Edition: U.S. / Global


Published: May 14, 1995

Iran's top nuclear official said today that his country hopes to build about 10 nuclear power plants in the next two decades, but he denied charges by the United States that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

The official, Reza Amrollahi, also said that he had signed a formal contract with China last year for two nuclear power reactors and that Chinese experts had completed a feasibility study and had begun to draw up blueprints and engineering reports for a site in southern Iran.

Iran has already made a "down payment" for the project, which will cost $800 million to $900 million and involve training by Chinese experts, said Mr. Amrollahi, director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.

Although the United States has expressed doubts that China can build the reactors on its own because the original model included parts from Germany and Japan, Mr. Amrollahi said the Chinese felt they had successfully duplicated the technology.

The United States has led a global campaign to prevent Iran from receiving any nuclear technology because of its suspected weapons program.

Mr. Amrollahi's statements suggest that the agreement with China is much further along than was known, and that Iran is planning a vast long-range nuclear energy program. The statements seem certain to strengthen the conviction both within the Clinton Administration and in Congress that Iran is determined to become a nuclear power.

In addition to its oil reserves, Iran has the second-largest natural gas reserves in the world, and natural gas is much cheaper to develop than nuclear energy. That makes American officials suspicious that Iran wants nuclear power as part of a weapons program.

In a clear attempt to answer charges that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, Mr. Amrollahi made his remarks in a two-and-a-half-hour interview at his agency's new six-story building. It is part of a sprawling complex in central Teheran that includes a small nuclear research reactor built for Iran by the United States in the late 1960's, when relations with Washington were close. Officials offered a brief tour of the complex, including a visit to two radio isotope laboratories for medical research, although they did not allow a tour of the reactor.

"In case we get enough money, in case we have enough trained people, we have a plan to take 20 years to get 20 percent of our energy from nuclear," Mr. Amrollahi said. Asked whether that could mean about 10 reactors, he said, "Something like that."

If Russia completes two reactor projects in Iran, and China builds two, it would seem that the Iranian Government intends to build six.

At the summit meeting in Moscow last week, President Clinton tried without success to persuade President Boris N. Yeltsin to abandon Russia's nuclear energy project with Iran, arguing that the Islamic Government had embarked on a crash nuclear weapons program. Secretary of State Warren Christopher was similarly rebuffed when he made the same point to China's Foreign Minister, Qian Qichen, last month in New York.

Mr. Amrollahi reiterated that Iran had already invested $6 billion in the project -- which is subject to international inspection and safeguards -- and wanted to finish it. He said the contract with Moscow consists of a $780 million deal in which Russia is to complete one of two reactors that a German firm was building at Bushehr, a southern port city, before the project was halted after the 1979 revolution. If that project goes well, Russia will finish the second reactor.

The United States opposes the project in part because it will give Iran access to new expertise, technology and training.

Mr. Amrollahi said that 150 Russian nuclear experts were already working at the site and that 500 would eventually be based there; a much smaller number of Iranians are to be trained in Russia on how to operate the plant, he added. "Training people is part of that nuclear power plan," he said. "I don't know why they make such a hot fudge of it."

Mr. Amrollahi denied reports that Iran had negotiated -- or even discussed -- a plan to buy a gas centrifuge from Russia that could have rapidly enriched uranium to bomb-grade quality. "This was a diplomatically made cake," he said of reports about a separate albeit tentative agreement with Russia.

Russia has agreed to supply the enriched uranium to operate the plant it plans to finish, he said. Asked whether Iran was pursuing a program to enrich uranium, at first he said, "Not now," but then added quickly: "No. Not forever. Not, no, not at all."

Asked why Iran simply does not use natural gas for fuel, Mr. Amrollahi said, "Natural gas is one of the best fuels, and many countries at the moment need it. So we think it is better to sell it."

The United States and Germany have amassed substantial evidence that Iran is secretly buying components and technology abroad that could be useful only in a determined weapons program.

Although Mr. Amrollahi has headed Iran's nuclear agency for 15 years, American and German intelligence officials say that he controls only part of Iran's nuclear program and that Iran has created a parallel program through the military that is largely responsible for purchases of nuclear related items. According to this view, the Defense Ministry Organization inside the Defense Ministry uses front organizations like the Sharif University of Technology in Teheran to help buy nuclear-related equipment.

On the basis of reports by Germany's foreign intelligence agency in 1992 and 1993, Germany began to reject all requests for equipment by the university. Early last year, the German agency said the university's physics research center was involved in buying technology that could be used in making weapons, including nuclear-related materials.

Mr. Amrollahi strongly denied the claim that he was not fully in charge. "I am the responsible for the atomic energy of Iran," he said. "Believe it, we don't have any other institutions or departments that pay attention to nuclear issues."

Mr. Amrollahi also denied reports that Iran has secretly been buying nuclear technology and equipment abroad, noting that the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors nuclear programs around the world, turned up nothing suspicious during a visit to Sharif University.

But the official was unfamiliar with intelligence reports about Iran's nuclear-related overtures abroad and asked for copies of news clippings describing the details.

Asked, for example, about a report that Iran tried unsuccessfully to buy cylinders of fluorine for Sharif University in 1991, Mr. Amrollahi said, "Wrong. I deny it totally." Asked about a report that Sharif University approached the German firm Thyssen in 1991 for specialized magnets he replied, "No, we never did."

Asked whether Sharif University tried to buy balancing machines from another German firm in 1991, he replied, "You can go and ask Sharif University."

Asked about a seizure last January by Italian authorities in Bari of high technology ultrasonic equipment that could be used in nuclear reactor testing, he replied, "Believe it, that's wrong, totally."

Asked about a 1993 seizure by Italian customs of eight steam condensers destined for Iran, he said, "I don't know really. I don't know. It's totally wrong."

Mr. Amrollahi also denied a recent accusation by Secretary Christopher that Iran tried to buy enriched uranium from Kazakhstan in 1992. Other senior American officials in Washington said that Iran sent a purchasing team to Kazakhstan three years ago, but that it came home empty-handed.

"We didn't send any team," Mr. Amrollahi said. "Definitely not. What is the use of enriched uranium for? The Russians do have many, many nuclear weapons but they couldn't use them. I think the bomb age is over. We don't think we need a nuclear weapon." -------------------- U.S. Unaware of Iranian Goal

WASHINGTON, May 13 (By The New York Times) -- One of the Administration's leading nuclear experts said late today that he had not heard that Iran had a goal of building 10 nuclear reactors, although he said he was not surprised because of the plans that Iran had already announced.

Since the Administration had strongly urged Russia not to build two planned reactors and warned that Iran would not be able to pay for them, the official questioned whether Iran could finance 10 reactors.

"I think there is a general question about Iran's ability to finance any new project," he said, speaking on the condition that he not be identified.

Another official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a plan for 10 reactors was hardly more worrisome than for two or four. The Administration's major concern about the Russian reactors is that they will help augment the expertise of Iran's nuclear specialists, making it easier for them to develop nuclear weapons.

"Our concern is about technology and expertise," the official said. "You could argue that they could learn most of what they will learn from the first two reactors."

The Administration also fears that once the Iranians have the reactors, it will be easier for them to import technology to develop either civilian nuclear power or nuclear weapons. The more reactors Iran has, the easier it will be for it to purchase such dual-use technology, one official said.

The expert also said the Administration already knew that there were 150 Russian engineers in Iran and that China had signed a contract for two reactors. "Our understanding is the Chinese signed something a while ago, but we're not totally sure it will go through," the official said. "It seems more doubtful than the Russian project."