Tehran ships 30-ton load of yellow cake to Isfahan
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GENEVA, Jan 30, (Agencies): Iran has sent a large batch of mined uranium “yellow cake” for processing ahead of shipment to its main enrichment facility, Iran’s state news agency reported on Wednesday in the latest sign of plans to step up its atomic activities.
Yellow cake, or uranium ore, can be further processed into enriched uranium to make fuel for nuclear power plants, Iran’s stated aim, or to provide material for atomic bombs if refined much more, which the West fears may be the Islamic Republic’s ultimate goal. US-Iranian tensions have resurged since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 nuclear accord, calling it deeply flawed.
Under the deal, Iran restricted its enrichment programme to ease concerns it could not be put to developing nuclear weapons and in return won relief from sanctions.
Thirty tons of yellow cake from a production plant in the city of Ardakan in central Iran was sent to a uranium conversion facility in Isfahan on Wednesday, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. This appears to be the second time a consignment of yellow cake has been delivered to the facility, which was reopened in June after lying idle for nine years.
The activity is permissible under the nuclear deal, which allows Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent – far below the 90 percent of weapons grade – and caps its stock of enriched uranium hexafluoride at 300 kg. Yellow cake is converted into a gas called uranium hexafluoride (UF6) before enrichment. The shipment will subsequently be sent to the Natanz nuclear facility for enrichment, according to IRNA.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in June that the plant for the production of UF6, the feedstock for centrifuge machines that enrich uranium, had been relaunched at the Isfahan uranium conversion facility and a barrel of yellow cake had been delivered there.
Tehran says that China has slowed down working on its redesign of a heavy water reactor in Iran, following the US withdrawal from Tehran’s nuclear agreement with world powers.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s nuclear agency, was quoted by state-run news agency IRNA as saying that “the Chinese side decreased the speed of cooperation with us despite their commitments.” He says Iran has “alternative” choices if China cannot not fulfil its job.
Salehi speculates that Beijing fears possible sanctions by the US if it continues cooperation with Iran but did not elaborate further. Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, experts from the United States and China were to help Iran redesign the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor to limit the amount of plutonium it produces as a byproduct.
Iran’s president said on Wednesday the country was facing its toughest economic situation in 40 years, and the United States, not the government, was to blame.
US President Trump last year pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed sanctions. Workers, including truck drivers, farmers and merchants, have since launched sporadic protests against economic hardships, which have occasionally led to confrontations with security forces.
“Today the country is facing the biggest pressure and economic sanctions in the past 40 years,” Hassan Rouhani said, according to the presidential website. “Today our problems are primarily because of pressure from America and its followers. And the dutiful government and Islamic system should not be blamed,” he added.
Rouhani spoke at a ceremony at the shrine of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – part of a series of events leading up to the 40th anniversary of the February 11th revolution. Iran’s rial currency has fluctuated in value in recent months, making it difficult for ordinary people to make ends meet.
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