Location: Isfahan (Esfahan)
Subordinate to: INTC, AEOI
Size: Large scale
Primary Function: Uranium conversion
Description:
In 2000 the AEOI declared the UCF to the IAEA. It is currently under construction. On 9 February 2003, the head of the AEOI stated that Iran was constructing a facility to convert yellowcake into uranium oxide, uranium hexafluoride, and uranium metal at the INTC. In July 2003, Iran revealed to the IAEA that it had obtained the designs for the UCF from abroad, and that this information was sufficient to complete a more detailed design of the facility and manufacture conversion equipment indigenously. The facility will be able to supply the 40MW heavy water reactor under construction with UO2. The expected completion date for the facility is not known.
In a letter dated 19 August 2003, Iran acknowledged that it had performed "bench scale" experiments of uranium conversion in the early 1990s. This was in contradiction to several statements made between February and July 2003 claiming that no R&D on conversion or production involving nuclear material had been conducted, even at a laboratory scale.
Key Sources:
[1] Anthony H. Cordesman, "Iran's Search for Weapons of Mass Destruction," Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 7 August 2003, p. 58.
[2] "Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 6 June 2003, p. 4.
[3] "Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 26 August 2003, pp. 4, 8.
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Updated January 2006 |
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