Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Tehran is ready for partnership with other countries in building reactors for power plants, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency on Sunday.

Abbasi-Davani added that the agency received several proposals from Russia and Western states in this regard.

"We have a logical and rational trend in the construction of the Arak research reactor and we are preparing the reactor's affiliated installations and facilities," he said.

Abbasi-Davani said Iran will begin operating the facility in the next Iranian year (March 2013- March 2014).

Earlier Abbasi-Davani stated that the country was making progress in the construction of the 40-megawatt research reactor in Iran's central city of Arak as scheduled.

Besides, the official said Iran has manufactured 3,000 new generation centrifuges.

Abbasi-Davani noted that previously, the Natanz nuclear plant had old generation centrifuges, and now they are being substituted by fifth-generation models.

He said that new centrifuges are used for enrichment of uranium up to 5 percent.

Abbasi-Davani said the centrifuges were installed at the plant a month ago, adding that the new ones will first undergo a series of tests at the plant, before they can be mass-produced at the new production facility.

Earlier in a confidential report, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said 180 so-called IR-2m centrifuges and empty centrifuge casings had been put in place at the facility near the central town of Natanz. According to the report, they were not yet operating.

Two days later, Abbasi-Davani confirmed the news about the installation of 180 centrifuges in Natanz, saying that the number of machines which would be installed is greater and the rest of them would be gradually installed.