ISFAHAN, Iran, Aug. 10, 2005
Iran Restarts Nuclear Facility
Uranium Conversion Plant Resumes Work Despite Europe, U.S. Pleas
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Play CBS Video Video Collision Course With Iran Iran's uranium conversion facility resumed operations after suspending its nuclear program in November. Europe and the United States are discussing how to handle the situation, Mark Phillips reports.
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Two technicians adjust their protective wear, alongside a box containing uranium ore concentrate, known as yellowcake, at the Uranium Conversion Facility of Iran, in Isfahan. (AP)
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In Crawford, Texas, President Bush warned Iran that it might face U.N. sanctions over its nuclear activities. (CBS/AP)
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Europe has hoped to persuade Iran to accept fuel from abroad for a nuclear energy program.
But Iran's reopening of the Isfahan plant underlined its insistence on developing the entire fuel cycle on its own. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, aiming only to produce electricity.
On Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he was willing to continue negotiations and would put forward his own proposals. However, Iran has said it won't restart uranium enrichment without a negotiated deal with Europe. Enrichment can produce nuclear fuel for a reactor or material for a bomb.
The Isfahan facility carries out an earlier step in the process, converting yellowcake, raw uranium, into uranium hexaflouride gas, UF-6, the feedstock that in the next stage is fed into centrifuges for enrichment.
The facility covers an area more than 150 acres, spread along a range of mountains outside the city, separated from the main road by metal fences and trees and surrounded by radar stations and anti-aircraft batteries.
On Wednesday, security was tight around the complex, with plainclothes security agents shooing journalists away from the front gates.
Parts of the facility were built in tunnels in the mountains as protection from airstrikes. Tehran learned a lesson from the 1981 Israeli airstrike against Iraq's main nuclear reactor. Iran has spread its facilities over several locations, each with underground installations.
Work at some parts of the Isfahan plant began Monday, but other, more sensitive units, including the one that ultimately produces UF-6, had remained under U.N. seal. Iran notified the IAEA on Tuesday that it wanted the seals removed, saying the IAEA could either do so itself or authorize Iranian officials to break them under IAEA supervision.
© MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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