Iran plans to increase uranium enrichment
Source: Agencies |
February 9, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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IRAN says it will start producing higher-grade nuclear fuel today and plans a major expansion of its uranium enrichment program by building 10 new plants in the next year, further stoking tensions with the West.
The statement by Iran's nuclear agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday evening came after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier in the day instructed him to start work on producing atomic fuel for a Tehran research reactor.
Iran's announcement raised the stakes in its dispute with the West, although analysts doubted Iran could launch 10 new plants in the near future since UN sanctions imposed on Tehran make it harder for it to obtain sophisticated components.
"Iran will set up 10 uranium enrichment centers next year," Iran's Arabic-language television station al Alam quoted Salehi as saying. The Iranian year starts on March 21. Iran mooted such a plan late last year but gave no time frame.
Ahmadinejad also said talks could still be revived on a nuclear fuel exchange offer by world powers designed to allay fears the nation is trying to develop atomic bombs.
Salehi said Iran would start to raise the enrichment level from 3.5 percent to 20 percent today, in the presence of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran yesterday told the UN nuclear agency that it will start enriching uranium to higher levels, shrugging off Western fears that it will bring it closer to being able to make nuclear warheads.
Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh sought to dispel such concerns. The uranium to be enriched to 20 percent would be used only to make fuel for Tehran's research reactor, which is expected to use up its present stock within a year, he said.
Soltanieh, who represents Iran at the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, also said that IAEA inspectors would be able to fully monitor the process. And he blamed West powers for Iran's decision, asserting that it was their fault that a plan that foresaw Russian and French involvement in supplying the research reactor had failed.
"Until now, we have not received any response to our positive logical and technical proposal," he said. "We cannot leave hospitals and patients desperately waiting for radio isotopes" being produced at the Tehran reactor and used in cancer treatment.
The statement by Iran's nuclear agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday evening came after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier in the day instructed him to start work on producing atomic fuel for a Tehran research reactor.
Iran's announcement raised the stakes in its dispute with the West, although analysts doubted Iran could launch 10 new plants in the near future since UN sanctions imposed on Tehran make it harder for it to obtain sophisticated components.
"Iran will set up 10 uranium enrichment centers next year," Iran's Arabic-language television station al Alam quoted Salehi as saying. The Iranian year starts on March 21. Iran mooted such a plan late last year but gave no time frame.
Ahmadinejad also said talks could still be revived on a nuclear fuel exchange offer by world powers designed to allay fears the nation is trying to develop atomic bombs.
Salehi said Iran would start to raise the enrichment level from 3.5 percent to 20 percent today, in the presence of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran yesterday told the UN nuclear agency that it will start enriching uranium to higher levels, shrugging off Western fears that it will bring it closer to being able to make nuclear warheads.
Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh sought to dispel such concerns. The uranium to be enriched to 20 percent would be used only to make fuel for Tehran's research reactor, which is expected to use up its present stock within a year, he said.
Soltanieh, who represents Iran at the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, also said that IAEA inspectors would be able to fully monitor the process. And he blamed West powers for Iran's decision, asserting that it was their fault that a plan that foresaw Russian and French involvement in supplying the research reactor had failed.
"Until now, we have not received any response to our positive logical and technical proposal," he said. "We cannot leave hospitals and patients desperately waiting for radio isotopes" being produced at the Tehran reactor and used in cancer treatment.
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