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Iran confirms uranium-to-gas conversion
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-10 07:50
Iran confirmed on Monday that it converted 37 tons of raw uranium into gas,
its first acknowledgment of advances made in the production process for enriched
uranium before it formally suspended nuclear activity in November under
international pressure.
The announcement, which means Tehran is in a position to quickly start
enriching uranium if it lifts the suspension, comes as European negotiators are
trying to seal an agreement to ensure that Iran's nuclear program does not
produce weapons.
Enriched uranium is useful in the generation of electricity, which is
permitted under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but it also can be turned
into nuclear weapons. Iran insists its program has only peaceful purposes, while
the U.S. government says Tehran wants to obtain atomic arms.
Wearing protective clothes, an Iranian
security personnel walks in the Uranium Conversion Facility, prior to the
arrival of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, just outside the city of
Isfahan, 410 kilometers, south of the capital Tehran, Iran, in this March
30, 2005 file photo. Iran confirmed for the first time Monday May 9, 2005
that it converted 37 tons of raw uranium into gas, a key step ahead of
enrichment, before it suspended all such activities in November under
international pressure.[AP/file] | Iran processed the uranium ore concentrate into UF-4 gas before halting
enrichment-related activities, said Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. If processed further into UF-6 gas, the
material could be fed into centrifuges and enriched.
"We converted all the 37 tons of uranium concentrate known as yellowcake into
UF-4 at the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility before we suspended work there,"
Saeedi said.
France, Britain and Germany, which are negotiating on behalf of the European
Union, had agreed in talks ahead of the November suspension that the Islamic
Republic could finish processing the 37 tons of raw uranium into gas.
But Saeedi's comments were the first confirmation that the project had been
completed and came as talks with the Europeans have deadlocked, with the EU
powers pressing for a complete end to Iran's enrichment program in return for
economic incentives.
Nuclear experts say that when fully processed, the 37 tons of yellowcake
could theoretically yield more than 200 pounds of weapons-grade uranium, enough
to make five crude nuclear weapons.
To avoid referral to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, Iran
agreed to suspend actual enrichment at its Natanz uranium enrichment plant in
2003. It then suspended other uranium enrichment-related activities — including
the conversion of yellowcake into gas and the building of centrifuges — in late
2004 to bolster international confidence.
To show its dissatisfaction with lack of progress in the talks with Europe,
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday that Iran had decided to
resume some uranium reprocessing activities. Saeedi said that might happen in
two or three days.
UF-6 gas can be enriched to a low level to produce fuel for generating
electricty. But the nuclear treaty bans Iran and other member states except the
five nuclear powers — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France —
from enriching the uranium further and making it suitable for producing a bomb.
The Natanz enrichment plant and a uranium conversion facility in Isfahan
house the heart of Iran's nuclear program. The Isfahan conversion facility
reprocesses uranium ore concentrate into gas, which is taken to Natanz and fed
into centrifuges for enrichment.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Hasan Rowhani said Iran already has produced
some UF-6 and completed work on its uranium reprocessing program before the
formal suspension in November.
"Last year, we could not produce UF-4 and UF-6. We didn't have materials to
inject into centrifuges to carry out enrichment, meaning we didn't have UF-6,"
Rowhani said.
"But within the past year, we completed the Isfahan facility and reached UF-4
and UF-6 stage. So, we made great progress," he said in comments reported in two
Iranian magazines in March. His office confirmed the comments to AP on Monday.
Iran also made progress in building centrifuges before the suspension,
Rowhani said.
"It's true that we are currently under suspension, but we conducted a lot of
activities in 2004. Today, if we want to restart enrichment, we have sufficient
centrifuges at least for the early stages, while we didn't have such a capacity
15 months ago," he said.
Rowhani was responding to criticism from Iranian hard-liners that suspension
of uranium enrichment-related activities had harmed Iran's technological
advancement. Iran's nuclear program has turned into a matter of national pride
for both reformers and hard-liners.
Rowhani said Iran also has gone a long way in building a 40-megawatt heavy
water nuclear reactor that will be capable of producing plutonium in the central
city of Arak, although it is believed to be years from completion.
"In technical terms, we didn't have suspension in the Arak heavy water plant
even for one day," he said. "That means we've constantly made progress. It's
possible that production of heavy water will be completed in the upcoming
months."
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