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Iran Nuclear Crisis Begins in Moscow Stewart Stogel On Saturday, the U.N. security council levied a first round of sanctions on Iran for its insistence on reprocessing nuclear fuel for its power stations. Why is Iran so insistent on the fuel reprocessing? One need not look any further than Moscow. In the late 1970's, the Shah of Iran, under U.S. encouragement, contracted with Siemens (Germany) to build a massive nuclear power station near the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr. The purpose of the project was to wean the Iranian domestic economy from being oil dependent. That would leave more oil available for export, especially to the U.S. However, the Iranian revolution and the creation of an Islamic republic stalled the construction of the nuclear power plant. Bushehr remained in mothballs until 1996. Minatom (Ministry of Atomic Energy), the Russian ministry responsible for construction of nuclear power plants, was approached by Tehran to resurrect the Bushehr project. Story Continues Below
The Russian nuclear power industry was hurting for business and the Clinton administration faced the unwelcomed task of providing more funds to prop up Russia's nuclear infrastructure or see it collapse. The Iranian project offered Russia more than $800 million in cash with add-ons that could raise the project's value to more than $1.2 bil. Since that project was for two light-water reactors with detailed safeguards (against any military diversion) Washington signed off on the Iranian request. Light-water reactors produce far less bomb-grade spent fuel than heavy-water reactors. So, the Bushehr project was not considered a military threat by the west. Over the last ten years, Russia has provided more than 5,000 workers for the Bushehr project. New estimates claim that when eventually completed, Moscow could make as much as $2 bil on the Bushehr contract. In short, Iran saved the Russian nuclear power industry. As late as 2004, President George W. Bush publicly stated that the White House was "not concerned" about the Bushehr project. What changed the White House's position? In 2004, Tehran was negotiating with Moscow over the price it would pay for fuel for the nuclear plant. Tehran had committed to buying its fuel from Russia and the sending the spent fuel back to Moscow for reprocessing. Such procedures severely limit any secret diversion of spent fuel for military purposes. In an interview with NewsMax, Iran's U.N. ambassador Javad Zarif said the issue of nuclear fuel became a sticking point. According to Zarif, the Russian asking price for the fuel "was high." To add insult to injury, the Russians then tacked on a "premium" to reprocess the fuel. Said Zarif, the fuel costs imposed by the Russians was so high that Tehran decided to manufacture and reprocess the nuclear fuel itself. It is that decision to make and reprocess its own nuclear fuel that is at the heart of the current crisis. Even though Iran and Russia did reach a temporary agreement on the fuel issue, Tehran refuses to allow Moscow long-term control over its nuclear installations. The Bushehr project, already two-years behind schedule, is now expected to come on-line by the summer of 2007. Once active, the Bushehr nuclear power station will be among the 20 largest of its type in the world, says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA - the U.N. atomic watchdog). Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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