Iran has no reason to pursue nuclear enrichment: U.S.

BUDAPEST-The head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said on Tuesday there was no reason for Iran to pursue uranium enrichment technology because there was a plentiful supply of the nuclear fuel abroad. Dale Klein, chairman of the NRC, said on the sidelines of a speech in Hungary there is a global surplus of commercial nuclear fuel production capabilities and Iran could buy fuel for any reactors on the open market. "So there is really no technical reason that Iran should have their own enrichment capabilities," Klein said. Iran, which says it wants to refine uranium for electricity, has insisted on pursuing nuclear self-sufficiency, saying it could not depend on foreign sources of supply given longtime U.S.-engineered trade restrictions imposed on it. But the United States and European allies fear Iran could put its uranium enrichment capabilities to military use, yielding high-enriched uranium for use in nuclear weapons. "I think that's what the concern is for certainly Western Europe and the U.S. -- what is Iran's real intention? Because if it was only for commercial fuel they could buy that on the open market," Klein said. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, on Monday rejected Tehran's argument that an IAEA probe into the possible military purposes of its atomic program threatened Iran's national security. The agency said it could keep as confidential any information Tehran provides to the inquiry. The IAEA will hold its annual General Conference of 147 member states next week and Klein said the agency would recommend guidelines to countries wanting to build nuclear power plants on how to set up a proper regulatory structure first. "I think a lot of countries now want to have a nuclear power plant but they don't understand the responsibility it takes to get along the path of that, and the first thing they need is to do is have a strong independent regulator," Klein said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE48M9BU20080923

As in the days of Noah....