Finnish expert says Iran's nuclear programme leaves too many questions unanswered

Plans to develop nuclear weapon would explain inconsistencies

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The information Iran has revealed of its nuclear programme is not enough to create a comprehensive picture of the Islamic republic's plans or to convince experts of the entire undertaking having solely peaceful objectives.
      The communicated picture is fragmented, discontinuous, and inconsistent, a Finnish expert comments on the report that is to be reviewed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna today.
      A week ago the UN agency’s Director-General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei forwarded to the governing board's 35 member states the information gathered on frequent visits to Teheran by experts working under the IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards Olli Heinonen of Finland.
     
Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority director Tero Varjoranta has familiarised himself with the 11-page report and, based in Finland, is able to comment on it more frankly than any UN official.
      Varjoranta is an expert in the monitoring of nuclear material and waste. During the more than two years that the IAEA has observed Iran's nuclear programme, the UN organisation has not directly verbalised suspicions of Iran's having a secret nuclear weapon programme.
      Still, any other explanation to the inconsistencies in Iran’s nuclear power equation seems rather far-fetched, Varjoranta comments.
     
In 2003, Iran promised 'total transparency' to the nuclear programme that it had developed secretly for the preceding 18 years. "My view is that only those parts of the programme are revealed that are absolutely unavoidable. The rest is still kept secret", Varjoranta believes.
      According to Varjoranta, Iran would get nuclear fuel for peaceful energy production from international dealers more assuredly and for a fraction of the price of what it costs to refine uranium from its own soil from the beginning.
      The reason why Iran dismissed on Saturday the Russian suggestion that Iran hand its nuclear waste to Russia for disposal – a practice that Finland has used successfully for the duration of its nuclear programme – is a complete mystery.
      "Plans to develop a nuclear weapon would explain this perfectly. But of course we don’t have concrete evidence of this", Varjoranta concludes.


Links:
  IAEA

Helsingin Sanomat