MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) - Iran's enriched uranium is good enough for use in power plants but is far from weapons-grade material, a Russian expert said Wednesday.
Former nuclear power minister Viktor Mikhailov was commenting on an announcement Tuesday night by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Iran had successfully completed a research-scale nuclear fuel cycle.
"Iran said it had become a nuclear power like other countries pursuing peaceful nuclear programs," said Mikhailov, who heads the Strategic Stability Institute think tank. "Indeed, uranium enrichment at 3.5% is a medium used in fuel rods at nuclear power plants."
The enrichment level announced by Ahmadinejad falls far short of weapons-grade material, which needs at least 80% enrichment, Mikhailov said, adding that Iran should take a realistic view, given its current enrichment capacities.
He said Tehran would have to import nuclear fuel from Russia for its Bushehr plant, the $800-million project being built with Russian expertise, as it was not enriching enough of the element.
Ahmadinejad Tuesday said Iran, suspected by many countries of pursuing a covert nuclear military program, was determined to achieve industrial-scale uranium enrichment for the production of nuclear fuel, but insisted it had no ambition to develop nuclear weapons.
The UN Security Council demanded late last month that Tehran re-impose a moratorium on uranium enrichment and ordered the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to report on the country's compliance with the demand by the end of April.
Russia has opposed Security Council sanctions against Iran. In a bid to defuse the crisis, it proposed enriching uranium for Iranian nuclear power plants via a joint venture to be based in Russia. Tehran, however, rejected the proposal, but said it could still be discussed.
