U.N. inspectors revisit Iran's Arak heavy-water site

By Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors visited Iran's Arak heavy-water reactor site on Monday, the first such trip since April in a show of Iranian nuclear transparency meant to ward off harsher U.N. sanctions.

Iran agreed to grant International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors fresh access to the complex under construction as part of an "action plan" to defuse suspicions of a covert atom bomb project, as demanded by the U.N. Security Council.

Tehran has refused the Council's main demand that it suspend all efforts to produce nuclear fuel -- defiance that has saddled the Islamic Republic with two sets of modest sanctions.

But diplomats say Iran hopes to pre-empt more punishing sanctions by answering IAEA questions about its activity and improve IAEA access to sensitive sites. Iran's initiative led big powers to put off more sanctions at least until September.

Tehran barred inspectors from Arak four months ago to protest at a second round of sanctions, insisting its program -- centered on its Natanz uranium enrichment plant -- is solely to yield electricity, not explosives.

An IAEA official in Vienna confirmed that an inspection was carried out at the Arak research reactor site, but declined to elaborate, saying details would be come in a report to the next meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors in September.

Iran's official news agency IRNA said the inspectors spent five hours at Arak. The semi-official Fars news agency said three inspectors visited Arak and would conduct "routine checks" at other nuclear sites in the country over the next week.

Diplomats said the Arak visit would be a one-off to check that Iran was adhering to construction design data given earlier to the IAEA. The two sides have yet to negotiate a restoration of regular IAEA design-verification trips to Arak.