Iran Reverses Position, Promises 2 New Nuclear Plants, Higher Uranium Enrichment Levels
Iranian official Ferydoon Abbasi announced on state television on Sunday that the country would not halt production of higher-grade uranium while also building two new uranium enriching nuclear power plants.
The announcement comes just after the Iranian government met for talks in Baghdad with officials from the West, talks that ended with a refusal by Iran to end its nuclear power enrichment program and accept nuclear fuel from other countries.
According to Abbasi:
“We have no reason to retreat from producing the 20 percent, because we need 20 percent uranium just as much to meet our needs.”
Iran produces most of its uranium in its Fordo enrichment plant which is highly resistant to bombing. The plant is buried so far under ground that Israeli officials have called in a “zone of immunity” from attacks that could be waged by Israeli or American military forces.
Abbasi told viewers that the country will begin building two new nuclear power plants by 2013, an announcement that will likely further strain talks and lead to further economic sanctions against the company’s oil production industry which already accounts for 80% of Iran’s GDP.
In the meantime talks between Iran and the world powers are set to continue in Moscow on June 18. If Iran does not agree to certain constraints for its nuclear power program sanctions on Iranian exports and financial dealings could choke the countries ability to earn money starting on July 1.
Iran in the meantime says it needs enriched uranium to fuel an aging US-made medical reactor. In response to the medical reactor statement world powers offered to provide medical isotopes to Iran if it offered to export its higher-grade uranium to other countries, a proposal the Iranian government refused. In the meantime a recent report shows that Iran has already produced 145 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 20 percent.
A recent report claims Iran’s Fordo plant has produced 27% enriched-uranium, a level the countries leaders say came about by accident while setting their centrifuge settings.
