‘Iran needs enrichment to produce fuel’

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says the country will continue conducting uranium enrichment as it needs to produce fuel for its nuclear facilities.
“When nuclear facilities are working in a country, it means that for the operation to continue and for the country to expand its peaceful nuclear knowhow, there is a need for nuclear fuel, and to provide that, enrichment should be conducted,” Mehmanparast said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, ISNA reported.

His remarks came in reaction to a statement by the United States regarding the official launch of Iran’s first nuclear power plant on Monday.

In the statement, the US State Department said the fact that Iran’s first nuclear power plant is now on stream means that the Islamic Republic “doesn’t need its own enrichment facilities.”

Iran officially launched the Bushehr nuclear power plant on Monday, ending the countdown for the inauguration of the country’s first atomic power plant.

Initial construction of the facility began in 1975 by German companies, but the work was stopped following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In 1995, Iran and Russia reached an agreement to complete the project. But power generation was delayed several times due to a number of technical and financial problems.

Bushehr nuclear power plant was connected to the national power grid on September 3, supplying 60 megawatts of its 1,000 megawatt capacity.

It will initially generate electricity at 40 percent of its capacity and will reach its full capacity of 1,000 megawatts in about two or three months.