Other Names: MIX Facility
Location: Tehran
Subordinate to: AEOI
Size: n/a
Primary Function: Radioisotope isotope production

Description:

In its February declaration to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran informed the Agency that it had prepared a small amount of UO2 for use in pellets to test the chemical processes of the MIX facility. The material was used to fabricate targets, irradiate it at the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR), and separate it in a lead-shielded cell at a laboratory in the MIX facility to obtain the resulting I-131 isotope. Analysts are concerned that other activities may have occurred during these experiments. According to David Albright and Corey Hinderstein, "The question is whether plutonium was also separated from these targets, or whether other undeclared targets were produced, irradiated, and processed to obtain separated plutonium."

Key Sources:
[1] "Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 6 June 2003, p. 5.
[2] David Albright and Corey Hinderstein, "Iran, Player or Rogue," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September/October 2003.

	Updated January 2006