Nuclear Politics

Iran And IAEA Sign Roadmap For ‘Clarification’ Of Nuclear Issues

By David Dalton
14 July 2015

Iran And IAEA Sign Roadmap For ‘Clarification’ Of Nuclear Issues
IAEA director-general Yukiya Amano.

14 Jul (NucNet): Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency have signed a roadmap for the clarification of past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, IAEA director-general Yukiya Amano said.

In a statement on the agency’s website, Mr Amano said the roadmap, signed today, sets out a process to enable the IAEA to make an assessment of issues relating to possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme by the end of 2015.

Mr Amano said: “It sets out a clear sequence of activities over the coming months, including the provision by Iran of explanations regarding outstanding issues. It provides for technical expert meetings, technical measures and discussions, as well as a separate arrangement regarding the issue of [the military nuclear facility] Parchin.

Mr Amano said he intends to issue a report setting out the IAEA’s final assessment of possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme by 15 December 2015.

The office of Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, posted pictures on social media of the roadmap being signed and said Iran and the IAEA had agreed to “accelerate cooperation with aim to fully resolve all prior issues”.

Earlier today it was announced that a deal had been reached between Iran and six world powers on limiting Iranian nuclear activity in return for the lifting of international economic sanctions.

Negotiations between Iran and the so-called P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany – began in 2006. The P5+1 want Iran to scale back its sensitive nuclear activities to ensure that it cannot build a nuclear weapon.

The text of the deal has not yet been released, but Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said today that world powers had “recognised Iran’s civilian nuclear programme, including the country’s right to the complete nuclear cycle”.

Fars said no Iranian nuclear facilities will be dismantled or decommissioned. Nuclear research and development activities on all types of centrifuges will continue, Fars said.

At talks in Switzerland in April 2015, an outline agreement was reached with key parameters of a deal including an agreement by Iran to limit its uranium enrichment capacity.

That agreement said Iran would reduce by approximately two-thirds its installed centrifuges.

A statement at the time said Iran would go from having about 19,000 installed centrifuges to 6,104 installed under the deal, with only 5,060 of these enriching uranium for 10 years. All 6,104 centrifuges would be IR-1s, Iran’s first-generation centrifuge. Iran agreed to not enrich uranium over 3.67 percent for at least 15 years.

Iran has one commercial nuclear unit, the 915-megawatt Russia-supplied Bushehr-1, but has signed an agreement with Russia for up to eight more.

Last month Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said it would start building a second nuclear power reactor at Bushehr during 2015.

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