is now up and running is proof that Iran doesn’t need a uranium enrichment industry.
“We would note that Russia’s agreement with Iran on Bushehr provides that Russia will provide the fuel for Bushehr and will take back the spent fuel,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. That fact, “in our view, underscores the point that Iran doesn’t need its own enrichment facilities because it can receive fuel from the International community.”
But Iran has argued that it isn’t guaranteed fuel from the international community, and notes that neither the United States nor Europe will sell it fuel.
Iran has also said repeatedly that it isn’t building an enrichment capability to fuel Bushehr but to fuel 20 other nuclear power plants it is planning. No contracts, however, have yet been issued for any of those plants.
More to the point, however, is the fact that Iran has said it is building a nuclear power industry so it will be energy self-sufficient when its oil and gas run out. But Iran doesn’t have enough raw uranium to fuel those planned 20 plants for more than a few years, after which point it would be dependent on uranium imports and not energy self-sufficient.