Construction Informer

With the announcement by the leadership of Iran that it was set to begin the building of ten more nuclear enrichment facilities many who have followed the ups and downs of Iran’s nuclear attempts no doubt wonder if it’s really possible. The country has one finished enrichment facility at Natanz that has about 9,000 centrifuges, but only about 5,000 are functioning and turning out low-enriched uranium, the kind used in power plant reactors. It appears that facility was under construction for a number of years, culminating in a 2007 speech at the site by the Iranian President where he declared Iran could now produce nuclear fuel on an “industrial scale.”

(Courtesy US Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

A diplomat with the International Atomic Energy Agency noted after an inspction of the Natanz facility that the centrifuges operating there were old and had a high breakdown and maintenance rate. A smaller facility, more in line with producing the more highly refined fuel for weapons, has been under construction near the city of Qom and could be finished in a year. This one has been under construction off and on for seven years and on November 27 the IAEA called for a halt to that construction saying it was a covert activity. In a surprise development both China and Russia supported the IAEA demand.

While Russia has figured prominently in the nearly completed first nuclear reactor at Bushehr, anyone who followed that odyssey stretching from 1995 to now would get a glimpse of the difficult building process Iran and Russia have faced. According to one account the Russian State-owned Atomstroiexport worked on the project through payment disputes, Russia’s growing concern about Iran’s intentions, a chilling in relations with the US, and certainly some wonderment as to whether it would get paid for the work in light of sanctions being put in place against Iran. As a matter of fact the only way Russia would vote for the sanctions was if the construction at Bushehr was not affected. Russia has stayed with the work though, and recent reports show the facility may finally be complete in March of 2010.

Throughout the starts and stops of the construction of the Bushehr reactor it has served as a point of contention between the US and Russia. The US claimed Russia was contributing to Middle East instability by helping Iran with its nuclear ambitions, while Russia denied knowing anything about Iran having aspirations to create weapons and that the reactor being finished wouldn’t move them any closer to that anyway. Later, according the second report above, it was revealed that Iran actually got its centrifuges from Pakistan. Pakistan got its from a fellow called Dr. Abdul Kahn, a Pakistani engineer who infiltrated UK-based nuclear development giant Urenco, and stole some blueprints. It is also alleged that Kahn provided the plans to Libya and North Korea.

The Bushehr reactor under construction now was one of two that was started by Siemens in 1974. Neither of them were completed as the Iranian Revolution and the Iranian/Iraqi war interfered. The Iraqis damaged the partially built reactors in a series of bombing raids from 1984 to 1988. In 1987 an Argentine-Spanish firm tried unsuccessfully to win the contract to finish one of the Bushehr plants. Iran meantime, maintained it was out billions of dollars because Siemens failed to complete the contract. Then, by 1998, Siemens didn’t want any part of it due to diplomatic pressure from the US. The Bushehr reactor that is nearing completion by Russia has had a string of completion dates that never materialized.

In 2001 Iran said it was planning on building three to five more nuclear reactors. In 2008 the number swelled to 19 as the nation went looking for partners across the globe to handle the construction. By this account Iran expected to have all the technological know-how in place by 2013 to begin building its own reactors.

In a way it’s too bad Iran wouldn’t just follow the treaties that require it to follow non-proliferation guidelines. In these hard economic times I’m sure there are a few international firms that would jump in and speed up its goal of generating 20,000 megawatts of electricity by 2030. But perhaps it has other ambitions?