Iran pitches joint nuclear work with Gulf states

Source: AFP, 30-11-2008
TEHRAN: Iran on Sunday proposed developing nuclear power plants jointly with neighboring Arab states in the Gulf, amid international pressure on Tehran to halt its sensitive atomic work. "I suggest countries in the region put the creation of a consortium to build and develop light-water nuclear plants on their agenda," said Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.
"Iran is ready to present a comprehensive proposal if the Persian Gulf countries agree to it in principal," he told an energy conference in Tehran.
However, he did not give any specifics about the proposal, or its feasibility.
Iran has defied UN Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment and it is under sanctions targeting individuals and institutions involved in its nuclear program.
The light-water-reactor market is dominated by Western countries and Russia, which is currently building Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr on the Gulf.
However, completion of the controversial plant has been repeatedly delayed.
Officials say that Iran's first home-built nuclear plant using domestic technology is at the basic design stage and is scheduled to come on line in around nine years.
The Islamic Republic is also building a 40-megawatt heavy-water research reactor in Arak, in central Iran.
Uranium enrichment lies at the center of fears about Iran's nuclear program, as the process is used to make fuel for nuclear plants or, if refined to significantly higher levels, the fissile core of an atom bomb.
Iran insists it only wants to enrich uranium to make nuclear fuel to meet the growing energy demands of its population and points to its legal rights as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to develop atomic power.
Tehran has not responded to a proposal by world powers offering Iran incentives including help with peaceful nuclear technology and a light-water reactor in return for suspending enrichment.