Iran starts enriching uranium to 60% purity
DUBAI/VIENNA - Iran has begun enriching uranium to 60 per cent purity at its Fordow nuclear plant and plans a vast expansion of its enrichment capacity, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday, detailing the latest acceleration of Iran’s atomic program over Western objections.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was confirming Iranian reports of Tehran’s step, taken in retaliation for the agency’s criticism of Iran in a board of governors resolution last week.
While Iran is already enriching uranium up to 60 per cent purity elsewhere, its decision to do so at Fordow is likely to be viewed by Western nations as particularly provocative because the site is buried under a mountain, making it harder to attack.
That purity is below the roughly 90 per cent needed for weapons-grade material but well above the 20 per cent Iran produced before its 2015 agreement with major powers to cap enrichment at 3.67 per cent. The latest move is in retaliation to last week’s resolution by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors ordering Iran to cooperate with the agency’s years-long investigation into the origin of uranium particles found at three undeclared sites.
“Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi today said Iran had started producing high enriched uranium - UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) enriched up to 60 per cent - using the existing two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges in the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, in addition to such production that has taken place at Natanz since April 2021,” the agency said in a statement.
■