20 Apr 2024
Tuesday 20 December 2016 - 18:37
Story Code : 243694

Spokesman: Iran to inject gas into advanced home-made IR8 centrifuges soon

FNA- Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi announced that the country would inject gas into its latest generation of centrifuge machines, IR8, in the next few weeks.

"The IR8 tests have ended and they will enter the stage of gas injection in the next few weeks," Kamalvandi told reporters in a press conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

The gas injection into the IR8 will be carried out under a paragraph of the nuclear deal that allow research activities on the eighth generation of Iran's centrifuge machines, known as the IR8.

Elsewhere, he referred to the meeting of the joint commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) due to be held on January 10 with the new American team (to be named by the new US president) in attendence, and said, "One or two days before this date, we will have technical discussions and the Americans will participate with the same old team (of the Obama administration); naturally, we will not negotiate on the JCPOA again (with the new team), and different issues, including redesigning of Arak (heavy water) reactor, should be discussed in that meeting."

Asked about the result of Iran's discussions with Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano on the country's decision to manufacture nuclear propulsion systems for marine transportation, Kamalvandi said, "Mr. Amano said that it is not a violation (of the JCPOA) and he asked about the type of the propulsion system and Iran's goals and wanted to know the level of enrichment (of the nuclear fuel) for this purpose."

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi had announced in August 2015 the country's plans to produce the necessary fuel for 5 to 6 nuclear reactors using its IR8 centrifuges in the next 15 years.

"Most countries' development plans are for 10 years, but we will probably present a 15-year nuclear development plan to the agency (IAEA), based on which at the end of the program Iran will be producing one million SWUs (Separative Work Unit) of nuclear fuel, which will be sufficient for running five to six nuclear reactors," Araqchi said, addressing a parliamentary meeting.

He also said that in accordance with the JCPOA, Iran will have restriction in manufacturing new machines for eight years, but after the 8th year based on its own plans, Iran will begin making IR6 and IR8 enrichment machines.

"Meanwhile between the 14th and the 15th years, we will be producing one million SWUs of nuclear fuel, keeping in mind that 190,000 SWUs of nuclear fuel is sufficient for running one reactor and by the end of the 15th year when our IR8 centrifuges will be working at full capacity, we will be producing fuel for 5 to 6 reactors," Araqchi added.
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