Iran has significantly expanded uranium enrichment with almost 5,000 centrifuges now operating and this has made it harder for UN inspectors to keep track of the disputed nuclear activity, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said on Friday.
The restricted IAEA report said Iran had increased its rate of production of low-enriched uranium (LEU), boosting its stockpile by 500kg to 1,339kg in the past six months.
Iran’s improved efficiency in turning out potential nuclear fuel is sure to fan Western fears of the Islamic Republic nearing the ability to make atomic bombs, if it chose to do so.
Oil giant Iran says it wants a uranium enrichment industry solely to provide an alternative source of electricity.
But it has stonewalled an IAEA investigation into suspected past research into bomb-making, calling US intelligence about it forged, and continues to limit the scope of IAEA inspections.
David Albright of Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington think tank that tracks proliferation issues, said Iran now had accumulated enough LEU to convert into high-enriched uranium (HEU) sufficient for one atom bomb.
This would require reconfiguring Iran’s centrifuge network and miniaturizing HEU to fit into a warhead — technical hurdles that could take one or two years or more. “Weaponizing” enrichment would not escape IAEA notice unless done at a secret location.
“[But] Iran could accomplish nuclear weapons ‘breakout capability’ within 3-6 months at Natanz or a clandestine ... facility,” Albright said in an e-mail commentary on the report, citing a 20 percent rise in its daily LEU production rate.
The UN nuclear watchdog report said Iran had 4,920 centrifuges, cylinders that spin at supersonic speed, being fed with uranium hexafluoride gas for enrichment nonstop as of May 31, a jump of about 25 percent since February.
Another 2,132 machines were installed and undergoing vacuum tests while a further 169 were being set up — bringing Iran’s total number of deployed centrifuges at its underground Natanz enrichment hall to 7,231 — with 55,000 eventually planned.
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