UN: Iranian soil contains uranium with 83.7% enrichment
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Hashim Sheikh
- . March 1, 2023
- . Update: March 2, 2023 11:31 am
Inspectors from the United Nations nuclear watchdog discovered uranium particles enriched up to 83.7 per cent at Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear complex, according to a report seen by The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The member nations’ private quarterly report from the Vienna-based IAEA is likely to exacerbate existing tensions between Iran and the West over its nuclear programme. Even then, Iran is already experiencing domestic instability as a result of several months of demonstrations and Western outrage over the country’s decision to send bomb-carrying drones to Russia in support of that country’s conflict with Ukraine.
The IAEA report only refers to “particles,” which suggests that Iran isn’t accumulating a supply of uranium that is more than 60 per cent enriched, the level at which it has been doing so for some time.
According to the IAEA report, inspectors found that two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges at Iran’s Fordo plant had been set up “significantly different” than what had been previously disclosed on Jan. 21. The following day, the IAEA collected samples, which revealed particles of up to 83.7 per cent purity, according to the study.
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According to the IAEA assessment, Iran “advised the organisation that ‘unintended fluctuations’ in enrichment levels may have happened during the transition period. Iran and the agency are currently in conversation to explain the situation.
In addition, the IAEA report stated that following the discovery, it would “further expand the frequency and intensity of agency verification activities” at Fordo.
Massimo Aparo, a senior IAEA official, visited the Islamic Republic last week and “verified the supposed enrichment rate,” the Iranian envoy to the UN told the AP.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s civilian nuclear programme, also made an effort last week to characterise any finding of uranium particles with that amount of uranium enrichment as a brief side effect of working towards a final product with 60 per cent purity. Yet, scientists claim that even at the atomic level, such a large variation in purity would raise suspicion in the eyes of inspectors.
