Location: Natanz Enrichment Plant
Subordinate to: Uranium enrichment
Size: Commercial scale
Primary Function: Uranium enrichment
Description:
During his February 2003 visit, the IAEA Director General learned that the FEP would contain 50,000 centrifuges when it became fully operational. The FEP is scheduled to being operation in early 2005. It will be able to produce, at a minimum, 500kg of weapons-grade uranium per year. On 25 June 2003, technicians conducted their first centrifuge tests using UF6. On 19 August 2003, it began testing a small ten-machine cascade, again using UF6. Both tests were conducted with safeguards measures in place.
Key Sources:
[1] Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 6 June 2003, p. 6.
[2] David Albright and Corey Hinderstein, "Iran, Player or Rogue," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September/October 2003, p. 57.
[3] Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 26 August 2003, p. 7.
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Updated January 2006 |
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