Iran plans 'small scale' nuclear fuel work: IAEA

"Iran ... informed the Agency that it planned to install small-scale gas ultracentrifuge cascades ... and that, during this "R&D" (research and development), UF6 gas would be fed into these cascades for research purposes," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in an emailed statement.

Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) is the form of uranium fed into centrifuges, which purify the uranium gas into fuel for nuclear power plants or weapons by spinning at supersonic speeds.

Several diplomats said the IAEA's 35-nation board had received a full report on Iran's breaking of IAEA seals at three nuclear facilities. The facilities had been mothballed under a November 2004 deal with France, Britain and Germany.

An Iranian official had earlier denied any suggestion that Iran was resuming the production of nuclear fuel at Natanz in central Iran, a facility which Tehran hid from the IAEA until Iranian dissident exiles revealed its existence in 2002.

Although the scale of the centrifuge research would be small, diplomats say it will enable Iran to master the art of enriching uranium so that it could make bombs in the future.

"IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei expressed his serious concern about Iran's decision to unravel the suspension of enrichment-related activities requested by the IAEA board of governors before the Agency has clarified the nature of Iran's nuclear program," the IAEA statement said.

ElBaradei has been investigating Iran's nuclear program, which the United States and the European Union believe is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, for three years. The IAEA has so far been unable to verify Iran's claims that its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes.

Source

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.