Posted on 11/10/2004 2:59:28 PM PST by yonif
Russia and Iran have almost completed a protocol on returning spent nuclear fuel to Russia and the two countries should sign it soon, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The United States and Israel fear that the US$800 million Bushehr deal could help Tehran build nuclear weapons. Moscow says that having Iran ship spent nuclear fuel back to Russia will make any such project impossible.
The spent fuel return agreement has been delayed repeatedly, however, by what both countries say are mainly financial details. Iran says it doesn't have facilities to store the spent fuel. Russia wants to be paid to take the fuel back.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told a news conference that Russia and Iran had resolved "principal issues" and only "commercial details" remained to be worked out.
"We expect that this protocol will be signed in the very near future," he said.
"The spent fuel return agreement has been delayed repeatedly, however, by what both countries say are mainly financial details. Iran says it doesn't have facilities to store the spent fuel. Russia wants to be paid to take the fuel back."
What a crock of *hit! I can see it now, from Russia "we really, really wanted to take back that spent nuclear fuel but Iran refused to pay us, what to do?!?"
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