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Iran: Opposition Group Plans to Reveal New Nuclear Facility An Iranian opposition group plans to expose a site where they say Iran houses equipment to enrich uranium for building nuclear weapons, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Feb. 11). The National Council of Resistance of Iran revealed two nuclear sites last August, which are due to be inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency this weekend (see GSN, Dec. 13, 2002). The group announced it will reveal the new site today and alleged that Tehran has removed equipment from Natanz, one of the sites to be visited by inspectors, the Post reported. Alireza Jafarzadeh, the group’s Washington representative, alleged that Chinese and North Korean experts have aided the Iranian nuclear program. North Korean and Chinese experts oversaw the installation of centrifuge equipment used to enrich uranium near Isfahan and about 50 Chinese have been seen at a uranium mine at Saghand, he said. The centrifuge systems were tested at Kola Electric, a supposed watch factory near Tehran, Jafarzadeh said. The site has two 4,500 square foot rooms, he added. The nuclear effort at Natanz began two years ago, covers 25 acres and has sections that are 25 feet underground and protected by eight-foot-thick concrete, the Washington Post reported. The other facility, at Arak, began in 1996 and is designed to produce heavy water to use plutonium in weapons, according to the Post. That site is set to be ready for testing in April and Iran will claim the heavy water is necessary for industrial use, according to the opposition group. The Natanz site is too big to be Iran’s first enriched uranium project, according to some experts. Iran, therefore, might be running a smaller pilot program now that has paved the way for new facility, they added (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Feb. 20).
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