Iran has boosted production at uranium mine – report
Updated: Wednesday, November 04, 2009
11:30GMT—6:30AM/EST
Washington, 4 November (WashingtonTV)—Iran has stepped up production at its Gachine uranium mine, according to satellite photos examined by nuclear analysts, the Bloomberg news network reported on Wednesday.
The mine, near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, could produce enough raw uranium for processing into two warheads a year, if Iran chose to secretly enrich the uranium to weapons-grade, the report said.
Nuclear analysts said that the increased production underlines the need for wider United Nations inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, beyond sites such as its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz and Esfahan conversion facility.
The International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] has repeatedly requested more access to the mine, as well as other sites involved in Iran’s nuclear program.
Inspectors had some access to the site from 2003 until 2006, while Iran was complying with the agency’s Additional Protocol, which allowed for more stringent inspections.
However, Iran stopped its cooperation with that agreement in 2006, in retaliation for the IAEA’s referral of the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program to the UN Security Council.
The satellite photos were obtained by Bloomberg news and the Washington-based New America Foundation, and examined by four nuclear analysts.
The IAEA and US diplomats declined to comment on the photos.
Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, when reached by telephone on Tuesday, would not confirm that production had increased at the mine or comment on whether Tehran would submit to wider inspections.
Source: Bloomberg news network
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