Iran will not have access to uranium enrichment technology: Russia

Iran will not have access to uranium enrichment technology in the proposed joint venture, a top Russian nuclear official has said, as an Iranian team is expected to visit Russia next week.

Russia's proposal about the creation of a joint venture for uranium enrichment on Russian soil is under negotiation and the Iranians are seriously considering it.

Under the Russian proposal, Iran can be the founder of such joint venture, but will not have access to the nuclear technology, Sergei Kiriyenko, chief of Federal Atomic Energy Agency was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS.

He said 'serious' negotiations are currently underway between Moscow and Tehran on this issue and a 'lot' would depend on the outcome of talks with the Iranian team arriving in Moscow on February 16.

Kiriyenko underscored that Russia is ready to support any country's right to gain access to nuclear energy if the non-proliferation regime is strictly observed. He said that Russia has shown an example of 'a complex solution' for the problem of peaceful development of the nuclear energy industry.

Kiriyenko said the Iranian example involved, first and foremost, the establishment of a Russian-Iranian joint venture for uranium enrichment on Russian territory and the return of spent nuclear fuel from Iran to Russia. "With the resolution of these two issues, the operation of the Bushehr nuclear power plant becomes completely safe," he said.

Kiriyenko observed that many countries had been trying to gain access to cheap nuclear energy in the wake of sharp increases in fuel prices. He reiterated Moscow's readiness to assist them in this within the ambit of nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Earlier last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed to set up a network of uranium enrichment facilities under the UN nuclear watchdog's safeguards to provide nuclear fuel to all the interested countries on an indiscriminatory basis.

Later United States President George W Bush also announced similar plans, which ensure the NPT signatory nations' right to develop civilian nuclear power and reduce dependency on fossil fuel.