IAEA says in talks with Iran about accidental 84% enriched particles

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
1 Mar 2023 00:34
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Iran informed the Agency that 'unintended fluctuations in enrichment levels may have occurred during the transition period at the time of commissioning the process of [60%] product.

A student looks at Iran's domestically built centrifuges in an exhibition of the country's nuclear achievements, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023 (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The IAEA, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, is currently in talks with Iran over the detection of uranium particles enriched to 84% purity, at the Fordow enrichment plant, according to a report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.

Last week, the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), refuted allegations posed by western media, namely Bloomberg, about Iran enriching uranium at 84%.

The spokesperson called it a misrepresentation of facts whereby western media fallaciously inferred that Iran was enriching uranium at 84% because of discovering traces of uranium particles enriched at 84%. The spokesperson clarified that the discovered particles were unintended consequences of aberrations in the cascades after being adjusted.

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In a prior assessment, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chastised Iran for making significant adjustments to its cascades without notifying the agency.

"Regarding the origin of the particles enriched above 60% U-235, identified after the implementation of the new cascade configuration at FFEP, discussions with Iran are still continuing," the IAEA report to member states which Reuters disclosed.

"Iran informed the Agency that 'unintended fluctuations in enrichment levels may have occurred during the transition period at the time of commissioning the process of [60%] product (November 2022) or while replacing the feed cylinder'," the report added, but continued to doubt Iran's explanations.

According to the report, Iran's 60% enriched uranium, which is produced at two facilities, has increased by 25.2 kg to 87.5 kg since the last quarterly report. The report added that the entire stockpile of uranium enriched to that and lesser levels is estimated to be 3,760.8 kg.