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<strong>Iran</strong> <strong>Country</strong> <strong>Analysis</strong> <strong>Brief</strong><br />
1 was pushed off by a year - supposedly due to technical difficulties - and is<br />
now scheduled to come online sometime in 2006. Russia's ambassador to<br />
<strong>Iran</strong>, Alexander Maryasov, stated in January 2005 that Russia would<br />
compensate <strong>Iran</strong> if Russia was responsible for delays in completion of the<br />
Bushehr plant. The two countries also were reported to have signed a<br />
preliminary agreement on the second generating unit at Bushehr.<br />
In February 2003, <strong>Iran</strong> announced that it had begun mining uranium deposits<br />
at Saghand near the central <strong>Iran</strong>ian city of Yazd, and was constructing a<br />
uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, located 200 miles southeast of Tehran.<br />
In March 2003, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors<br />
examined Natanz and described it as "impressive." Other news reports<br />
indicated that Natanz was "extremely advanced" and involved "hundreds" of<br />
gas centrifuges for producing enriched uranium. Some analysts believe that<br />
Yazd and Natanz are part of an <strong>Iran</strong>ian effort to attain self-sufficiency in the<br />
entire nuclear fuel cycle. Besides Natanz, the IAEA also has expressed<br />
interest in inspecting a heavy-water plant at Arak.<br />
ENVIRONMENT<br />
Given its heavily energy-centered economy, environmental issues in <strong>Iran</strong><br />
generally have ranked as a relatively low priority. However, ongoing and<br />
severe air pollution in urban areas have highlighted the need to improve <strong>Iran</strong>'s<br />
environmental record. The rush to develop oil and natural gas resources in the<br />
Caspian Sea makes oil pollution in the Caspian a real environmental threat.<br />
Huge increases in energy consumption over the past 20 years have<br />
contributed greatly to pollution levels as <strong>Iran</strong>'s carbon emissions have nearly<br />
tripled over the same time span. Large numbers of old, inefficient cars on the<br />
road lacking catalytic converters account for much of the country's air<br />
pollution. Energy prices are kept artificially low in <strong>Iran</strong> through heavy state<br />
subsidies, resulting in highly inefficient and polluting consumption patterns.<br />
In addition, <strong>Iran</strong>'s abundance of fossil fuel resources has tended to discourage<br />
the country's incentive to shift to cleaner alternative energy sources for its<br />
energy needs.<br />
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/iran.html (25 of 32) [3/30/2005 8:12:05 AM]
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