Iran opens first nuclear fuel plant

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to reveal 'good nuclear news' as US, Russia, Europe and China seek talks

Julian Borger in Washington guardian.co.uk, Thursday 9 April 2009 15.04 BST Article historyIran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will inaugurate the country's first nuclear fuel production plant later today, Reuters news agency has quoted an official as saying.

The announcement, to mark Iran's nuclear technology day, comes as attempts are made to restart talks over Iran's enrichment of uranium for the first time since Barack Obama took office.

"This is the first nuclear fuel complex … 100% Iranian and the president will inaugurate this," Vajihollah Asadi, a manager at the complex, near the central city of Isfahan, told Reuters. He said the plant would produce fuel for Iran's Arak heavy water reactor.

The fact that Iran is now in a position to produce natural uranium fuel does not come as a surprise. The latest report on the country's nuclear programme by the International Atomic Energy Agency said a fuel fabrication plant in Isfahan was ready to begin producing fuel pellets, and it had already started making the rods in which the pellets are inserted. In a nuclear reactor, assemblies of such rods are lowered into a reactor to trigger fission and generate energy.

The existence of the Arak heavy water complex was first discovered by the outside world in 2002. It comprises a plant for manufacturing heavy water, and a reactor, which is still under construction.

Yesterday senior officials from the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China instructed the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, to make contact with his counterpart in Tehran. The group also welcomed the Obama administration's decision to fully engage in the talks.

Ahmadinejad said his country would welcome talks with Obama if the US president proved "honest" in extending a hand to Iran. But dialogue will depend more on what the Iranian president announces today. "I will have good nuclear news for the honoured Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said.