TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran plans to construct a second nuclear power
plant despite international concern over its nuclear program. The head of the UN nuclear
watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, has appealed to both Iran and the West to refrain from
escalating their dangerous game of brinkmanship, which has entered an unpredictable phase
after the election of a hardline Iranian president.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Cabinet ministers are moving forward to build the
nuclear reactor in Khuzistan province, southwestern Iran. Previously Iran had said it
would build a second power plant at Bushehr, where its first nuclear reactor is due to
begin generating electricity in 2006.
Khuzistan province was the site of a French-built power plant that began in the mid-1970s
and was stopped after 1979 Islamic revolution.
The Iranian parliament is seeking the construction of 20 nuclear power plants. Russia,
which built the Bushehr reactor, has offered to build more nuclear plants in Iran.
Iran is under intense pressure to curb its nuclear program, which the United States claims
is part of an effort to produce weapons. Iran says its program is limited to generating
electricity. The International Atomic Energy Agency has warned Iran that its nuclear
program could be referred to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose
sanctions on the country.
Iran approved a bill that would block international inspections of its nuclear sites if it
were referred to the Security Council. The step strengthens the government's hand in
resisting international pressure to permanently abandon uranium enrichment, a process that
can produce fuel for either nuclear reactors or atomic bombs.
While Iran has frozen its enrichment program, it restarted uranium conversion - a step
toward enrichment.
The United States and European Union want Iran to permanently halt uranium enrichment. But
Tehran says the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty allows it to pursue a nuclear program for
peaceful purposes. It has said it will never give up the right to enrich uranium to
produce nuclear fuel. |
