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Iran is moving forward with an upgrade of its advanced uranium enrichment program, even as the West awaits a response from Iran on salvaging its 2015 nuclear deal, a report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog seen by Reuters showed on Monday.
The first of three cascades or clusters of advanced IR-6 centrifuges recently installed at the Natanz Subterranean Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) is now enriching, the report said, the latest underground site where the advanced machinery has been commissioned.
Diplomats say the IR-6, its most advanced model, is far more efficient than the first-generation IR-1 — the only deal that makes it rich.
For more than a year, Iran has used IR-6 centrifuges to enrich uranium to a purity of up to 60 percent, near weapons-grade, at an above-ground plant in Natanz.
More recently, it has expanded the enrichment range at other sites using IR-6 machines. Last month, the second IR-6 cascade at Fordow in the mountains began to enrich to 20%.
In a confidential report to UN member states, the watchdog IAEA wrote: “On 28 August 2022, the IAEA confirmed at FEP that Iran is supplying IR-6 cascades enriched to 2% U-235. UF6…concentrated up to 5% U-235 for the production of UF6.”
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Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) is enriched by gas centrifuges.
Of the two other IR-6 cascades installed at the Natanz FEP, one was being passivated with depleted UF6, a process before enrichment properly began, and the other had not yet added any nuclear material, the agency said.
Iran and the United States appear to be moving toward a deal to revive the 2015 agreement that imposed limits on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for lifting sanctions on Tehran. The deal collapsed after the U.S. withdrew its troops in 2018, prompting Iran to violate the restrictions one by one.
After more than a year of indirect talks, Iran said it would soon respond to the latest U.S. comments on the compromise text submitted by the European Union, which coordinated the talks.
A deal would involve removing much of the enrichment that Iran has been doing and limiting its enrichment to 3.67 percent.
However, if no deal is reached, its installation of advanced machinery at underground sites such as Natanz and Fordow could be a signal that any power might want to attack it, as it is unclear whether airstrikes at these sites will be effective.
Western powers worry that Iran is moving toward the ability to build a nuclear bomb. Iran denies any such intentions.
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