Iran expands nuclear capacity, delays sensitive reactor: IAEA
31 Aug 2013 5:09 AM IST
Iran plans to test about 1,000 advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges it has completed installing, a UN nuclear report showed, a move likely to worry Western capitals hoping for a change of course under the country’s new president.
The UN atomic agency’s quarterly report - the first since relative moderate Hassan Rouhani won Iran’s June presidential election - also revealed developments that could help buy time for diplomacy between Tehran and major powers, however.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran informed it a few days ago that the planned commissioning of the Arak research reactor - which could yield potential bomb material - had been delayed from early next year.
‘This is a positive development since the reactor would produce plutonium that, if separated, could be used in nuclear weapons,’ a US think-tank, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), said in a comment on the report.
Further, Iran’s most sensitive nuclear stockpile has hardly grown - remaining below its arch-enemy Israel’s stated ‘red line’ that could provoke military action - since the previous IAEA report in May.
Growth in Iran’s reserve of uranium gas refined to 20 percent was held back as Iran stepped up conversion of the material into oxide to make fuel for a medical research reactor in Tehran.
The stockpile of 186 kg compares with the 240-250 kg which experts say would be needed for a bomb if refined further.
It is unlikely, at this point, that Iran could dash toward further enrichment to weapons-grade without the IAEA detecting Tehran’s activities.
The UN atomic agency’s quarterly report - the first since relative moderate Hassan Rouhani won Iran’s June presidential election - also revealed developments that could help buy time for diplomacy between Tehran and major powers, however.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran informed it a few days ago that the planned commissioning of the Arak research reactor - which could yield potential bomb material - had been delayed from early next year.
‘This is a positive development since the reactor would produce plutonium that, if separated, could be used in nuclear weapons,’ a US think-tank, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), said in a comment on the report.
Further, Iran’s most sensitive nuclear stockpile has hardly grown - remaining below its arch-enemy Israel’s stated ‘red line’ that could provoke military action - since the previous IAEA report in May.
Growth in Iran’s reserve of uranium gas refined to 20 percent was held back as Iran stepped up conversion of the material into oxide to make fuel for a medical research reactor in Tehran.
The stockpile of 186 kg compares with the 240-250 kg which experts say would be needed for a bomb if refined further.
It is unlikely, at this point, that Iran could dash toward further enrichment to weapons-grade without the IAEA detecting Tehran’s activities.
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