MOSCOW, June 24: A Russian official said on Monday that spent fuel from an atomic power plant in Iran would be returned to Russia, countering fears it could be used by Tehran to develop nuclear weapons, Interfax news agency reported.

Deputy Atomic Energy Minister Valery Lebedev was rejecting claims by ecology watchdog Greenpeace that the waste from Iran’s Bushehr plant, which Russia is helping to build, would remain in Iranian hands.

“Russia will definitely observe the principles of the international Atomic Energy Agency under which spent fuel will return to the country supplying the fuel,” Lebedev was quoted as saying by Interfax.

The deputy minister said a provision on repatriating the spent fuel rods had been written into the agreement between Moscow and Tehran on the building and operation of the plant.

“During our recent meeting in May, representatives of the Atomic Energy Ministry (IAEA) reaffirmed this provision,” Lebedev said.

However, he said the waste would be stored in Iran for three years to “cool off” before being shipped to a site in the Krasnoyarsk region of western Siberia for reprocessing or permanent storage.

The United States and Israel fear that the Russian-Iranian nuclear cooperation could enable Tehran to acquire the technology needed to build nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile Iran has said the plant is being built only for civilian energy purposes, and it allows regular inspections of Bushehr by the IAEA.

Currently equipped with a single reactor, experts say Bushehr could in theory become operational as early as September 2003.

US President George W. Bush raised Washington’s concerns about Russian nuclear aid to Iran at his summit in Moscow last month with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.—AFP