By IANS,
Qom (Iran) : Iran will be able to build nuclear power plants worldwide within the next ten years, IRNA reported Monday quoting a senior official.
Mohammad Saeedi, deputy director of Iran Atomic Energy Organisation (IAEO), said: “In the next ten years Iran will be among the countries in the world that build nuclear reactors.”
Speaking at a ceremony Sunday to mark the National Nuclear Day, Saeedi said that comprehensive plans for developing nuclear activities began in 1997 and that the country had sought help from some countries but they refused, Mehr News reported.
“Since the beginning of activities we tried to get advice from certain countries but none of these countries was ready to cooperate with us. Therefore, we were forced to gain access to nuclear technology by relying on our talented young scientists,” he was quoted as saying.
Some 7,000 centrifuges are at present operational in Natanz and the country has successfully developed technology for producing and enriching uranium, he said.
The US and its European allies have been pressing Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment activities. Iran insists that its nuclear programme is solely aimed at producing electricity.