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UN Report: Uranium Particles Enriched to 83.7 Percent Found in Iran
(AP-Washington Post) Stephanie Liechtenstein - A confidential quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency distributed to member states on Tuesday found uranium particles enriched up to 83.7% in Iran's underground Fordo nuclear site. The report described inspectors discovering on Jan. 21 that the two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges in Fordo had been configured in a way "substantially different" to what had been previously declared. A spokesman for Iran's civilian nuclear program, Behrouz Kamalvandi, sought last week to portray any detection of uranium particles enriched to 84% as a momentary side effect of trying to reach a finished product of 60% purity. However, experts say such a great variance in purity would appear suspicious to inspectors. Iran's 2015 nuclear deal limited Tehran's uranium enrichment to 3.67% - enough to fuel a nuclear power plant. Iran has been producing uranium enriched to 60% purity - a level that has no civilian use. Uranium at 84% is nearly at weapons-grade levels of 90%.