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Monday December 3, 2007       Free Headline Alerts

IAEA signs off on Russian nuke shipment to Iran

NICOSIA — Russia's first shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran is signed and sealed, if not yet delivered.

Officials said the International Atomic Energy Agency has completed inspection of the first consignment of nuclear fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor. The agency inspectors toured a Russian site in Novosibirsk in Siberia.

"During inspection, representatives from Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency and IAEA's inspectors were present and confirmed its qualifications and sealed the containers," a Russian official told Iran's official news agency, Irna.

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The inspection took place from Nov. 26 to Nov. 30. Officials said IAEA did not raise any objection over the nuclear fuel, Middle East Newsline reported.

Officials said Iran expected Russian President Vladimir Putin to decide over the next few weeks whether to ship the nuclear fuel to Bushehr. They said the only concern was U.S. pressure on Moscow to delay operations at the 1,000 megawatt nuclear energy facility.

The first Russian nuclear shipment had been expected in March 2007. But Moscow, citing financial and technical difficulties, delayed delivery of the nuclear fuel until Teheran honored its repayment schedule set for the $1 billion project.

Officials said nuclear fuel was required six months before full operations of any reactor. Bushehr was to have begun full operations in November 2007.

So far, Putin has pledged to send nuclear fuel to Iran. But officials acknowledged that no date has been set.

"The exact time of commissioning the plant is not determined yet, but upon agreements the nuclear fuel should be delivered to the power plant six months prior to the commissioning of the plant," Irna said.



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