ISFAHAN, Iran (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday inaugurated Iran's first nuclear fuel manufacturing plant, marking a major breakthrough in the Islamic republic's controversial atomic programme.
Iran's atomic chief Gholam Reza Aghazadeh meanwhile declared Iran has installed around 7,000 centrifuges at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
Ahmadinejad cut the ribbon at the fuel facility in the central province of Isfahan at a ceremony marking national nuclear day, an AFP correspondent at the site said.
The opening of the fuel plant signifies that Iran has now mastered the complete nuclear fuel cycle from uranium mining to enrichment, amid fears by world powers that the ambitious programme is aimed at making atomic weapons.
"Today the nuclear fuel cycle has been practically completed and there is no room for the idea of halting (uranium) enrichment in the negotiations" with global powers, the head of Iran's parliamentary commission of national security and foreign policy, Alaeddin Borujerdi said after the plant was opened.
Iranian news agency Mehr said the fuel plant can produce 10 tonnes of nuclear fuel annually to feed the heavy water 40-megawatt Arak reactor as well as 30 tonnes for light water reactors such as the Bushehr nuclear plant.
The Bushehr plant sited in the Gulf port city of Bushehr has to have fuel that matches Russian technical specifications as the facility is constructed by Moscow.
Speaking at the same function as Ahmadinejad, atomic chief Aghazadeh said Iran had reached a "new phase (generation) of acquiring the technolgy of uranium enrichment."
"Today in Natanz there are around 7,000 centrifuges installed," he told the gathering, referring to the uranium enrichment facility also in Isfahan.
In its February 19 report, the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency said 3,964 centrifuges were actively enriching uranium in Natanz.
It said another 1,476 were undergoing vacuum or dry run tests without nuclear material, and an additional 125 centrifuges had been installed but remained stationary.
Thursday's announcements are likely to trigger fresh concerns among the international community which has repeatedly urged Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment programme completely.
In a bid to defuse tensions, six world powers led by Washington on Wednesday invited Iran for direct talks on the programme which Tehran insists is civilian and purely peaceful.
Uranium enrichment is at the heart of global fears that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons because the process can be used both to make nuclear fuel and the fissile core of an atom bomb.
World powers fear that Iran could configure the Arak plant in a way that it can be used to help make an atom bomb, but Tehran says the reactor is planned to make isotopes only for agricultural and health purposes.
Iran has defied five UN Security Council resolutions calling for a freeze in its enrichment activities, including three resolutions imposing sanctions.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France, and Germany said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has been tasked to invite Iran for direct talks on its nuclear plans.
"We reaffirm our unity of purpose and collective determination through direct diplomacy to resolve our shared concerns about Iran's nuclear programme, in line with the package proposals for cooperation with Iran," they said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington will participate fully in the talks.
"There's nothing more important than trying to convince Iran to cease its effort to obtain nuclear weapons," Clinton said.
Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a top advisor to Ahmadinejad, in response said Tehran will study the "constructive proposal" which "shows a change of approach (from the world powers)."
"We hope that this proposal means a change of approach to a more realistic attitude. The Islamic Republic of Iran will examine (it) and give its response."
