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Iran informs IAEA of plans to produce enriched uranium up to 20 pct purity

Nuclear Program Materials 6 July 2021 23:19 (UTC +04:00)
Iran informs IAEA of plans to produce enriched uranium up to 20 pct purity

Iran has given notice of concrete steps to produce uranium metal enriched to up to 20 percent purity for reactor fuel, the U.N. atomic watchdog said, describing a move that is likely to anger Western powers in talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

Tehran has already produced a small amount of uranium metal this year that was not enriched. That is a breach of the deal, which bans all work on uranium metal since it can be used to make the core of a nuclear bomb.

Iran has outlined plans to produce enriched uranium metal, saying it is developing fuel for its Tehran Research Reactor, but Washington and its European allies dispute Tehran’s intentions and have called on it to stop.

“Today, Iran informed the Agency that UO2 (uranium oxide) enriched up to 20 percent U–235 would be shipped to the R&D laboratory at the Fuel Fabrication Plant in Esfahan, where it would be converted to UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) and then to uranium metal enriched to 20 percent U–235, before using it to manufacture the fuel,” an International Atomic Energy Agency statement said.

Summarizing a report to its member states, the IAEA described the plan as a “multi-stage process”, suggesting it will take time before the enriched metal is produced.

The report is likely to increase tensions in the talks, which also include the other parties to the 2015 deal. The talks adjourned on June 20 and a date for their resumption has not yet been set

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