Russians give Iran nuke control rods

MOSCOW, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The Russian nuclear fuel company TVEL has given Iran key machinery to run its Bushehr reactor core.

A TVEL spokesperson announced the equipment transfer in a statement Friday, RIA Novosti reported.

RIA Novosti said the state-controlled Russian nuclear export corporation Atomstroyexport constructed the controversial Bushehr nuclear complex in southern Iran as part of a deal signed in a 1995 agreement.

"Along with the second shipment of nuclear fuel to the Bushehr NPP, we have delivered some equipment necessary for the reactor core operations, including control rods and shim rods," the TVEL spokeswoman said.

The Russian news agency said Moscow had already sent two payloads of nuclear fuel to the Bushehr reactor plant in December 2007 and that it planned to send more shipments in January and February.

RIA Novosti noted that work on the $1 billion Bushehr project almost stalled last February in a row between Moscow and Tehran. The Russians complained that the Iranians were not paying for the program on schedule. Tehran counter-charged that it was paying what it owed promptly and it accused the Kremlin of deliberately trying to slow down work on the nuclear complex to appease the United States and its European allies.

However, RIA Novosti noted that later, Russian officials took a more conciliatory line and said they were satisfied that the Bushehr reactor program was being developed under the full supervision of the U.N.-backed International Atomic Energy Agency, which is based in Vienna, Austria.

Nuclear fuel that has been used in the Bushehr reactor is to be sent out of Iran to undergo reprocessing and then to be kept elsewhere, under a deal arranged between the two countries.

Atomstroyexport chief Sergei Shmatko has estimated that the Bushehr reactor will not become operational until late in 2008, RIA Novosti said.