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Report: Impurities in Iran's Enriched Uranium?

[Washington Post] David Ignatius - Nucleonics Week reported on Oct. 8 that Iran's supply of low-enriched uranium - the potential feedstock for nuclear bombs - appears to have certain "impurities" that "could cause centrifuges to fail" if the Iranians try to boost it to weapons grade. The seeming breakthrough in negotiations on Oct. 1 in Geneva - where Iran agreed to send most of its low-enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment - may not have been exactly what it appeared. Iran may have had no alternative but to seek foreign help in enrichment because its own centrifuges wouldn't work. "The impurities, certain metallic fluoride compounds, would interfere with centrifuge enrichment" at Iran's facility at Natanz, reported the newsletter's Bonn correspondent, Mark Hibbs. If the report is accurate, the contaminated fuel Iran has produced so far would be all but useless for nuclear weapons. How would those impurities have gotten into the uranium feedstock in the first place? It seems that the problems reportedly arose at an Iranian plant at Isfahan that converts raw uranium into the gaseous form that can be enriched in the centrifuges. The Isfahan plant hadn't adequately removed molybdenum and other impurities. And where did the equipment at the malfunctioning Isfahan conversion plant come from? Indeed, the Iranians are probably wondering what other parts of their vaunted nuclear establishment may be prone to malfunction.
2009-10-16 06:00:00
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