Uranium Mined for Fuel Only, Iran Says

President Mohammad Khatami said Sunday that Iran has mined uranium for use in nuclear power plants and will reprocess the spent fuel itself, but he insisted the nation’s nuclear program is only for civilian use.

The surprise announcement, in a speech on state TV, was the first time Iran has acknowledged having uranium ore reserves.

Khatami said that the uranium was extracted near the central city of Yazd and that processing facilities were set up in Isfahan and Kashan.

Iran says nuclear power is needed to meet growing demand for electricity. The nation has invited International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to examine its facilities. Inspectors are due Feb. 25 to see facilities at Natanz and Arak.

The U.S. has long been suspicious of Iran’s nuclear program, accusing Tehran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

In December, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said satellite images indicated that structures at the Natanz plant were being covered with earth, signaling that Tehran is building “a secret underground site where it could produce fissile material.”

The U.S. has been at odds with Russia over its help in building a nuclear plant at Bushehr. U.S. fears over the project were assuaged by assurances from Moscow that all spent fuel from the facility would be returned to Russia.

But Khatami said Sunday that Iran intends to control the whole fuel cycle, from mining and processing the ore to reprocessing spent fuel. Reprocessing allows spent fuel to be recycled for reuse in a reactor; however, plutonium for use in weapons also can be recovered through reprocessing.