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Iran has confirmed it has moved centrifuges to the Natanz underground nuclear plant, days after the United Nations nuclear watchdog said it had installed surveillance cameras, at Tehran’s request, to monitor a new workshop.
The machines – which were relocated from the now-closed Karaj nuclear power plant – will be used to pipe and other parts of the centrifuge rotor, which are essential equipment for the centrifuge to spin at high speeds to enrich urinary gas. This development raises questions about Iran’s plans to produce more advanced centrifuges.
Iranian state media quoted Iranian nuclear energy agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying that authorities had moved operations to a safer location due to security concerns.
The building in Karaj, where Iran had centrifuges, was the target of attacks last June, which Iran has said were sabotaging. The Natanz plant has been hit twice by sabotage attacks and Iran has blamed Israel for those attacks.
Since these attacks, Tehran is seeking greater security for these nuclear plants.
Natanzi is an underground plant for uranium enrichment and since it is underground it has more protection from air attacks.
“Unfortunately due to the terrorist operation that took place in Karaj, we were forced to intensify security measures, according to which, we moved a significant part of the machinery and transferred them to Natanz and Isfahan,” said Kamalvandi.
Isfahan is another nuclear building of Iran.
Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency installed new surveillance cameras at a new workshop in Natanz, at the request of Iranian authorities.
There are concerns that Iran may be close to building a nuclear weapon if it wants to have one.
Iran is enriching uranium with hundreds of advanced centrifuges. Some of the centrifuges can enrich uranium to 60 percent purity, which is close to the 90 percent required to produce nuclear weapons.
Iran has exceeded 3.67 percent as allowed in the 2015 nuclear deal reached with nuclear powers. Prior to the deal, Iran was enriching uranium to 20 percent pure.
Iran insists it has no plans to develop nuclear weapons.
Talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna aimed at reviving the deal have stalled. The deal collapsed four years ago when then-US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the pact and reinstated sanctions on Iran. Since then, Iran has expanded its nuclear activities./REL
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