In a new agreement between Iran and the six powers, United Nation inspectors will have greater access to nuclear plants in efforts to secure the use of uranium for peaceful uses, Reuters reported.
"Managed access" will be given to inspectors in order to investigate a uranium mine and heavy-water plant in the next three months due to an agreement signed by U.N. nuclear agency chief Yukiya Amano, Reuters reported. A new meeting was set for Nov. 20 in Geneva.
The deal allows greater transparency of Iran's nuclear plants to the International Atomic Energy Agency in order to "strengthen their cooperation and dialogue aimed at ensuring the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program," a joint statement said, according to Reuters.
IAEA is a Vienna-based agency that has been requesting information from Iran in order to fulfill its mandate to supervise Iran's nuclear programs to "ensure there are no military links," Reuters reported.
"This is an important step forward to start with, but much more needs to be done," Amano said, according to Reuters.
The Nov. 20 meeting will encourage the Iran-IAEA deal after a decade of stalled diplomacy.
"It was agreed that Iran and the IAEA will cooperate further with respect to verification activities to be undertaken by the IAEA to resolve all present and past issues," Amano said.
The Iran-IAEA deal includes access to the Gchine uranium mine and a plant in the town of Arak. It also includes the releasing of information about any new, or past, planned reactors and sites for nuclear power plants, Reuters reported.
A follow up meeting with IAEA officials and Iranian experts in Tehran ended with an added agreement stating the U.N. agency would be allowed to visit the Arak facility "in the near future," and that a new meeting on Dec. 11 in Vienna would take place to discuss specifics, according to Reuters.
According to Reuters, the Arak reactor is of specific concern because it might produce plutonium which can be a potential bomb fuel. Iran has stated they plan to use plutonium to make isotopes for medical and agricultural uses.
The mine adressed in the agreement is located around the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas and reportedly produces 21 tonnes of uranium a year, Reuters reported. If refined, this material can be used to build nuclear weapons.
