Iran Boasts 11-Fold Rise in Daily Output of Enriched Uranium

Before the third step that Iran took to reduce its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the country produced 450 grams of enriched uranium per day but it has been multiplied by 10 times and reached to some 5,000 grams per day, Zarean said in an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Friday.

He added that Iran has made significant achievements in indigenizing its nuclear industry and its uranium enrichment capacity currently stands at 8,660 separative work units (SWUs).

"Iran's enriched uranium stock has reached over 500 kilograms and this important [capacity] is being increased. It will reach around 11,000 SWUs within the next days," Zarean noted.

Last Saturday, Spokesman of the AEOI Behrouz Kamalavandi announced that the uranium enrichment capacity of the Fordow nuclear facility will increase soon.

"The enrichment capacity at Fordow will increase gradually in the next few days. After the start of enrichment at the facility, the capacity will reach 9,500 SWU from 8,600 SWU and we are not far from what we produced before the nuclear deal," Kamalvandi told reporters in a press conference at Fordow nuclear site.

He noted that Iran has requested the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor Iran’s uranium enrichment operations, and said, “The agency’s inspectors will carry out their monitoring and verification activities at the site tomorrow.”

Kamalvandi said that the level of purity of enrichment will increase to 4.5 percent when the inspectors return to check the process again.

Asked about installation of 1,044 centrifuge machines at Fordow within the framework of 6 174-strong cascades, he said that Iran has decided not to inject uranium into two of these cascades to keep them for the enrichment of stable isotopes - i.e. non-nuclear materials.

Kamalvandi referred to Iran's decision to modify its nuclear deal undertakings in a move to balance its undertakings and merits after the US withdrawal and the Europeans' disloyalty to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and hoped that Tehran would not need to take further step to make the opposite sides respect their obligations.

Elsewhere, he declared that Iran will start pouring concrete at the site of its second nuclear power plant in Bushehr on Sunday, saying that the move comes despite US pressures and sanctions.

Asked about Iran's capabilities to produce enriched uranium, Kamalvandi said that the AEOI is able to enrich uranium to the purity levels of 5%, 20% and 60%, but meantime stressed that the allegations raised by the US and Israel about Iran's true intentions are all illusion.

Last Thursday, Iran resumed injection of UF6 gas into the centrifuge machines installed at Fordow nuclear facility as part of the country's fourth step to modify nuclear deal undertakings.

The measure at Fordow was taken upon an executive order by President Hassan Rouhani in coordination with the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

A cylinder including 2,000 kg of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) was transferred from Natanz to Fordow nuclear site. Then, the cylinder was connected to the feeding lines at Wednesday midnight.

Following the successful technical overhaul, the gas injection to the chains as well as the centrifuges and producing and gathering enriched uranium began at Fordow under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

President Rouhani had announced on last Wednesday that the nuclear facility at Fordow would soon begin its full operation after injecting UF6 gas into centrifuge machines in line with the fourth step of reducing his country's nuclear deal undertakings.