Last weekend Russia and Iran yet again exchanged accusations over the Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday that fuel for the plant, being built by Russia's Atomstroyexport in south Iran, was "ready, with the security seal of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]."

A Russian delegate in the agency quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency immediately dismissed the report and said that though the fuel is ready, the containers did not have the IAEA seal on them and thus still cannot be shipped to the power plant.

The Moscow News talked to one of the Russian specialists working on the project and asked what was really going on at the station from a technical point of view.What we learned presents the situation from a different angle.

Work in Bushehr started in 1975; initially the nuclear power plant was built by the German (back then - West German) Siemens concern.But immediately after the Islamic revolution of 1979, the Germans terminated construction and withdrew from Iran, leaving the unfinished work and taking all documents with them. Some time later the unfinished construction suffered several air strikes from Iraq and was in a rather sorry state when in 1995 Russia signed a contract to complete the project.

According to our source, who wished to remain anonymous, this task was exceptionally difficult.Russian and German nuclear equipment did not match and Germans did not provide the documents for what they had left behind. The war damage to the buildings had to be assessed and repaired and there were no proper testing facilities in Iran. The major reason why Russian State Corporation Atomstroyexport agreed to do the job was the desperate need of cash - in 1995 the nuclear industry was recovering from a collapse caused by the sorry situation of the state financial system and lack of internal order after the Chernobyl disaster.

Our source said that Iranian claims that the plant was 95 percent ready are basically correct, but it still needs tests which are complicated, time-consuming and expensive. Iranians are pressing for the fuel delivery and delaying payments, making testing even harder. What is more important, the source said, is that the Bushehr NPP suffers from a severe lack of qualified personnel. When work on the project started, Russian contractors realized that they were short of trained people to work at the site, especially engineers and assemblers. After the crisis of the Russian nuclear industry in the early 90s many Russian organizations in the sphere collapsed and the specialists that remained were old and unwilling to leave there secure places. Also, climate conditions in Bushehr are severe and many elderly people declined the offer for health reasons.

Atomstroyexport then hired many men from other countries of the former Soviet Union, in particular Ukraine and Armenia, but they are not as good as Russian specialists and running the station still requires better trained staff, the Russian specialist said.

AT POLITICAL LOGGERHEADS

The nuclear fuel dispute is in reality a reflection of a more general discussion - whether there will be a Russianbuilt nuclear power plant in Iran at all. The most important part of the nuclear fuel assemblies is not the enriched uranium itself, but the containers in which it is kept, transported and loaded into the reactor. These containers are Russian know-how and the Russian reactor will only work with them.

At the same time, when the fuel is delivered to the station, the cycle starts and the reactor must start working in six months after the delivery - otherwise the expensive batch of fuel will become useless waste. Therefore, when Russia finally delivers the fuel it will be a sure sign that the reactor will start six months later. Until then - the project remains suspended.

According to our source, the reasons of such situation were purely political. Atomstroyexport is interested in completing the project as soon as possible. For Russians it is the only way to receive the delayed payments and, more importantly, to start working on several new reactors - the Iranian program is very extensive and they have the money for it. But the Russian authorities are under pressure from the international community, as many countries share the U.S. and Israel's fears that the working reactor in Bushehr would speed up the Iranian project to build its own nuclear weapons.

Our source did not deny that Iran is now working on such a project. But he added that all works were secret and were not connected with the Bushehr reactor."We do not ask them about the bomb project and they obviously tell us nothing about it," the specialist said. At the same time, he added that the reactor in Bushehr can not be used for military purposes "even in theory."The fuel for it is only about 3.5 percent enriched and the level of enrichment for weapons-grade uranium must be over 90 percent. The used fuel is returned to Russia under IAEA control and if Iranians violate this agreement they simply would not receive new batches of fuel that they cannot produce themselves. "They may be claiming such intentions, but it is pure demagogy," our source said.

On the other hand, if the nuclear energy program in Iran starts working it will give a major boost to the economy of the fundamentalist country and this is not what Iran's neighbors and the Western powers want. The program can also lead to the situation when 20 working reactors will be spread over the country's territory. A major military operation in such condition becomes complicated as the fallout from destroyed reactors will cover the neighboring countries and the invading force will have to take the blame for it.

The Russian expert told us that even these fears were possibly exaggerated. Iran is now facing international sanctions and has no materials or testing facilities for building these 20 blocks. New power plants can only be built by foreign firms and so far only Russians agree to do it and only under IAEA control.

In recent statements Russian nuclear officials gave the earliest date for the start-up of the Bushehr reactor as fall 2008. Under the contract, Russia will run it for two years after the start, providing the operators and training  Iranian specialists for the work. The first used fuel will be removed  about six months after the start of the reactor and for safety reasons it will remain on the premises for two years - the used fuel cannot be used or even moved before that.

But with time Iran receives more warnings over its nuclear projects. As Russia and Iran were exchanging accusations, France threatened Iran with sanctions and warned of a possible war. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a radio interview that war could break out if Iran obtains nuclear weapons and said European leaders were considering their own economic sanctions against the Islamic country.

Iranians reacted sharply, calling the statement hard and illogical and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon attempted to play down Kouchner's words on Monday. Fillon said that his country would do anything to avoid war, but did not mention sanctions.

By Kirill Bessonov