Iran is progressing its advanced uranium enrichment program, UN nuclear watchdog says
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that Iran is upgrading its advanced uranium enrichment program and is now using state-of-the-art IR-6 centrifuges installed at the underground Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) in Natanz, the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reports.
The IAEA report comes as world powers, including the United States, work towards finalizing a revived version of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Iran nuclear deal: the original treaty collapsed in 2018 when former President Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from it.
The IAEA said the first of three cascades of IR-6 centrifuges recently installed at the enrichment plant in Natanz is actively enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the purity required for a nuclear bomb, Reuters reported.
Under the original JCPOA, Iran was only allowed to use first-generation IR-1 centrifuges, JNS noted. However, the Iranian regim has been using IR-6 centrifuges for more than a year now, the IAEA said.
“On August 28, 2022, the Agency verified at FEP that Iran was feeding UF6 [uranium hexafluoride] enriched up to 2% U-235 into the IR-6 cascade … for the production of UF6 enriched up to 5% U-235,” the IAEA report reads.