Reza Aqazadeh said here Monday that projects for operation and installation of equipment are making rapid progress, touching a rate of well beyond 13 percent.

"With the entry into the stage of mass-production of centrifuges and the start of nuclear fuel production on an industrial scale and with several years of efforts and hopes bearing fruit, the (nuclear) project has entered a new stage," said Aqazadeh on the National Day of Nuclear Technology here on Monday.

Aqazadeh said the project's executive operations began in 2003 with the aim of securing partially the long-term nuclear fuel requirements of the country's nuclear power plants.

He said all the stages of designing, construction and production of parts, as well as the assembling, installation and operation procedures were conducted by young Iranian graduates and technicians.

Latest technology and achievements were used to inaugurate the project, he added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Aqazadeh said installation of important facilities for heavy water production has been among important achievements of Iranian experts and scientists, seeming like they conquered one of the important peaks of nuclear science.

The 40-megawatt research reactor in Arak was among other important sections, executive operations of which started in October 2004, he added.

Development of nuclear power plants based on a Majlis approval is on the IAEO agenda and 20 megawatts of nuclear energy will be generated in the coming years, he added.

Aqazadeh further said IAEO is conducting comprehensive research on optic, nuclear fusion, laser, nuclear agriculture, medicine and engineering.