INTERVIEW - UN wants to verify if Iran atomic plans peaceful
Date: 06-Feb-03
Country: AUSTRIA
Author: Louis Charbonneau
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei heads to Iran later this month with a team of United Nations experts to discuss Iran's nuclear intentions, as well as the United States' allegations Tehran wants to make atomic arms.
"I would like to discuss with Iranian officials the possibility of Iran joining the Additional Protocol," ElBaradei told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
"That's a new authority given to us after the Iraq Gulf War, enabling us to do more, get more information and more access to facilities," he said.
"That I think would clearly create additional assurance with regard to the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme."
Parties to the Additional Protocol agree to grant IAEA inspectors access to all their facilities. If the IAEA deems it necessary, U.N. experts can carry out inspections with virtually no prior notification.
The protocol was created after the IAEA uncovered Iraq's covert atomic weapons programme in 1991.
"I have been assured by the Iranian authorities that all Iranian activities are for peaceful purposes," ElBaradei said.
The U.S. has said Iran intends to use the Russian-built Bushehr light-water reactor, as well as two new plants under construction, to develop nuclear weapons.
Tehran rejected the U.S. allegations and said Bushehr and the two plants near the central Iranian towns of Natanz and Arak were intended for peaceful purposes.
"I'm going to visit (the new plants) with my colleagues when we go there on February 25," ElBaradei said.
ElBaradei welcomed Russia's agreement to take all of the spent fuel from the Bushehr plant to prevent it being diverted to a weapons programme. Experts had said Iran could turn spent fuel rods into a "dirty" bomb to disperse radioactive material.
"(Bushehr) is under IAEA safeguards and Russia is going to take back the spent fuel. So the question of proliferation per se out of Bushehr should not arise," ElBaradei said.
ElBaradei said he understood the U.S. concerns and wants to verify Iran's protests of innocence.
"For the agency, our role is to verify that all the nuclear facilities in Iran are under safeguards and that Iran's programme is dedicated to peaceful purposes," he said.
The IAEA has a mandate to ensure nuclear facilities around the world are used solely for civilian purposes as well as coordinating global nuclear power safety.