Iran readies new nuclear centrifuges
Pastor Dale Morgan
Iran readies new nuclear centrifuges
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By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 1:19am BST 26/10/2006
Iran announced yesterday that a second set of equipment for enriching
uranium was just days from being completed, deepening its defiance over
its nuclear programme.
The declaration came as Western diplomats at the United Nations prepared
to seek Chinese and Russian backing for a draft resolution imposing
economic sanctions on the Iranian government.
While Teheran insists that it is interested solely in nuclear power
generation, the West fears it wants to covertly develop nuclear weapons.
Concerns grew after Iran lied repeatedly to international nuclear
inspectors.
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Iran has been operating one set of centrifuges, known as a cascade, to
enrich uranium at its plant in the central city of Natanz for months,
but the announcement of a second set surprised diplomats and
non-proliferation experts.
They had suspected Iran was working on another cascade but it was not
expected to be ready for some time.
News of the second cascade was announced on the official ISNA news
agency in Teheran, quoting an official connected to the nuclear programme.
"The second cascade was installed two weeks ago and this week we are
going to inject it with (uranium hexafluoride UF6) gas," the official
told the agency.
"Soon after the injection of the gas we will have the product of the
second cascade."
Enrichment is carried out in lines of centrifuges called cascades.
The product is normally used to make fuel for civilian nuclear reactors,
but in highly refined form it can serve as the raw material for nuclear
weapons.
Iran has plans to install 3,000 centrifuges by March next year and wants
to develop advanced P2 centrifuges capable of making highly enriched
uranium more efficiently than the P1 technology currently in use.
It has already succeeded in enriching uranium to almost 5 per cent, but
this is still well below the levels that would be needed to make a
nuclear bomb.
International diplomatic efforts have failed to deter the Iranian
government, led by President Mahmoud Ahmad-inejad, from proceeding with
its nuclear ambitions.
A draft security council resolution prepared jointly by France, Britain,
Germany and the United States was being discussed last night in New York.
It authorises the Security Council to invoke sanctions which do not
involve the use of force.
Western diplomats face the challenge of persuading Russia and China,
traditional allies of Iran, not to veto the resolution.
With North Korea recently completing a successful test of a nuclear
device, there are worries Iran will soon be able gatecrash the so-called
nuclear club of nations with atomic weapons.