| 12 Aug 2010 |
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IAEA: Natanz Enrichment Facility Upgraded
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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced that Iran has started using extra centrifuge machines installed this year to enrich nuclear material to higher levels more efficiently.
According to the UN nuclear watchdog's report on Monday, the Islamic Republic was using a second set, or "cascade", of centrifuge machines at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, in central Iran, to enrich uranium to 20 percent purity.
While the West claims Iran is secretly trying to develop atomic weapons, Iran says it is enriching uranium to the 20-percent level to make use of it in the Tehran medical research reactor.
The IAEA has confirmed no diversion towards a military nuclear program.
Iran started enriching uranium to higher levels after the West and the UN nuclear agency failed to provide the necessary fuel for the Tehran reactor despite their obligations to do so based on Iran's rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"The IAEA can confirm that on July 17, when agency inspectors were at (the Natanz plant), Iran was feeding nuclear material to the two interconnected 164 machine centrifuge cascades," Reuters quoted spokeswoman Gill Tudor as saying in Vienna, confirming a report on this regard published last week by the Washington-based think tank the Institute for Science and International Security.
Using two cascades allows leftover LEU to be re-fed into the machines, obtaining its full potential and making the work more efficient.
Under the current setup, the output and enrichment level stay the same and the work is monitored by the IAEA.
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