The contract with China on Arak Modernization Project has accommodated Iran's demands, including the price initially asked by the Chinese, the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said.
"The new price is significantly lower than what the Chinese side originally demanded and [the contract] takes into account all our technical and financial considerations," Behrouz Kamalvandi also said in an interview with ISNA on Sunday.
China and the US, along with four other major powers, namely France, Britain, Russia and Germany, negotiated a historic nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, which took effect in Jan. 2016 to swap relief from international sanctions against temporary constraints on Tehran's nuclear work.
The deal included a call for the redesign and reconstruction of the Arak heavy water reactor to reduce its output of plutonium, which can be used to develop nuclear warheads. Tehran has consistently denied the claim its nuclear program might have been geared to develop a nuclear bomb and its civilian nature has been verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
A joint "statement of intent" was released by Tehran, Washington and Beijing on Oct. 18, 2015, to announce cooperation on the Arak project and shortly afterward, a related document signed by all the parties was published.
The document said the six nations are required to contribute to the project through the working group established after consultations with Iran and co-chaired by the US and China.
China is participating in the design and construction of the modernized reactor and, as the primary liaison between the working group and Iran, facilitates communications in the course of the project's implementation.
Iranian officials, however, have frequently expressed frustration with the slow progress on the project's implementation, blaming it on frequent delays by the Chinese side.
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