Posted on 03/11/2003 6:18:40 AM PST by Indy Pendance
IRAN gave foreign media a tour of its nuclear power plant under construction in the southern town of Bushehr in a bid to defuse US accusations that Tehran is secretly pursuing atomic weapons.
Hundreds of Russian and Iranian engineers could be seen working on the site, which was protected by a number of anti-aircraft weapons.
"At the moment the reactor and peripheral equipment have been installed and the first phase of the plant is to be completed in the next year", an official told AFP.
"At the moment more than one thousand technicians are working at the site", he added.
The country's first nuclear power station, being built by Russia and Iran in the southern port city, is expected to be operational in mid-2004.
In early February, President Mohammad Khatami announced on national television his country was developing uranium deposits near the central city of Yazd and building an array of plants to process them.
The announcement was viewed in Washington as confirming US suspicions that Iran was embarking on a nuclear weapons program.
But in an effort to show its peaceful intentions, Tehran last month allowed International Atomic Energy (IAEA) officials to visit a uranium enrichment facility in northwest Iran.
But following IAEA chief Mohamed Elbaradei's visit the White House and the State Department said longstanding US concerns about Iran's program had been enhanced by indications that its efforts were far more advanced that previously thought.
Their respective spokesmen Ari Fleischer and Richard Boucher said Iran's claim that its nuclear interests were based solely on energy purposes made no sense given the tremendous natural gas and oil deposits to which it has access.
Iran has repeatedly denied the US charges, accusing Washington of trying to undermine Tehran's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Russia has also vigorously dismissed suggestions that its cooperation in building the Bushehr plant is helping Tehran to develop nuclear weapons.
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