GARNIK ASATRYAN: IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM HAS ONLY PEACEFUL PURPOSES

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.02.2010 17:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran’s nuclear program has only peaceful purposes,
Garnik Asatryan head of Department for Iranian Studies at Yerevan
State University told a news conference in Yerevan. "Today there
is no precise information that Iran builds nuclear weapons," Garnik
Asatryan said. But even if it does, given the fact that such country
as Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons, the availability of nuclear
weapons in Iran is not a threat, " the scholar said.

The nuclear program of Iran was launched in the 1950s with the help
of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program.[1]
The support, encouragement and participation of the United States
and Western European governments in Iran’s nuclear program continued
until the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran.

After the 1979 revolution, the Iranian government temporarily
disbanded elements of the program, and then revived it with less
Western assistance than during the pre-revolution era. Iran’s nuclear
program has included several research sites, a uranium mine, a nuclear
reactor, and uranium processing facilities that include three known
uranium enrichment plants.

Iran’s first nuclear power plant, Bushehr I, was expected to be
operational in 2009.[3] There are no current plans to complete the
Bushehr II reactor, although the construction of 19 nuclear power
plants is envisaged. Iran has announced that it is working on a new
360 MWe nuclear power plant to be located in Darkhovin. Iran has also
indicated that it will seek more medium-sized nuclear power plants
and uranium mines for the future.