Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Seattle Times
April 4, 2008 By George Jahn, Associated Press
VIENNA, Austria — Iran has assembled hundreds of advanced machines reflecting a possible intention to speed up uranium enrichment, diplomats told The Associated Press.
One diplomat said more than 300 of the centrifuges have been linked up in two separate units in Iran's underground enrichment plant and a third was being assembled. He said the machines apparently are more advanced than the thousands already running underground, suggesting they could be the sophisticated IR-2 centrifuge that Tehran recently acknowledged testing.
But a senior diplomat said that while the new work appeared to include advanced centrifuges, they were not IR-2s. He added that it was unclear whether the machines were above or below ground.
The location is significant, because the aboveground site at Natanz is for experimental work and the underground facility is the working enrichment plant.
A third diplomat — who like the other two closely follows Iran's nuclear program — confirmed that Iran had started linking up advanced centrifuges in a configuration used for enrichment. But he said all remained above ground and none was running.
Uranium enrichment can produce both fuel for power plants and the fissile core of nuclear warheads. Tehran insists its nuclear program is intended only to produce energy, but there is growing international concern that it could lead to weapons development.
Two of the diplomats spoke to the AP earlier this week and the third Thursday. All are linked to the Vienna-based International Agency for Atomic Energy.
April 4, 2008 By George Jahn, Associated Press
VIENNA, Austria — Iran has assembled hundreds of advanced machines reflecting a possible intention to speed up uranium enrichment, diplomats told The Associated Press.
One diplomat said more than 300 of the centrifuges have been linked up in two separate units in Iran's underground enrichment plant and a third was being assembled. He said the machines apparently are more advanced than the thousands already running underground, suggesting they could be the sophisticated IR-2 centrifuge that Tehran recently acknowledged testing.
But a senior diplomat said that while the new work appeared to include advanced centrifuges, they were not IR-2s. He added that it was unclear whether the machines were above or below ground.
The location is significant, because the aboveground site at Natanz is for experimental work and the underground facility is the working enrichment plant.
A third diplomat — who like the other two closely follows Iran's nuclear program — confirmed that Iran had started linking up advanced centrifuges in a configuration used for enrichment. But he said all remained above ground and none was running.
Uranium enrichment can produce both fuel for power plants and the fissile core of nuclear warheads. Tehran insists its nuclear program is intended only to produce energy, but there is growing international concern that it could lead to weapons development.
Two of the diplomats spoke to the AP earlier this week and the third Thursday. All are linked to the Vienna-based International Agency for Atomic Energy.