IAEA to Visit Iran Nuclear Sites Next Week

A team of IAEA experts is to visit two of Iran’s nuclear sites within the next week, as part of a monitoring process agreed with the UN agency.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday that inspectors would travel to the Ardakan yellow-cake production plant and the Saghand uranium mine, located close together around 450 kilometers from Tehran.IAEA inspectors during a visit to Iran nuclear facility

Visiting the two sites “is the main purpose of this trip,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s atomic energy organization, told IRNA.

The trip is in line with a seven-step plan agreed between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency in February to increase transparency over Tehran’s nuclear activities.

Kamalvandi was quoted separately by the ISNA news agency as saying that
IAEA officials already visited the Lashkar Ab’ad Laser Center, which is said to have been used for uranium enrichment.

February’s seven-step agreement is due to be completed by May 15, two days after the start of political talks in Vienna between Iran and the P5+1 — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany — aimed at reaching a lasting accord on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

As part of an IAEA probe, Iran agreed with the UN atomic agency in February to clarify its need “for the development of Exploding Bridge Wire (EBW) detonators”.