Reports coming out of the IAEA indicate that only a tiny fraction of the nation’s uranium enrichment program has been converted to producing 20 percent enriched uranium. The international nuclear watchdog described the effort as modest in nature.
Iran began its efforts to produce 20 percent enriched uranium on Tuesday, following pledges over the weekend. Iran intends to convert the uranium into fuel rods for its US-built Tehran reactor, to produce medical isotopes.
Iran had previously been in talks with the international community on a third-party enrichment deal to obtain the fuel rods from abroad, but as its supply of fuel for the reactor runs low it is aiming for self-sufficiency. The Iranian government has insisted it holds out hope for a deal which would eliminate the need for their production of 20 percent uranium domestically.
The small scope of the new enrichment may harm Western efforts to convince China of the need for additional sanctions against Iran, and certainly does damage to claims that the plan is a plot to rapidly enrich its stockpile.
This is an excellent article! Thank you for the accurate summary of the situation, Jason.
To heck with the facts, this line of 'news' at MSN this morning – courtesy of the AP – tells me all that I need to know:
"But the West says Tehran is not capable of turning the material into the fuel rods needed by the reactor. Instead it fears that Iran wants to enrich the uranium to make nuclear weapons."
LMAO! It appears that while the nation of Iran is incapable of producing a single fuel rod, the Persians will have no problems designing, developing, and constructing nuclear weapons, likely in the span of a single weekend. Because building nukes is so easy. Just ask the North Koreans.
God Bless America.
That's because "Fear" isn't free. There's a heavy "F***in" fee. And we're paying for it.