Iran notifies IAEA of uranium enrichment expansion plan

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Iran has notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its plan to install more than 6,000 more centrifuges for uranium enrichment, Reuters reported.

Reuters said it had confirmed that the IAEA's confidential report contained this.

Iran says the purpose of expanding its uranium enrichment facilities is peaceful use and not nuclear weapons production, which the West does not believe.

The West points out that uranium 235 for nuclear weapons is about 90% pure, and for peaceful use, there is no reason to increase the purity of uranium 235 to 60% as Iran does, and that it has never done so except in a nuclear weapons state.According to the

report, Iran has reduced the purity of uranium 235 to be enriched with new centrifuges to 5%, far lower than the 60% purity already produced by Iran.

Reuters interpreted Iran's "5% purity" as a conciliatory attitude to resolve differences with European countries ahead of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

However, with facilities and uranium raw materials, the level of enrichment can be easily changed later.

Iran has already installed more than 10,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges at two underground plants, including Natanz and Fordo, and one above-ground pilot plant in Natanz.

According to the plan in the AEA report, Iran will install 32 more "cascades," each consisting of 160 centrifuges, and add one large cascade of 1,152 high-performance IR-6 centrifuges.

Iran has informed that it plans to start the enrichment process by adding uranium to eight IR-6 cascades already installed at its Fordo plant, but it has not yet put it into action and the IAEA has verified that it has not yet been implemented.

The Fordo plant is particularly subject to intensive monitoring by the IAEA because it is a facility built through the mountains.

Iran has two facilities to enrich uranium 235 to 60% purity: an underground plant in Fordo and a ground pilot plant in Natanz.According to the

report, Iran has completed the installation of the last two of 18 cascades of IR-2m centrifuges at its Natanz underground plant, all of which are planned to be operational.

However, IAEA verification on the 26th of this month confirmed that the operation has not yet begun.

Iran will also install 18 additional cascades, each of which consists of 166 IR-4 centrifuges, at its Natanz underground plant.

It also plans to install a large cascade of 1,152 IR-6 centrifuges at a ground pilot plant in Natanz.

It is the largest uranium enrichment cascade in Iran.