February 11, 2009 1:57 PM
- Text
Iran Further Flouts Nuclear Sanctions
(CBS/ AP)
Iran now has more than 5,000 centrifuges operating at its uranium enrichment plant, Iran's nuclear chief announced Wednesday, in the Persian country's latest defiance of U.N. demands that Tehran halt the controversial program.
The Iranian official, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, said Iran will continue to install centrifuges and enrich uranium in order to produce nuclear fuel for the country's future nuclear power plants.
Uranium enriched to low levels is used to produce nuclear fuel. Further enrichment makes it suitable for use in nuclear weapons.
"At this point, more than 5,000 centrifuges are operating in Natanz," said Aghazadeh, who is head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. He spoke to reporters during an exhibition of Iranian nuclear achievements at Tehran University.
The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the claim and insists it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce reactor fuel.
The new number of working centrifuges is a significant increase from the 4,000 Iran said were up and running in August at the plant in the central Iranian city of Natanz.
In terms of enrichment, Iran is currently producing about 2.2 kilograms of LEU (low-enriched uranium - which is not weapons grade) per day. In spite of an apparent increase in centrifuges, Iran is feeding in lower amounts of uranium hexafluoride (the precursor to weapons grade) than in previous IAEA documents, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar.
The IAEA does not know why Iran has failed to increase its LEU output, and there is speculation in the arms control community that it still faces considerable technical obstacles.
However, the key number is when Iran will have accumulated enough LEU to have a stockpile sufficient to quickly produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear weapon. In this scenario, Iran would feed the LEU into its cascades, shortening production time, MacVicar reports.
It is widely agreed, says MacVicar, that at current rates of enrichment to LEU, Iran will have sufficient material for a single device in 4 to 12 months.
The U.N. Security Council has already imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran for its refusal to freeze the uranium enrichment program.
In the process, uranium gas is spun in a series of centrifuges to purify it. Lower levels of enrichment produce reactor fuel - which Iran says is the sole purpose of the program - but higher grades can build a weapon.
At the exhibition, Iran for the first time put on public display one of its P-1 centrifuges and officials at the exhibition explained various parts of machine to visitors.
The P-1 centrifuge is the workhorse of Iran's enrichment program. It's run in cascades of 164 machines.
In February, Iranian officials confirmed that they have started using the IR-2 centrifuge, which can churn out enriched uranium at more than double the rate of P-1.
Iran has said it plans to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment that will ultimately involve 54,000 centrifuges.
The Iranian official, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, said Iran will continue to install centrifuges and enrich uranium in order to produce nuclear fuel for the country's future nuclear power plants.
Uranium enriched to low levels is used to produce nuclear fuel. Further enrichment makes it suitable for use in nuclear weapons.
"At this point, more than 5,000 centrifuges are operating in Natanz," said Aghazadeh, who is head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. He spoke to reporters during an exhibition of Iranian nuclear achievements at Tehran University.
The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the claim and insists it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce reactor fuel.
The new number of working centrifuges is a significant increase from the 4,000 Iran said were up and running in August at the plant in the central Iranian city of Natanz.
In terms of enrichment, Iran is currently producing about 2.2 kilograms of LEU (low-enriched uranium - which is not weapons grade) per day. In spite of an apparent increase in centrifuges, Iran is feeding in lower amounts of uranium hexafluoride (the precursor to weapons grade) than in previous IAEA documents, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar.
The IAEA does not know why Iran has failed to increase its LEU output, and there is speculation in the arms control community that it still faces considerable technical obstacles.
However, the key number is when Iran will have accumulated enough LEU to have a stockpile sufficient to quickly produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear weapon. In this scenario, Iran would feed the LEU into its cascades, shortening production time, MacVicar reports.
It is widely agreed, says MacVicar, that at current rates of enrichment to LEU, Iran will have sufficient material for a single device in 4 to 12 months.
The U.N. Security Council has already imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran for its refusal to freeze the uranium enrichment program.
In the process, uranium gas is spun in a series of centrifuges to purify it. Lower levels of enrichment produce reactor fuel - which Iran says is the sole purpose of the program - but higher grades can build a weapon.
At the exhibition, Iran for the first time put on public display one of its P-1 centrifuges and officials at the exhibition explained various parts of machine to visitors.
The P-1 centrifuge is the workhorse of Iran's enrichment program. It's run in cascades of 164 machines.
In February, Iranian officials confirmed that they have started using the IR-2 centrifuge, which can churn out enriched uranium at more than double the rate of P-1.
Iran has said it plans to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment that will ultimately involve 54,000 centrifuges.
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