Federal State-owned Unitary Enterprise overseen by the Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom); between March 1999 and November 2004, present on the U.S. Department of Commerce "Entity List" of end users whose activities impose "a risk of diverting exported and reexported items into programs related to weapons of mass destruction;" sanctioned by the U.S. Department of State on January 8, 1999 (with all subunits) for engaging in proliferation activities related to Iran's nuclear and/or missile programs; the sanctions were lifted on April 1, 2004; according to NIKIET, the U.S. sanctions were imposed after NIKIET specialists reviewed an Iranian conceptual design for a heavy-water production facility -- allegedly relying on predominantly Western open literature, involving no information usable for production of mass destruction weapons, and not adding anything new to the design reviewed; according to NIKIET, the design was transferred to Iran by the U.S. during the period of friendly relations between the two countries; according to NIKIET, Russian authorities investigated and dismissed criminal and export control charges arising from the design review; NIKIET experts also discussed with Iran prospects for creating a nuclear research center with a light-water reactor (placed under IAEA safeguards), as well as possible involvement in preparing a safety study for the Bushehr nuclear power plant; a research institute created in 1952 around the design bureau that developed the first Soviet production reactors for nuclear weapons manufacture; produces ultra-pure krypton and xenon, valuable for export; produces reactors for desalination plants; core competencies also include technologies for installation, maintenance and backfitting of nuclear reactors, thermonuclear devices, accelerators and other nuclear engineering facilities, technologies and equipment for precision welding and nondestructive testing of welding joints, methods, technologies and equipment for the electrophysical treatment of materials for anti-corrosion and thermal protection and decontamination of nuclear plant structures, as well as design technologies, manufacture, and installation of "clean rooms."