Iran Enriches 100 Kg of Uranium to 20%

RIA Novosti

15:16 20/02/2012 MOSCOW, February 20 (RIA Novosti) - Between 90 and 100 kilograms of uranium have been enriched to 20 percent at a facility in the Iranian city of Natanz, the country’s news agency ISNA reported on Monday.

The procedure was supervised by experts from the global watchdog IAEA, Fereydoon Abbasi, who supervises Iran’s nuclear program, was quoted as saying.

A successful enrichment program means Iran can abandon an earlier plan to give up its own low-enrichment uranium in exchange for highly enriched uranium supplied by other countries, Abbasi said.

“We produce our [reactor] fuel ourselves,” he added.

The exchange plan was agreed on in 2010 by Iran, Brazil and Turkey in a bid to convince the global community of the peaceful and controlled nature of Tehran’s nuclear program. It was never implemented due to a fresh round of anti-Iran sanctions introduced by the UN at the time.

Uranium needs to be enriched to 85 percent to qualify for nuclear bomb production. Iranian television said last week the country currently utilizes uranium enriched to 20 percent in its research reactor in Tehran.