Iran plans ‘small scale’ nuclear fuel work: IAEA

LONDON (Reuters) – The head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog,
Mohamed ElBaradei, informed his agency’s governing board on
Tuesday that Iran intends to begin “small-scale” uranium
enrichment work, contradicting previous statements by Tehran.

“Iran plans to install a small-scale gas ultracentrifuge
cascade in its pilot fuel enrichment plant at Natanz,” a
Western diplomat said, reading from ElBaradei’s report to the
35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA).

Citing the report, the diplomat said that during its
research work on centrifuges — machines that purify uranium
for use in nuclear power plants or weapons — Iran planned to
feed a small amount of uranium hexafluoride into the
centrifuges.

A senior Iranian official had earlier denied any suggestion
that Iran was resuming the production of nuclear fuel at the
Natanz facility in central Iran.