[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 80 (Monday, May 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6697-S6698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                         IRANIAN NUCLEAR PLANS

 Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I rise today to comment on an 
interview that appeared in the New York Times, on Sunday, May 14, 1995, 
entitled, ``Iran Says It Plans 10 Nuclear Plants But No Atom Arms.''
  I must say that the interview is quite candid in as much as we have 
the Director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Reza Amrollahi, 
stating that his nation intends to build as many as 10 nuclear reactors 
throughout the country. What we have is an Iranian official publicly 
stating the number of reactors Iran wants to build, as well as 
confirming that Iran is buying two more Chinese reactors, in addition 
to the Russian reactors they intend to purchase. This is remarkable and 
scary.
  Mr. President, this interview only confirms what I have been saying 
all along. The terrorist regime in Iran is bent on aggression and will 
not stop. It is bad enough that they are abusing the human rights of 
the Iranian people and hijacking their rich history, but they are 
sacrificing the Iranian people's welfare in return for a headlong drive 
for nuclear armament. This is all very unfortunate for the abused 
Iranian people and dangerous for the world. I hope that Iranians 
remember what their corrupt government did to them.
  Mr. President, I ask that the text of the above-mentioned article be 
printed in the Record.
                [From the New York Times, May 14, 1995]

         Iran Says it Plans 10 Nuclear Plants But No Atom Arms

                          (By Elaine Sciolino)

