Ryabkov said that in Vienna, at a meeting of the joint commission on the implementation of the JCPOA, Russia held “two large presentations on this topic with the participation of representatives of Rosatom.
He said that the gas supply to the cascades, which are located in the same hall, where re-profiling for the production of stable isotopes was supposed to be carried out, violated the originally developed version of the reconfiguration.
The diplomat noted that "it will take some time to assess the consequences of this, perhaps to develop certain technological solutions, but this is inevitably associated with a delay."
“We announced at a meeting (joint commission) that we are taking a break, we are not giving up on the project,” Ryabkov said.
According to him, a similar formulation of the issue “was met with understanding” by partners in a joint commission.
“Accordingly, I proceed from the fact that no further“ swinging ”of work on Fordo will occur. Although we understand that American colleagues will do their best to torpedo this project, ”he added.
Since 2017, specialists from the fuel company of the state corporation Rosatom TVEL, in accordance with the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (SVPD), have been working on a project to modify two cascades of gas centrifuges at the Fordo plant for the production of stable (non-radioactive) tellurium and xenon isotopes for medical purposes.
Earlier, Ryabkov met with Deputy Director General - Head of the Department of Safeguards of the IAEA Secretariat, Massimo Aparo. The parties discussed the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program.