputy director-general for nuclear energy Alexander Bychkov said he believed South Africa was “fully capable” of implementing a nuclear programme.

“There are no capacity problems in South Africa. It is a fast-growing economy. It is up to the government to decide how to implement nuclear energy. It appears interested in using the energy source to develop its people.”

Luc Oursel, CEO of French nuclear energy multinational Avera, said his company and many others in the industry globally would be interested in working with South Africa.

“South Africa is seen as a country (which) nuclear energy companies can develop long-term relationships with. Areva is awaiting a plan from South Africa. We want to know how we can play a role in the programme they develop. We want to help them to procure the necessary materials.”

Energy officials in South Africa’s government have expressed a commitment to developing nuclear energy, amid scepticism about the cost of the venture.

In April, Department of Energy director-general Nelisiwe Magubane told Parliament that South Africa’s nuclear plans were non-negotiable and were backed by the National Development Plan, which some commentators have disputed.

“The only thing(s) that we are waiting for are the procurement processes and how (they are) going to be funded,” Ms Magubane said.

In March, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said a nuclear industry needed to be established in South Africa.

Ms Magubane said South Africa had to build three nuclear stations to generate a total of 9,600MW, with the first units to come on line in 2025.

Nuclear costs are rising. Given advanced, safer technologies, input costs sit at $7,000/kW compared with $5,000/kW back in 2010.

Nuclear energy stations can be expensive to build and maintain but South Africa is struggling to meet energy demand and remains heavily reliant on coal as its energy source, a National Planning Commission report found earlier this year.

If liquefied natural gas became an energy source of choice, nuclear energy could be delayed for years, while funds were diverted to developing infrastructure to mine the gas.

In addition, the proposed fracking of shale gas in the Karoo has been met with outrage over fears it would damage the environment and require lots of water. South Africa already suffers water scarcity. – bdaylive.co.za

• Anderson was invited to the IAEA international forum and Atomexpo held in St Petersburg, Russia, by Russian state nuclear energy firm Rosatom.

UN nuclear inspectors in Iran

AP,l Tehran – U.N. nuclear inspectors stia two-day visit to Tehran on Monday sought to meet Iranian nuclear scientists and visit a key military facility as they try to gauge allegations that Iran is pushing toward making an atomic weapon.

The trip is the second in less than a month by the International Atomic Energy Agency team, reflecting growing concerns over alleged weapons experiments – something Iran has so far both denied and refused to discuss.

Herman Nackaerts, a senior U.N. nuclear official, said in Vienna before the team departed on Sunday that he hoped for progress in the talks but his careful choice of words suggested little expectation the meeting will be successful.

The West suspects Iran’s nuclear program is geared toward making weapons, a charge Iran denies, insisting it’s for peaceful purposes only, such as power generation.

Iran’s state radio said Monday the inspectors hope to meet Iranian nuclear scientists and visit the Parchin military complexThe report said the IAEA had requested to visit Parchin, an Iranian military base and conventional weapons development facility outside of Tehran. The site has also been suspected of housing a secret underground facility used for Iran’s nuclear program, a claim denied by Iranian authorities.

IAEA inspectors visited the site in 2005, but only one of four areas of potential interest within the grounds. At the time, the nuclear watchdog did not report any unusual activities but the Parchin site was prominently mentioned in the agency’s report last year.

The report asserted that Iran constructed “a large explosives containment vessel” in which to conduct experiments on triggering a nuclear explosion, apparently 11 years ago, adding that it had satellite images “consistent with this information.”

“Whatever the reasoning of the agency is, it proves the IAEA is not loyal to its previous commitments,” the Iranian radio said. The tone of the commentary suggested the visit to the military complex would likely be denied.

The IAEA visit comes as Iran last week announced what it described as key advancements in its nuclear program, inserting the first domestically made fuel rod into a research reactor in Tehran and installing a new generation of Iranian-made centrifuges at the country’s main uranium enrichment facility in the central town of Natanz.

Beyond concerns about the purported weapons work, Washington and its allies want Iran to halt uranium enrichment, which they believe could eventually lead to weapons-grade material and the production of nuclear weapons. Iran has been enriching uranium up to 20 percent, while uranium enriched to more than 90 percent can be used for a nuclear warhead.

The IAEA team wants to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of working on an alleged weapons program. They also hope to break down opposition to their plans to inspect documents related to nuclear work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future visits.

The IAEA summarized its information last November in a 13-page document drawing on 1,000 pages of intelligence. It stated then for the first time that some of the alleged experiments can have no other purpose than developing nuclear weapons.

Iran has denied alleged weapons experiments for nearly four years, saying they are based on “fabricated documents” provided by a “few arrogant countries” – a phrase authorities in Iran often use to refer to the U.S. and its allies.