Iran producing more low-enriched uranium daily: Salehi

TEHRAN, Nov. 11 (MNA) – The Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said on Monday that the country is now producing more low-enriched uranium daily, after restarting an underground lab. Salehi told AP journalists in Tehran that the country is now producing at least 5.5 kilograms daily (12 pounds). That’s […]

TEHRAN, Nov. 11 (MNA) – The Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said on Monday that the country is now producing more low-enriched uranium daily, after restarting an underground lab.

Salehi told AP journalists in Tehran that the country is now producing at least 5.5 kilograms daily (12 pounds). That’s compared to what Tehran had been producing — about 450 grams (1 pound) of low-enriched uranium per day.

Salehi said that’s due in part to restarting enrichment at Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear facility.

“I believe (that) in total, 5.5 kilograms is the daily volume of uranium enrichment in Natanz and Fordo,” Salehi told the AP, mentioning Iran’s other nuclear facility at Natanz.

The AEOI announced on November 6 that it had officially started injecting gas into 1,044 centrifuges at the underground Fordow nuclear plant in the fourth step of reducing commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal. The 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), allowed the first-generation IR-1 centrifuges at Fordow to spin without uranium gas.

Noting that the European and American politicians have reacted to Tehran’s latest move and are concerned, the AEOI head said Iran’s potentials have become active now.

Iran began reducing commitments to the JCPOA a year after the US’ unilateral withdrawal from the agreement and lack of any practical measures from the the European sides to safeguard Iran’s economic interests in the face of US sanctions.

The country stresses that all suspended measures will be resumed as soon as other parties to the agreement start to live up to their own commitments.

Salehi announced on Sunday, during the ceremony to start laying the concrete foundations of the second unit of Bushehr nuclear power plant, that Iran will produce up to 3,000 megawatts of nuclear electricity by 2027, which will avert emission of 21 million tons of pollutant gases.