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Iran's ISNA news agency reported Monday that the country's president said he wanted to install 60,000 centrifuges as part of the Middle-Eastern nation's nuclear program.

Centrifuges are used to produce fuel for nuclear power stations but can produce material for atomic warheads, a major issue of contention between the West and Iran.

"We intend to install 60,000 centrifuges and, God willing, Iran will be able to provide for its needs in nuclear fuel by next year," Ahmadinejad was quoted by ISNA as saying in a corrected report.

It earlier quoted him saying Iran wanted to install 100,000 machines. Ahmadinejad had also stated last week that Iran wanted to install 60,000 centrifuges.

Iran plans to start up its first nuclear power station in 2007.

Iran so far runs two chains of 164 centrifuges, known as cascades. Alone, these cascades would take years to produce enough material for a bomb.

Teheran says the next step is to install 3,000 centrifuges, enough to produce enough material for at least one warhead in a year provided their work-rate was uninterrupted.

The United Nations has demanded Iran halt enrichment work.

Western diplomats question why Iran is pushing ahead with its enrichment plans before it has a working atomic power plant, stating it would be cheaper for Iran to purchase atomic fuel on the world market.

Iran says it wants to ensure a secure supply of its own fuel and that the Bushehr atomic station, being built by Russia and due for completion next year, is only the first of several plants aimed at meeting a burgeoning electrical demand.

IAEA discuss Iran's request for help

The UN nuclear watchdog began a politically charged meeting Monday that is likely to shelve Iran's request for help with a heavy-water plant, diplomats said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s 35-nation governing board urged Iran in February to "reconsider" the Arak reactor project. Teheran has vowed to complete it and applied for IAEA technical expertise to ensure the plant meets safety standards.

Although IAEA approval of such requests is usually a routine event, Western board members say the Arak case must be rejected given Iran's record of evading IAEA non-proliferation inspections and its defiance of UN demands to stop enriching uranium.

However, developing nations on the Vienna-based body oppose outright rejection. They claim that this would set a dangerous politicized precedent of withholding technical aid under the auspice of investigating potentially peaceful atomic energy programs.

Diplomats said the most likely outcome was a compromise in which the board would defer a decision pending guidance from the UN Security Council, where world powers are deliberating sanctions on Iran but are divided on the extent of the sanctions should reach.

"Deferral is the most likely option as it would help avoid alienating developing nations on the board and buy time to see what the Security Council will do to resolve this battle elsewhere," a senior IAEA diplomat said Monday.

Diplomats said a deal is being considered under which the board would shelve the Arak item while approving seven other aid requests submitted by Iran considered less problematic.

These include developing radiation therapy for medical purposes, help in commissioning a Russian-built nuclear reactor not deemed a proliferation risk, and regulatory aspects of nuclear energy.

The Arak case, with board ruling expected on the issue later in a week-long meeting, has come to symbolize the nuclear crisis.

(China Daily November 21, 2006)