Iran Expands Uranium Enrichment Program
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VIENNA, Austria -— Iran is expanding its uranium enrichment program even as the U.N. Security Council focuses on possible sanctions for its defiance of a demand to give up the activity and ease fears it seeks nuclear weapons, diplomats said yesterday.
The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the information to media, told the Associated Press that within the past few weeks, Iranian nuclear specialists had started up a second pilot enrichment facility.
While the 164 centrifuges were not producing enriched uranium, even the decision to “dry test” them showed Iran’s defiance of the Security Council. The council had set an August 31 deadline for Tehran to cease all experiments linked to enrichment. It may start full deliberations on sanctions as early as later this week. Iran produced a small batch of lowenriched uranium — suitable as nuclear fuel but not weapons grade — in February, using its initial cascade of 164 centrifuges at its pilot plant at Natanz. The process of uranium enrichment can be used to generate electricity or to create an atomic weapon, depending on the level of enrichment. Iran said it plans to install 3,000 centrifuges at its enrichment plant in Natanz, central Iran, by the end of this year. Industrial production of enriched uranium in Natanz would require 54,000 centrifuges.