Uranium Enriched to Higher Level Is Found in Iran by U.N.
United Nations nuclear inspectors in Iran have found uranium enriched beyond the highest previously reported levels of 20 percent in samplings taken from its new underground fuel enrichment plant, according to a quarterly report on Iran’s nuclear program.
The report, delivered Friday to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna, said the samplings, taken Feb. 15 from the Fordo enrichment facility built inside a mountain near Iran’s holy city of Qom, ‘showed the presence of particles with enrichment levels of up to 27 percent.’
The finding is a potentially alarming development since it moves the purity of Iran’s uranium enrichment closer toward bomb-grade material even as a group of six world powers is negotiating with Tehran to shift its nuclear program in the opposite direction. Whether the 27 percent figure represents a trace amount was not made clear in the report, a copy of which was made available to The New York Times.
Any guesses as to why they might be doing this?
