Iran accepts tougher oversight at Fordow nuclear enrichment plant, IAEA reports
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Iran had increased the pace of its uranium enrichment to up to 60 per cent purity, close to the 90 per cent of weapons grade, at Fordow.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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VIENNA – Iran has agreed to tougher monitoring by the UN nuclear watchdog at its Fordow site dug into a mountain after it greatly accelerated uranium enrichment to close to weapons grade there, the watchdog said on Dec 12 in a report seen by Reuters.
Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported Iran had increased the pace of its enrichment to up to 60 per cent purity, close to the 90 per cent of weapons grade, at Fordow, which Western powers called an extremely serious escalation in their stand-off with Iran over its nuclear programme.
At that time, the agency said it would discuss the need for tougher so-called safeguards measures, such as inspections, at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), one of two sites where Iran is enriching to that highest level.
“Iran agreed to the agency’s request to increase the frequency and intensity of the implementation of safeguards measures at FFEP and is facilitating the implementation of this strengthened safeguards approach,” the IAEA said in the Dec 12 confidential report to member states.
By switching to up to 20 per cent from up to 5 per cent the enrichment level of the uranium hexafluoride feedstock for centrifuges at Fordow already enriching to up to 60 per cent, Iran has increased the pace at which it produces uranium in that highest enrichment bracket.
The IAEA has said it will now be able to produce more than 34kg a month of uranium enriched to up to 60 per cent at Fordow, around six times the 5kg to 7kg it was producing in total at both Fordow and an above-ground pilot plant at Natanz in recent months.
Around 42kg of uranium enriched to 60 per cent is theoretically enough, if enriched further, for a nuclear bomb, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran already has more than four times that amount, and enough for more weapons at lower enrichment levels.
Western powers say there is no civil justification for Iran enriching to that level since no other country has done so without producing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies having such intentions, saying its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful. REUTERS
