Never mind the secrecy and subterfuge. It’s all about the peaceful generation of electricity, and nothing more. And never mind that they’re estimated to have enriched half the uranium they would need for a weapon.
Nothing to see here, until we awaken some morning to news of an Iranian nuclear test. “Iran starts moving uranium centrifuges to bunker,” from the Telegraph, August 22:
“Transferring Natanz centrifuges to Fordow (near Qom) is under way with full observance of standards,” Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani told state broadcaster IRIB. “Fordow’s facilities are being prepared and some centrifuges have been transferred.”
Tehran announced in June that it would shift its production of higher-grade uranium to the underground facility in Fordow, in defiance of international calls to halt uranium enrichment which some countries say is aimed at making nuclear bombs, a charge Iran denies.
Fereidoun Abbasi, the head of the Iranian nuclear programme, said in June Iran would triple output of uranim enriched to 20 per cent, the threshold level from which a nuclear bomb – made from material enriched to 90 per cent – is relative easy to produce.
Since it raised the level of enrichment from the 3.5 per cent purity needed for normal power plant fuel to 20 per cent last year it has produced 56.7 kilogrammes, UN weapons inspectors have reported. That is about half the amount needed for a weapon.