Iran installing new uranium centrifuges, says IAEA

BBC News online - 21 February 2013

The Natanz facility is at the heart of Iran's latest dispute with Western nations

Iran has begun installing advanced centrifuge machines for enriching uranium at its nuclear plant at Natanz, says the UN's nuclear watchdog.

The IAEA said it suspected Iran may have also held explosives tests relevant to nuclear weapons.
The step will concern world powers ahead of a resumption of talks with Tehran next week, analysts say.

Tehran has denied the accusation, and says it is refining uranium only for peaceful energy purposes.
The Natanz facility, in central Iran, is at the heart of the country's dispute with the UN Security Council.

The UN watchdog said the explosives tests had taken place at Parchin, a military base near Tehran, but its monitors were not allowed to visit the site during an inspection earlier this month.

"The director general is unable to report any progress on the clarification of outstanding issues including those relating to possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear programme," says the IAEA report, a copy of which was obtained by the BBC.

It adds that despite intensified dialogue with Iran, no progress has been made on how to clear up the questions about Iran's nuclear work.

Iran had informed the IAEA in a letter on 23 January that it planned to introduce a new model of centrifuge called the IR2m, which can enrich two or three times faster than current equipment.

Gas centrifuges are used to increase the proportion of fissile uranium-235 atoms within uranium. For uranium to work in a nuclear reactor it must be enriched to contain 2-3% uranium-235 while weapons-grade uranium must contain 90% or more u-235.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the new centrifuges could cut by a third the time Iran, one of Israel's fiercest opponents in the Middle East, needed to create a nuclear bomb.

At the end of January, White House spokesman Jay Carney warned an Iranian upgrade would violate UN resolutions and "invite further isolation by the international community".

At the diplomatic level, Iran is due to resume talks with six world powers in Kazakhstan on 26 February after a gap of eight months.

The talks will involve the so-called P5+1 group - UN Security Council permanent members the UK, China, France, Russia and the US, plus Germany.

Tehran welcomed an offer of bilateral negotiations from US Vice-President Joe Biden earlier this month but warned they had to be genuine and "fair".

Mr Biden himself had said Iran needed to be "serious" on the issue.

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