Russian And Iranian Experts Consult On Nuclear Cooperation
Senior Russian and Iranian officials met in Moscow Thursday to discuss completion of the nuclear power plant at Bushehr and a proposal to enrich uranium in Russia for use in Tehran's civil nuclear power industry.

Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia's nuclear power agency Rosatom, hosted the meeting with Iranian ambassador Gholamreza Ansari and Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.

Saeedi said before leaving Tehran that he wanted to discuss 'fuel deliveries to the Bushehr nuclear power plant and a final date for its physical launch.'

The first reactor of the station is almost 90-per-cent ready, according to the Russian Atomstroieksport company that is carrying out the work. Construction was due to be finished by the end of this year.

Kiriyenko said deliveries of Russian fuel to the plant would take place six months before the unit is powered up.

The United States is highly critical of Russia's cooperation with Iran and says the technology is being used in a secret weapons programme.

Russia says the work, including measures for the return of spent fuel, complies fully with international law.

The sides were also expected to discuss Moscow's proposal for the long-term enrichment of fuel in Russia for Iran as a solution to the crisis around Tehran's nuclear programme.

Earlier talks brought no breakthrough when Iran said it would continue developing a full fuel cycle at home.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Igor Ivanov, warned that any military action against Iran 'will lead to consequences that may seriously blow up the situation in the region and outside it.'

The crisis could only be effectively resolved through reaching a consensus in the United Nations Security Council, he told journalists in Moscow.