Iran invites UN nuclear agency to inspect Arak plant

After refusing inspections for two years, Iran invites the International Atomic Energy Agency to a facility linked to an unfinished reactor that could produce enough plutonium for up to two warheads a year.

VIENNA // After refusing inspections for two years, Iran has invited the UN nuclear agency to visit a facility linked to a still unfinished reactor that could produce enough plutonium for up to two warheads a year, the agency’s head said on Thursday.

The invitation to visit the heavy water plant in the central city of Arak on December 8 comes less than a week after a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers to freeze its nuclear programme for six months in return for limited relief from economic sanctions.

The invitation is not part of the six-power deal. But it shows Tehran is starting to comply with separate commitments to open previously off-limits sites to inspectors of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.

The status of the Arak plant had been one of the major issues during negotiations leading to last weekend’s agreement in Geneva.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday some construction would continue at Arak. When completed, Arak could produce plutonium which could be used for nuclear weapons, although Iran insists its programme is entirely for peaceful purposes such as producing electricity, and for scientific and medical research.

Iran had scheduled completion for next year, a timetable described by experts as too ambitious.

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Mr Zarif’s comments didn’t constitute a violation of the agreement, even though Iran effectively pledged to freeze advancement at the facility.

Iran’s decision to allow inspectors to visit the Arak heavy water plant was announced by IAEA chief Yukiya Amano to the agency’s 35-nation board. It will enable inspectors to get a clearer picture of how far work has advanced at that site.

IAEA employees have had some access to the reactor, 250 kilometres southwest of Tehran. But they haven’t been able to inspect the plant on the same site since 2011. Heavy water helps control nuclear activity of the fuel rods used in some reactor types.

Beyond commitments on the Arak reactor under the Geneva nuclear deal, Iran also agreed to limit uranium enrichment. It pledged to stop enriching uranium to a stage that is only a technical step away from concentration needed to arm nuclear warheads and to keep its stockpile of lower enriched uranium from expanding.

However, a senior Iranian official said on Thursday that Iran would increase its low-level uranium enrichment. Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akhbar Salehi told the IRNA news agency that centrifuges previously used for higher-level enrichment would now be converted to produce low-enriched uranium.

He didn’t elaborate. But the Geneva deal doesn’t prohibit Iran from making more enriched uranium. It stipulates only that all newly-produced material must be turned into oxide, which is difficult to reconvert.

The IAEA will expand its monitoring of Iran as part of the Geneva deal to make sure Tehran lives up to its commitments.

Diplomats said on Wednesday the agency probably wouldn’t be in a position to start on that role until January. While giving no dates, Mr Amano indirectly confirmed some delays, telling the board implementation would “take some time”.

Associated Press