In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced that two sets of domestically produced nuclear fuel plates had been delivered to the operator of the Tehran research reactor, Tehran Times reported.
The delivery of nuclear fuel plates is highly significant because it took place just one day before the new round talks between Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) in Baghdad.
The statement said that nuclear fuel plates were delivered after undergoing extensive tests.
It added that one of the batches had been loaded into the core of the Tehran reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.
On the sidelines of the Group of 15 summit, which was held in Tehran on May 17, 2010, Iran, Turkey, and Brazil issued a declaration, according to which Iran was to ship 1200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel to power the Tehran research reactor.
But the United States and its allies rejected the deal.
In response, Iran decided to produce 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel and convert it into plate type nuclear fuel and constructed an advanced plant at the Isfahan nuclear facility for manufacturing nuclear fuel plates.