TEHRAN (FNA)- Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi underlined Iran's need to 190,000 SWUs (Separative Work Units) to fuel its nuclear power and research reactors, and said Tehran's needs were announced in the Joint Plan of Action (Geneva agreement)."We have announced our practical need to enrichment based on the Geneva Joint Plan of Action," Salehi told reporters in Tehran on Saturday.
He referred to the remarks by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei who rejected the world powers' demand from Iran to suffice to 10,000 SWUs for enriching uranium earlier this week and underlined the country' definite need 190,000 SWUs, and said the question "how many centrifuges are needed for 190,000SWU depends on the centrifuges' power" and type to be applied for this purpose.
"For instance, if we use 10-SWU machines then we will launch 19,000 centrifuges and if we use 24-SWU machines, 8,000 centrifuges will be launched," Salehi added.
Salehi had on Tuesday lashed out at the western media lies and fabrications about Iran's demanded number of centrifuge machines during the talks with the world powers in Vienna, and said Iran is in need of 190,000 SWU to fuel its power and research reactors.
"We need almost 190,000 SWU for an agreed time interval, meaning the next 8 years, to provide fuel for Bushehr nuclear power plant so that we can provide the fuel for this power plant, Tehran research reactor and Arak reactor after the end of our contract with Russia (which has built Bushehr nuclear power plant)," Salehi told FNA.
"We don't define enrichment on the basis of the centrifuge machines, but on the basis of its unit, that is SWU," he explained.
Salehi underlined that the number of centrifuges needed for having 190,000 SWUs depends on the type of the centrifuge machines.
He said Iran's first generation IR1 centrifuge machines have a nominal output of over 3 SWUs, but in practice they yield less than 2 SWUs, meaning that "if we want to reach the above-mentioned 190,000 SWUs with the help of these (IR1) machines, then we would need more numbers, while if we use the (the fourth generation) IR4 centrifuge machines which yield 24 SWUs, then we would need less than 10,000 centrifuge machines".
"Thus, the hues and cries about the number of centrifuges are deliberate deviations from the reality as we have defined our needs based on SWUs, and not on the basis of centrifuge machines," Salehi said.
He also reiterated that Iran needs centrifuges with 190,000 SWUs to supply the annual needs of its nuclear power plant in Bushehr.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and senior negotiator Seyed Abbas Araqchi had also earlier rejected media reports alleging that Iran has reduced the number of the centrifuges that it wants to have.
A last week report by Reuters cited a Western diplomat as saying that Iran has reduced the number of centrifuges it wants". According to the report, diplomats claimed that the Islamic Republic had signaled it would settle for a lower figure than 50,000 centrifuges.
"All the figures which are reported on the number of centrifuges are the figment of the imagination of some foreign media," Araqchi said.
Also last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his Facebook page that the western media speculations on the nuclear discussions between Tehran and the Group5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) should not be taken seriously as they attempt to influence the negotiations instead of reporting the events.
The sixth round of talks between Tehran and the G5+1 headed by Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton officially started in Vienna on July 3 and is still continuing in the Austrian capital with both sides describing the negotiations as hard, but constructive and positive.
By Fars News Agency
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