IRAN TO BUILD NEW RESEARCH REACTORS

Iran will need more enriched uranium to fuel the “four or five” new research reactors it is planning on building, the country’s nuclear chief said on April 11. Fereidoun Abbasi told the semi-official ISNA news agency that Iran is planning to build the new research reactors “in the next few years” to produce medical radioisotopes for patients. To fuel these reactors, Iran needs to continue enriching uranium to 20 per cent. Abbasi, a 52-year-old professor of nuclear isotopes at Tehran’s Defence Ministry, was appointed Iran’s nuclear chief in February after he survived an assassination attempt in November. He was wounded in the bomb attack. Tehran contends its nuclear programme is intended only for a civilian power.