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IRAN ACTIVATES EQUIPMENT TO ENRICH URANIUM
PanARMENIAN.Net
August 10, 2010 - 11:52 AMT 06:52 GMT
Iran has activated equipment to enrich uranium more efficiently in
a move that defies the UN Security Council, the International Atomic
Energy Agency said.
The Vienna-based nuclear watchdog said Iran has started using a second
set of 164 centrifuges linked in a cascade, or string of machines, to
enrich uranium to up to 20 percent at its Natanz pilot fuel enrichment
plant. Another cascade there has been producing uranium enriched to
near 20 percent since February.
If enriched to around 95 percent, uranium can be used in building
a nuclear bomb. At 20 percent, it can be turned into weapons-grade
material much more quickly than less-enriched uranium.
Tehran denies it has such aims and says its nuclear activities are
for peaceful purposes only. But some in the international community -
the United States and its allies - aren't convinced.
IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said that when agency inspectors visited
the facility on July 17, "Iran was feeding nuclear material to the
two interconnected 164-machine centrifuge cascades."
This, she added, was "contrary to UN Security Council resolutions
affirming that Iran should suspend all enrichment related activities."
The UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran
in June because of its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Tougher
unilateral U.S. and European Union sanctions followed in July.
Iran had informed the IAEA in March of its intentions to link the
two cascades, Tudor said.
The move upgrades the efficiency of production by recycling the waste
now being left by the first cascade to squeeze out more enriched
uranium at near 20-percent levels.
One of the diplomats familiar with Iran's enrichment programs
emphasized at the time that the idea appeared not to produce greater
amounts than the first operating cascade was turning out, but to
improve productivity.
The IAEA's comments Monday came as Iran announced plans to get rid of
its dollar and euro reserves in response to the latest U.N. sanctions
over its contested nuclear program.
"To fight sanctions, we will remove the dollar and euro from our
foreign exchange basket and will replace them with (the Iranian) rial
and the currency of any country cooperating with us," Vice President
Mohammad Reza Rahimi told Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency. "We
consider these currencies (dollar and euro) dirty and won't sell oil
in dollar and euro," he added.
Earlier, a German lawmaker who recently visited Tehran said Iranian
officials fear the country's international trade will suffer from
the latest round of sanctions.
A top Iranian adviser, meanwhile, said the Americans "must be dreaming"
if they think they can intimidate Tehran into giving that program up,
AP reported.
From: A. Papazian
PanARMENIAN.Net
August 10, 2010 - 11:52 AMT 06:52 GMT
Iran has activated equipment to enrich uranium more efficiently in
a move that defies the UN Security Council, the International Atomic
Energy Agency said.
The Vienna-based nuclear watchdog said Iran has started using a second
set of 164 centrifuges linked in a cascade, or string of machines, to
enrich uranium to up to 20 percent at its Natanz pilot fuel enrichment
plant. Another cascade there has been producing uranium enriched to
near 20 percent since February.
If enriched to around 95 percent, uranium can be used in building
a nuclear bomb. At 20 percent, it can be turned into weapons-grade
material much more quickly than less-enriched uranium.
Tehran denies it has such aims and says its nuclear activities are
for peaceful purposes only. But some in the international community -
the United States and its allies - aren't convinced.
IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said that when agency inspectors visited
the facility on July 17, "Iran was feeding nuclear material to the
two interconnected 164-machine centrifuge cascades."
This, she added, was "contrary to UN Security Council resolutions
affirming that Iran should suspend all enrichment related activities."
The UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran
in June because of its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Tougher
unilateral U.S. and European Union sanctions followed in July.
Iran had informed the IAEA in March of its intentions to link the
two cascades, Tudor said.
The move upgrades the efficiency of production by recycling the waste
now being left by the first cascade to squeeze out more enriched
uranium at near 20-percent levels.
One of the diplomats familiar with Iran's enrichment programs
emphasized at the time that the idea appeared not to produce greater
amounts than the first operating cascade was turning out, but to
improve productivity.
The IAEA's comments Monday came as Iran announced plans to get rid of
its dollar and euro reserves in response to the latest U.N. sanctions
over its contested nuclear program.
"To fight sanctions, we will remove the dollar and euro from our
foreign exchange basket and will replace them with (the Iranian) rial
and the currency of any country cooperating with us," Vice President
Mohammad Reza Rahimi told Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency. "We
consider these currencies (dollar and euro) dirty and won't sell oil
in dollar and euro," he added.
Earlier, a German lawmaker who recently visited Tehran said Iranian
officials fear the country's international trade will suffer from
the latest round of sanctions.
A top Iranian adviser, meanwhile, said the Americans "must be dreaming"
if they think they can intimidate Tehran into giving that program up,
AP reported.
From: A. Papazian