Uranium Enrichment Technology

Iran to move its most sensitive nuclear equipment to bunker

TEHRAN — Iran is moving its production of higher-enriched uranium to a mountain bunker, where it plans to triple output by using more advanced centrifuges, state television reported Wednesday.

Iran says the announcement is a response to a letter Friday from Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which reiterated “concerns about the possible military dimensions” of the Islamic republic’s nuclear energy program.

“Our answer is increased work in the sphere of nuclear technology and know-how,” Iranian nuclear chief Fereydoun Abbasi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Iran’s nuclear officials had signaled previously that the country’s most sensitive nuclear equipment would be moved to a site inside a mountain. But the predicted sharp increase in the production of uranium enriched to nearly 20 percent is a new development and will further heighten tensions between Iran and world powers distrustful of the nature of the country’s nuclear program .

Currently, Iran is enriching uranium at its Natanz site, where the bulk of the output is nuclear fuel enriched to 3.5 percent — suitable for powering reactors that generate electricity. The new location, named Fordo, is dug deep into a mountain next to a military base near the city of Qom. It was long kept secret but is now being monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

According to a February report by the IAEA , Fordo is to house at least 3,000 centrifuges, and Iran plans to feed uranium into them “by summer.” Iran says it will produce nuclear fuel enriched up to a level of nearly 20 percent using new, advanced enrichment equipment. The country says it needs the higher-enriched uranium to operate a 44-year-old U.S.-built nuclear test reactor that produces isotopes for use in nuclear medicine.

In his letter, the IAEA’s Amano called on Iran to grant the agency more access to dispel worries about the militarization of the country’s nuclear program.

“I also requested that Iran provide prompt access to relevant locations, equipment, documentation and persons,” Amano said in a statement Monday.

President Obama, in a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday, said Iran is continuing to shun serious talks on its nuclear program and might face new sanctions by the United States and its allies.

The International Uranium Enrichment Center at Angarsk - хэн юу хэлэв

Introduction

In January 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his country’s intent to develop a network of multilateral nuclear fuel cycle centers. These centers would, in the context of a global renaissance of nuclear energy, provide assured nuclear fuel cycle services to states on a non-discriminatory basis, while limiting the proliferation of uranium enrichment technology. In September 2007, Russia's pilot enterprise of this kind–the International Uranium Enrichment Center (IUEC) at the Angarsk Electrolytic Chemical Combine –was incorporated as a joint venture between two major nuclear fuel cycle service providers, Russia's Tekhsnabeksport and Kazakhstan's Kazatomprom . This issue brief examines the “Iranian origins” of Moscow’s proposal to create a multilateral fuel enrichment enterprise and a fuel bank with low-enriched uranium fuel. It also reviews the progress of this initiative to date. Moscow’s goal is to start operating the IUEC, which already has a total of four committed state-participants and is open to all other interested parties, in late 2008-early 2009. Yet, before it’s able to declare the IUEC a success, Russia must finalize an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on safeguarding the nuclear materials at the center and the fuel bank and find creative ways to engage additional countries in the project.

Multilateral Approaches to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle: The Historical Context

Moscow's multilateral nuclear fuel cycle services enterprise is one of several proposals for multilateral nuclear approaches (MNAs) to the fuel cycle recently brought before the IAEA by major nuclear supplier states. These states are driven by the desire to maximize benefits from an impending global "renaissance" of nuclear energy while minimizing the risk of proliferation of sensitive enrichment and reprocessing technology. Yet, as this section discusses, for over three decades the IAEA has been leading efforts to raise nuclear suppliers’ interest in reexamining traditional statist frameworks for nuclear fuel cycle ownership and internationalizing the nuclear fuel cycle. ( For more on these proposals, see Relevant Resources 1 and 2, below .)