Iran announced on Wednesday it was now running 5,000 centrifuges at the country’s single uranium enrichment plant — a substantial increase from four months ago — as Tehran flaunts Iranian “nuclear achievements” and the regime yet again defies UN demands to halt the controversial program.
Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said Iran would continue to install centrifuges and enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel for the country’s future nuclear power plants. The number of centrifuges is up from the 4,000 Iran said were running in August at the plant in Natanz.
Uranium enriched to a low level is used to produce nuclear fuel.
More enrichment makes it suitable for use in nuclear weapons.
The additional centrifuges, however, were expected said David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector and now president of Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), as Iran is in the process of installing thousands more.
“Expect another 1,000 to start enriching soon,” he said, adding that the number would only get higher as Iranian scientists gain experience. “As Iran runs centrifuges more and more, it’s just going to get better at it.”
The worry internationally is that in several months Iran is going to reach what is called the “break out” point where it will have sufficient low enriched uranium that could reprocess it into enough high enriched uranium to make a nuclear device.
This month, the UN nuclear watchdog estimated Iran had about 630kg of low-enriched uranium. ISIS said that between 700kg and 800kg would be needed to produce a crude fission weapon.
The US and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the claim and insists it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce reactor fuel.
“At this point, more than 5,000 centrifuges are operating in Natanz and enriching uranium,” said Aghazadeh, who is head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. He spoke to reporters during an exhibition of Iranian nuclear achievements at Tehran University.
The UN Security Council has already imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.
Flaunting Iran’s defiance, Aghazadeh said the country would never suspend enrichment. “Suspension has not been defined in our lexicon,” he said.
During the enrichment process, uranium gas is spun in a series of centrifuges known as “cascades” to purify it.
At the exhibition, Iran put on public display one of its P-1 centrifuges. Officials at the exhibition explained the various parts of the machine to visitors.
Iran has said it plans to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment that will ultimately involve 54,000 centrifuges.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in last month’s report that the Islamic Republic was installing, or preparing to install, thousands more of the machines that spin uranium gas to enrich it — with the target of 9,000 centrifuges by next year.
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