Seraphim
09-25-2003, 04:31 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030925/wl_nm/nuclear_iran_uranium_dc_7
By Louis Charbonneau
VIENNA (*******) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog has found traces of arms-grade enriched uranium at a second site in Iran, a month before a U.N. deadline for Tehran to prove it has no secret atomic weapons program, diplomats said on Thursday.
One diplomat told ******* the discovery could support Tehran's explanation that the discovery of highly enriched uranium at a previous site in Iran was due to contamination from imported components.
But several other diplomats said it could support the U.S. theory that Iran has been secretly purifying uranium for use in a nuclear explosive device -- a charge Tehran denies.
Speaking to ******* on condition of anonymity, the diplomats said the new traces of enriched uranium were found in environmental samples taken during inspections at the Kalaye Electric Company on the southern outskirts of Tehran.
Earlier this year, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found traces of enriched uranium at a plant at Natanz, some 250 km (150 miles) south of the Iranian capital.
The IAEA finding at Natanz was a surprise, since Iran had insisted that its enrichment centrifuges were never tested live -- that is, with nuclear material. Also, Iran has always said it only wants to produce low-enriched uranium, unusable in bombs.
Tehran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, blames the earlier find at Natanz on machinery which it says was contaminated with enriched uranium when it was purchased abroad on the black market in the 1980s. This explanation has met with skepticism inside and outside the IAEA.
However, one Western diplomat said failure to get a positive result from samples taken at Kalaye would have been surprising, as this is where Iran said it stored the centrifuge components which it says were contaminated.
"Not getting a positive result would have been odd," the diplomat said. "This was the facility where components used in the centrifuges were said to be stored and manufactured."
Another Western diplomat disagreed, saying that this finding would not vindicate Iran, but could support the theory that Iran has been enriching uranium secretly at Natanz and Kalaye.
"This finding may actually raise even more questions about the discovery of enriched uranium," the diplomat said.
ATTEMPTED KALAYE COVER-UP?
For months, Iran had refused to permit the IAEA to take samples at Kalaye, but finally relented in August. But when inspectors arrived, the IAEA said the Kalaye workshop they wanted to visit had undergone "considerable modifications."
Western diplomats have said they believe Iran was trying to sanitize the workshop in order to hide something.
Diplomats also said that the new finding could mean Iran has been covertly testing its enrichment machinery at Kalaye.
The United States and a number of other countries have long suspected that Iran secretly tested its centrifuges at Kalaye, which diplomats say would be a serious beach of Iran's obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and would oblige the IAEA board to notify the U.N. Security Council.
The Security Council has the power to impose diplomatic and economic sanctions.
Iran has always insisted that it did not conduct live tests of its centrifuges either at Kalaye or Natanz. But in an August 26 report, the IAEA said that a team of U.N. centrifuge experts concluded Iran must have tested its centrifuges with uranium.
An IAEA spokeswoman neither confirmed nor denied the diplomats' statements, saying only that the IAEA was focusing on Iran's October 31 deadline and the departure of inspectors to Tehran on Sunday for a month of intensive inspections and talks.
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) repeated his position that Tehran's nuclear ambitions are purely peaceful.
"We assure the world and the agency (IAEA) that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not pursuing destructive nuclear weapons," Khatami was quoted by the ISNA students news agency as saying.
By Louis Charbonneau
VIENNA (*******) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog has found traces of arms-grade enriched uranium at a second site in Iran, a month before a U.N. deadline for Tehran to prove it has no secret atomic weapons program, diplomats said on Thursday.
One diplomat told ******* the discovery could support Tehran's explanation that the discovery of highly enriched uranium at a previous site in Iran was due to contamination from imported components.
But several other diplomats said it could support the U.S. theory that Iran has been secretly purifying uranium for use in a nuclear explosive device -- a charge Tehran denies.
Speaking to ******* on condition of anonymity, the diplomats said the new traces of enriched uranium were found in environmental samples taken during inspections at the Kalaye Electric Company on the southern outskirts of Tehran.
Earlier this year, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found traces of enriched uranium at a plant at Natanz, some 250 km (150 miles) south of the Iranian capital.
The IAEA finding at Natanz was a surprise, since Iran had insisted that its enrichment centrifuges were never tested live -- that is, with nuclear material. Also, Iran has always said it only wants to produce low-enriched uranium, unusable in bombs.
Tehran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, blames the earlier find at Natanz on machinery which it says was contaminated with enriched uranium when it was purchased abroad on the black market in the 1980s. This explanation has met with skepticism inside and outside the IAEA.
However, one Western diplomat said failure to get a positive result from samples taken at Kalaye would have been surprising, as this is where Iran said it stored the centrifuge components which it says were contaminated.
"Not getting a positive result would have been odd," the diplomat said. "This was the facility where components used in the centrifuges were said to be stored and manufactured."
Another Western diplomat disagreed, saying that this finding would not vindicate Iran, but could support the theory that Iran has been enriching uranium secretly at Natanz and Kalaye.
"This finding may actually raise even more questions about the discovery of enriched uranium," the diplomat said.
ATTEMPTED KALAYE COVER-UP?
For months, Iran had refused to permit the IAEA to take samples at Kalaye, but finally relented in August. But when inspectors arrived, the IAEA said the Kalaye workshop they wanted to visit had undergone "considerable modifications."
Western diplomats have said they believe Iran was trying to sanitize the workshop in order to hide something.
Diplomats also said that the new finding could mean Iran has been covertly testing its enrichment machinery at Kalaye.
The United States and a number of other countries have long suspected that Iran secretly tested its centrifuges at Kalaye, which diplomats say would be a serious beach of Iran's obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and would oblige the IAEA board to notify the U.N. Security Council.
The Security Council has the power to impose diplomatic and economic sanctions.
Iran has always insisted that it did not conduct live tests of its centrifuges either at Kalaye or Natanz. But in an August 26 report, the IAEA said that a team of U.N. centrifuge experts concluded Iran must have tested its centrifuges with uranium.
An IAEA spokeswoman neither confirmed nor denied the diplomats' statements, saying only that the IAEA was focusing on Iran's October 31 deadline and the departure of inspectors to Tehran on Sunday for a month of intensive inspections and talks.
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) repeated his position that Tehran's nuclear ambitions are purely peaceful.
"We assure the world and the agency (IAEA) that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not pursuing destructive nuclear weapons," Khatami was quoted by the ISNA students news agency as saying.