(AP-Washington Post) Ali Akbar Dareini - Iran said Monday it plans to build two new uranium enrichment facilities deep inside mountains to protect them from attack. Iranian Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran intends to use its more advanced centrifuges at the new sites, which will be able to enrich uranium much faster than the old ones. This means Iran could amass more material in a shorter space of time that could be turned into the fissile core of missiles. Salehi said the new enrichment sites will be equal to that of Natanz in terms of production capacity but smaller in geographical size. More than 8,600 centrifuges have been set up in Natanz, but only about 3,800 are actively enriching uranium, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The facility will eventually house 54,000 centrifuges.
2010-02-23 08:08:41Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive