VZCZCXYZ0011
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUNV #0288 1700945
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 190945Z JUN 09
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9681
INFO RUEANFA/NRC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DOE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS UNVIE VIENNA 000288 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
ISN/RA DANIEL, NEPHEW, ALLEN-CLOSE; IO/T DETEMPLE; ALSO FOR 
ISN/MNSA, L/NPV 
CA PLS NOTE PARA 4 RE AMCIT TRAVEL TO IRAN 
NRC/OIC DOANE, SCHWARTZMAN 
NSC STAFF CONNERY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG KNNP CPAS IAEA OSCE RS IR
SUBJECT: IAEA/IRAN: NUCLEAR SAFETY/REGULATORY MISSIONS 
LIKELY DELAYED TO 2010 
 
REF: A. MAY 28 ALLEN-CLOSE/KESSLER EMAIL 
     ¶B. UNVIE 184 
     ¶C. UNVIE 116 
 
-------------------- 
Timing for Pre-OSART 
-------------------- 
 
¶1. (U) According to Miro Lipar, head of the IAEA's 
Operational Safety Section, who will lead the preliminary 
Operational Safety Review Team (pre-OSART) in Iran, the 
mission has not yet been scheduled and will probably not 
happen in 2009.  He stated that there are several things that 
need to happen before the pre-OSART mission can occur. 
First, there needs to be one more preparation meeting between 
IAEA Secretariat staff and Iran to finalize the details about 
the scope of the mission; this has not been scheduled.  Lipar 
tried to schedule the preparatory meeting for August or early 
September and was told by Iranian counterparts that was not a 
good time because of Ramadan.  The Iranian side said the 
preparatory meeting will have to be scheduled after 
September. 
 
¶2. (U) In addition, Iran has not yet completed its 
self-assessment.  This documentation needs to be completed 
and submitted to the pre-OSART team for review before the 
mission can be conducted.  Iran just notified Lipar that it 
will be asking the IAEA's Technical Cooperation Department 
(TC) for help in putting together the self-assessment. 
(Note: Although not stated, it was clear that Lipar had 
thought that the self-assessment was close to finished before 
he received this information from Iran.  End Note.)  Lipar 
stated that Iran had asked that this assistance from TC be 
provided in October and that it would take about a month to 
put together.  If IAEA receives the self-assessment in 
November (which according to Lipar is optimistic), then the 
pre-OSART team will need about a month to review it before it 
performs the mission.  He stated the earliest the mission 
could take place would be "early next year". 
 
¶3. (U) He also stated that it was clear to everyone that the 
reactor would not start this summer but that Iran will not 
adjust the date until after the election in September. 
 
-------------------------- 
U.S. Expert Participation? 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Pursuant to Ref A email, MsnOff sought confirmation 
from IAEA's Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) about the 
applicability of privileges and immunities (P-I) should a 
U.S. expert take part in IAEA-sponsored teams in Iran, such 
as the above Pre-OSART or an Integrated Regulatory Review 
Service (IRRS) mission.  As stated in Ref B, the IAEA told 
MsnOff the IRRS should also be performed prior to reactor 
start-up.  Iran has not yet set a date for the IRRS mission. 
Wolfram Tonhauser of OLA confirmed to MsnOff that Iran has a 
standing agreement with the IAEA for P-I, which would apply 
to the U.S. expert.  Tonhauser also told MsnOff that, to 
date, there have been no problems encountered with Iran in 
implementation of its P-I agreement.  Tonhauser said experts 
traveling for the IAEA are normally given a special 
certificate for their passport noting that that they are 
traveling under IAEA authority; they travel on their national 
passports. 
 
 
SCHULTE