Iran prepares enrichment escalation at Fordow plant, IAEA report shows
(VOVWORLD) - Iran is escalating its uranium enrichment further by preparing to use advanced IR-6 centrifuges at its underground Fordow site that can more easily switch between enrichment levels, a United Nations nuclear watchdog report seen by Reuters on Monday showed.
 Inside the underground Fordow site in Qom, northern Iran, November 6, 2019. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
IAEA inspectors verified on Saturday that Iran was ready to feed uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas, the material centrifuges enrich, into the second of two cascades, or clusters, of IR-6 centrifuges installed at Fordow, a site dug into mountain, the confidential IAEA report to member states said.
Iran informed the IAEA on Monday that passivation of the cascade, a process that precedes enrichment and also involves feeding UF6 into the machines, had begun on Sunday.
It had previously informed the IAEA that the two IR-6 cascades could be used to enrich to 5% or 20% purity.