A high-ranking official at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says the country’s nuclear activities have been entirely indigenized and the Islamic Republic has become self-sufficient in designing and manufacturing different types of centrifuge machines.
“One-hundred percent of Iran’s nuclear industry activities have been indigenized and today, we are self-sufficient in designing and manufacturing various kinds of centrifuges,” Ali Asghar Zare’an, special assistant to the AEOI head, Ali Akbar Salehi, made the remarks in an address to the opening ceremony of an exhibition of Iran’s nuclear industry achievements in the city of Kerman on Sunday.
Saying that the secondary circuit of the Arak heavy water reactor, which is being redesigned, will come on-stream within the next two weeks and its cold tests will be completed by March 2021, the official added that the Arak reactor will become fully operational within the next two years.
“Once other courtiers were not willing to give us a single centrifuge or see a centrifuge spinning, but now, thousands of centrifuges are running at Natanz and Fordow facilities,” Zare’an said.
He noted that an issue that is even more important than centrifuges is Iran’s ability to produce yellowcake, the strategic raw material, which all countries can buy, but no one would sell it to the Islamic Republic.
“We are now producing the raw material of yellowcake domestically and this move has greatly increased our bargaining power at the international level,” the AEOI official said.
During Iran’s nuclear talks with the P5+1 group of countries, they sought to change the way that the Arak reactor was used, he said, adding, “Along with the Arak reactor, heavy water production [activities] are also going on and we are producing 20 tonnes of heavy water per annum and exporting it to a number of countries.”
“Those who claimed that Iran was bluffing are now purchasing our heavy water and we are able to produce up to 25 tonnes of heavy water based on our needs,” Zare’an pointed out.
Source: Press TV
