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Iran to build specialized nuclear hospital: Salehi

Society Materials 16 August 2015 07:02 (UTC +04:00)
Iran has launched a plan to build a major specialized nuclear hospital in the near future, says the country’s nuclear chief
Iran to build specialized nuclear hospital: Salehi

Iran has launched a plan to build a major specialized nuclear hospital in the near future, says the country's nuclear chief, Press TV reported.

"Work will soon get underway to construct it (the hospital)," said Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi, adding the plan has been given the all-clear by President Hassan Rouhani as well.

Among the objectives of Iran's nuclear program is to use the technology in the field of medicine, namely research and development as well as production of radiomedicines.

Iran only ME country producing radiomedicines

The top official further underlined that over a million patients in the country are using locally-produced radiomedicines, adding Iran is the only producer of such medicines in the Middle East.

"No other country in the Middle East is able to do this," said Salehi, adding Iran is exporting radiomedicines as well.

The radionmedicines produced by Iran are up to par, said the AEOI chief; however, he noted, the country has set in motion a plan to standardize domestically-produced radiomedicines, so that they will measure up to international standards and set the stage for the Islamic Republic to become a major exporter in the field.

Iran's centrifuges

Salehi further touched upon untiring efforts by local scientists to develop centrifuges as part of the country's peaceful nuclear drive.

He said Iran has manufactured and tested eight generations of centrifuges since 1990, adding the ones which prove successful are gradually identified during the process, which "takes time."

"Now, the IR6 and IR8 machines (centrifuges) are promising machines which we can be used in the future," the AEOI chief said.

In an interview with the Science magazine published on its website on August 12, 2015, Salehi touched upon the issue of centrifuges as one of the hot-button issues during negotiations between Tehran and six world powers over Iran's nuclear program.

He told the magazine that the two negotiating sides had found some middle ground on the issue of advanced centrifuges and relevant R & D work.

Representatives and nuclear experts from Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers - the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany - succeeded in finalizing the text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna on July 14 after 18 days of intense negotiations and all-nighters that capped around 23 months of talks between Iran and the six other countries.

Under the JCPOA, limits will be put on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.

Iran to master nuclear fuel cycle

Salehi also underlined that Iran is working to master the nuclear fuel cycle, expressing hope that the country will be able to "complete the fuel cycle" through international cooperation and having restrictions removed.

"We will speak with Russians on [Tehran-Moscow] cooperation in the near future to produce several [nuclear] fuel assemblies annually," said the AEOI chief.

He also said Iran, in cooperation with China, is to construct a complex in the central Iranian city of Arak, which will move the country ahead several decades given the technology involved.

Talks are also underway with China on the construction of two other power plants in Iran, Salehi noted.

Iran not after nukes

Salehi further reiterated Iran's position that it is not pursuing atomic weapons, recalling a fatwa by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, which forbids the development and use of nuclear arms.

Iran has announced time and again that it is not seeking to produce nuclear weapons as development of nukes runs counter to both humanitarian principles and religious precepts.

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