Iran invites visitors inside nuclear fuel plant/ LA Times

[TexasLawyer]

Iran invites visitors inside nuclear fuel plant
By Kim Murphy, Times Staff Writer
4:34 PM PST, February 3, 2007

ESFAHAN, Iran --

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In a rare invitation to foreign visitors Saturday, Iranian officials opened the doors of the normally closed facility. The officials reported that the fledgling conversion program, which was in its infancy only three years ago, has manufactured 250 tons of uranium hexafluoride gas, the feedstock for Iran's controversial uranium enrichment program.

The group included visitors from all over the world, said Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency. "We have decided they would come here to have the opportunity to see themselves what is going on," he said as they walked through the large rooms of tanks, feeder lines, pressure gauges and control panels.

The official delegation of seven included representatives of the Non-Aligned Movement, the G-77 group of developing nations and the Arab League, all accredited to the IAEA in Vienna, Austria. Iranian officials allowed a group of journalists to cover the visit.

"We want to remove these ambiguities and questions from our Arab brothers and sisters in the region. They have to know that everything is transparent and it is for peaceful purposes, and there is no concern as far as safety is concerned," Soltanieh said. "You will notice these facilities are of the highest standard, and a lot of investment has been made in order to prevent any environmental impact."

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran4feb04,0,3154068.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[lakeguy]

1. it's a wonder the corporate media never talks about

oil production in iran and how it will be substantially lower by 2010 or 2015. you think it would be important when assessing iran's need for alternate fuel sources and their steadfast claims that they are only producing nuclear material for energy purposes. hopefully opening the doors will help take a leg out from the propoganda machine now in place and roaring hard in the US.

[nealmhughes]

3. Iran knows the oil gravy train is leaving the station, as do the UAE, etc.

With over 77 million in population, Iran has to diversify its economy or perish as anything beyond a backwater, and I do not think that the Iranians are prepared to become a footnote in history that started with the Aryans and ended in mud huts scratching a dire subsistence from an arid land...
Zarathustra, Xerxes, Cyrus, etc. is not going to be all they can look back towards with a tear in the eye.

O Brasil is doing exactly the same thing as Iran -- enriching its own uranium for civilian power -- no one is accusing Brasilia of trying to get a "Carioca Bomb."

WE gave them to go ahead under Eisenhowe's "Atoms for Peace," and we subsidized the Shah's nuclear power expansion plans and left the money frozen after the Revolution, several billions of dollars worth of money, as a matter of fact... Iran has Uranium. Russia and France have enrichment technology but not that much Uranium, in their six eyes, it is a win-win situation for all three states.

Iran knows that a nuclear blast on Saudi Arabia or Tel Aviv would be suicide for the Persians. Iran wants to be a regional power, as it deserves, due to its size and population and cultural legacy, but is surrounded by __stans with US backing, Iraq and the Arabs across the Gulf. With friends and neighbors like that...

[Mika]

2. The US does the same thing routinely.

NOT.