Daily Times

TEHRAN/OSLO: A total of 11 tons of low-enriched uranium has been shipped to Russia from Iran while Norway has helped verify a shipment of 60 tons of raw uranium to Iran, as part of an international deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali-Akbar Salehi, on Tuesday confirmed the transfer of 11,000 kg of low-enriched uranium to Russia, which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said was “one of the most significant steps Iran has taken toward fulfilling its commitments.”

“Some 11,000 kg of enriched uranium was exchanged with 197,000 kg of yellow cake,” Salehi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. Yellow cake is a powder obtained in an intermediate step in the processing of natural uranium ore. By doing so, Iran has now vastly depleted a stockpile of uranium that, if enriched to higher purity, could have been used in developing nuclear weapons. Kerry said Iran’s shipment to Russia had tripled the amount of time it would take to produce enough fuel for an atomic bomb — from two to three months to up to six or nine months. Monday’s shipment was part of an international deal signed on July 14 by Iran and six world powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — to imposes limits on the Iranian nuclear program in return for lifting of economic sanctions.

Under the deal, Iran will also receive natural uranium from Russia and Kazakhstan to be used in nuclear reactors for future energy production

The Norwegian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that experts from the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority “verified and controlled” the transportation of the uranium from Kazakhstan to Iran on Sunday.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende said Norway was supporting the deal by helping “ensure Iran’s excess enriched uranium is replaced by natural uranium, so that the commitments in the agreement can be met.”

The exchange was one of three major measures Iran had to take under the international deal. The other two steps are ensuring a dramatic cut to Tehran’s number of functional centrifuges — fast-spinning machines used to enrich uranium — and replacing the core of a reactor at its Arak nuclear facility. “Thank God, we implemented one of the major steps and we are currently busy with other small measures in this regard,” Salehi said. The Iranian atomic chief expressed the hope that Western sanctions against his country will be lifted.