       Teheran, Iran, May 13--Iran's top nuclear official said 
     today that his country intended to build about 10 nuclear 
     power plants in the next two decades, but denied charges by 
     the United States that Iran is trying to develop nuclear 
     weapons.
       The official, Reza Amrollahi, also said that last year he 
     signed a formal contract with China for two nuclear power 
     reactors and that Chinese experts had completed a feasibility 
     study and had begun to draw up blueprints and engineering 
     reports for a site in southern Iran.
       Iran has already made a ``down payment'' for the project, 
     which will cost $800 million to $900 million and involve 
     training by Chinese experts, said Mr. Amrollahi, director of 
     Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.
       Although the United States has doubted that China is 
     capable of building the reactors on its own because the 
     original model included parts from Germany and Japan, Mr. 
     Amrollahi said the Chinese now believed that they had 
     successfully duplicated the technology.
       The United States has led a global campaign to prevent Iran 
     from receiving any nuclear technology because of its 
     suspected weapons program. Mr. Amrollahi's statements suggest 
     that the agreement with China is much further along than was 
     previously known, and that Iran is planning a vast long-range 
     nuclear energy program. They seem certain to strengthen the 
     conviction both within the Clinton Administration and 
     Congress that Iran is determined to become a nuclear power.
       In addition to its oil reserves Iran has the second largest 
     natural gas reserves in the world, and natural gas is much 
     cheaper to develop than nuclear energy. That makes American 
     officials suspicious that Iran wants nuclear power as part of 
     a weapons program.
       In a clear attempt to answer charges that Iran is 
     developing nuclear weapons, Mr. Amrollahi made his remarks in 
     a two-and-a-half-hour interview at his agency's new six-story 
     building. It is part of a sprawling complex in central 
     Teheran that includes a small nuclear research reactor built 
     for Iran by the United States in the late 1960's, when the 
     monarchy was in power and the relationship with Washington 
     was close. Officials offered a brief tour of the complex, 
     including a visit to two radio isotope laboratories for 
     medical research, although they did not allow a tour of the 
     reactor.
       ``In case we get enough money, in case we have enough 
     trained people, we have a plan to take 20 years to get 20 
     percent of our energy from nuclear,'' Mr. Amrollahi said. 
     Asked whether that could mean about 10 reactors, he said, 
     ``Something like that.''
       If Russia completes two reactor projects in Iran, and China 
     builds two, it would mean that the Iranian Government intends 
     to build six more throughout the country.
       At the summit meeting in Moscow this week, President 
     Clinton tried without success to persuade President Boris N. 
     Yeltsin to abandon an ambitious nuclear energy project with 
     Iran, arguing that its Islamic Government had embarked on a 
     crash nuclear weapons program and that even peaceful nuclear 
     cooperation was dangerous. Secretary of State Warren 
     Christopher was similarly rebuffed when he made the same 
     point to China's Foreign Minister, Qian Quichen, in New York 
     last month.
       Mr. Amrollahi reiterated that Iran had already invested $6 
     billion in the project--which is subject to international 
     inspection and safeguards--and wanted to finish it. He said 
     the contract with Moscow consists of a $780 million deal in 
     which Russia will complete one of two reactors that a German 
     firm was building at the southern port city of Bushehr before 
     the project was halted after the 1979 revolution. If that 
     project goes well, Russia will finish the second reactor.
       The United States opposes the project in part because it 
     will give Iran access to expertise, technology and training 
     it would not otherwise have.
       Mr. Amrollahi said that 150 Russian nuclear experts were 
     already working at the site and that 500 would eventually be 
     based there; a much smaller number of Iranians will be 
     trained in Russia on how to operate the plant, he added. 
     ``Training people is part of that nuclear power plan,'' he 
     said. ``I don't know why they make such a hot fudge of it.''
       Mr. Amrollahi denied reports that Iran had negotiated--or 
     even discussed--a plan to buy a gas centrifuge from Russia 
     that could have rapidly enriched uranium to bomb-grade 
     quality. ``This was a diplomatically made cake,'' he said of 
     reports from Washington about the existence of a separate, 
     albeit tentative agreement with Russia.
       Russia has agreed to supply the enriched uranium needed to 
     operate the plant it will finish, he said. Asked whether Iran 
     was pursuing a program to enrich uranium, at first he said, 
     ``Not now,'' but added quickly: ``No. Not forever. Not. No. 
     Not at all.''
       Asked why Iran simply doesn't use natural gas for fuel, Mr. 
     Amrollahi said, ``natural gas is one of the best fuels, and 
     many countries at the moment need it. So we think it is 
     better to sell it.'' Like many of Iran's nuclear specialists, 
     Mr. Amrollahi has been educated and trained in the West. He 
     holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from the 
     [[Page S6698]] University of Texas and a doctorate in physics 
     from the University of Paris.
       He briefly worked for the Belgian Government in nuclear 
     safety in the 1970's. He has headed Iran's nuclear program 
     for 15 years, and spoke with precision when discussing Iran's 
     official nuclear reactor and research sites in Iran. But the 
     United States and Germany have amassed substantial evidence 
     that Iran is secretly buying components and technology from 
     abroad that they claim are not necessary for nuclear energy 
     development or research and can only be useful in a 
     determined weapons program.
       American and German intelligence officials believe that Mr. 
     Amrollahi controls only part of Iran's nuclear program and 
     that Iran has created a parallel program through the military 
     that is largely responsible for purchases of nuclear related 
     items. According to this view, the Defense Ministry 
     Organization inside the Defense Ministry uses front 
     organizations like the Sharif University of Technology in 
     Teheran to help buy nuclear-related equipment.
       On the basis of reports by Germany's foreign intelligence 
     agency in 1992 and 1993 that Sharif was involved in secret 
     nuclear activities, Germany began to reject all requests for 
     equipment by the university. Early last year, the German 
     agency said that the university's physics research center was 
     involved in buying technology that could be used in making 
     weapons, including nuclear-related materials.
       Mr. Amrollahi strongly denied the claim that he was not 
     fully in charge. ``I am responsible for the atomic energy of 
     Iran,'' he said, ``Believe it, we don't have any other 
     institutions or departments that pay attention to nuclear 
     issues.''
       Mr. Amrollahi also denied reports that Iran secretly has 
     been buying nuclear technology and equipment from abroad, 
     noting that the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is 
     responsible for monitoring nuclear programs around the world, 
     turned up nothing suspicious during a visit to Sharif 
     University.
       But the nuclear chief was unfamiliar with intelligence 
     reports about Iran's nuclear-related overtures abroad and 
     asked for copies of news clippings describing the details.
       Asked, for example, about a report that Iran tried 
     unsuccessfully to buy cylinders of fluorine for Sharif 
     University in 1991, Mr. Amrollahi said, ``Wrong. I deny it 
     totally.'' Asked about a report that Sharif University 
     approached the German firm Thyssen in 1991 for specialized 
     magnets he replied, ``No, we never did.''
       Asked whether Sharif University tried to buy balancing 
     machines from another German firm in 1991, he replied, ``You 
     can go and ask Sharif University.''
       Asked about a seizure by Italian authorities of high 
     technology ultrasonic equipment that could be used in nuclear 
     reactor testing in the Italian port of Bari last January, he 
     replied, ``Believe it, that's wrong, totally.''
       Asked about an earlier seizure by Italian customs of eight 
     steam condensers destined for Iran in 1993, he said, ``I 
     don't know really. I don't know. It's totally wrong.''
       Mr. Amrollahi also denied a recent charge by Mr. 
     Christopher, based on American intelligence reports, that 
     Iran tried to buy enriched uranium from Kazakhstan in 1992. 
     Other senior American officials in Washington said that Iran 
     sent a purchasing team to Kazakhstan three years ago, but 
     that it came home empty-handed.
       The visit contributed to a decision by the Pentagon last 
     year to secretly airlift 500 kilograms of bomb-grade uranium 
     from Kazakhstan's nuclear fabrication plant for safe storage 
     in the United States.
       ``We didn't send any team,'' Mr. Amrollahi said. 
     ``Definitely not. What is the use of enriched uranium for? 
     The Russians do have many, many nuclear weapons but they 
     couldn't use them. I think the bomb age is over. We don't 
     think we need a nuclear weapon.''
     

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