Russia Signs Nuclear Reactor Deal With Iran

WSJ

MOSCOW—Russia said it signed a deal Tuesday to build two new nuclear-reactor units in Iran, possibly to be followed by six more.

The agreements were signed by nuclear officials from both countries in Moscow, Russian state nuclear giant Rosatom said in a statement. Among them was a contract to build two more reactor units at the Russian-built Bushehr plant in Iran.

Another deal signed Tuesday envisions possibly building another two units at Bushehr sometime in the future, as well as four more at another location to be determined later, Rosatom said.

“This is a turning point in relations between Russia and Iran,” the Tass news agency quoted Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi as saying at the ceremony. Rosatom Chief Executive Sergei Kiriyenko said, ”the building of eight reactor blocks in Iran is a big project expanding our cooperation for decades to come."

No schedule was given for any of the planned construction. Rosatom said that all the plants would be operated as Bushehr currently is, under safeguards mandated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, with the nuclear fuel produced in Russia and shipped back there for reprocessing after use. Moscow and western capitals have insisted on such a structure to eliminate suspicions any of the nuclear material could be diverted for a weapons program.

Russia’s construction of the first plant at Bushehr--Iran’s only operating nuclear power reactor--stretched over decades amid tensions over Iran’s suspected weapons ambitions. When Moscow completed construction in 2011, officials said talks were underway with Tehran to deliver more reactors, though details weren’t announced. Rosatom formally turned over operational control of the plant to Iran in 2013.

In Oman, where he is participating in the six-party talks on Iran’s nuclear program, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said the deals signed Tuesday are part of Russia’s longer-term cooperation with Tehran.

“We are continuing the cooperation with Iran in the civilian nuclear sphere, in building new reactors to generate electricity,” he said, noting that the fuel would be produced in Russia and reprocessed there over the entire life of the plants.

On the six-party talks, he said, “we have progress on all the questions that have been discussed before,” but didn’t provide details.

Write to Alexander Kolyandr at [email protected] and Jay Solomon at [email protected]