Metro Plus News IAEA report says pressing Iran on enrichment to near bomb-grade

IAEA report says pressing Iran on enrichment to near bomb-grade

The U.N. nuclear watchdog is in discussions with Iran on the origin of uranium particles enriched to up to 83.7% purity, very close to weapons grade, at
its Fordow enrichment plant, a report by the watchdog seen by Reuters confirmed on Tuesday.
Diplomats said last week that the agency had found the traces at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), where Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity. Weapons grade is around 90%. While spikes in enrichment levels can occur and this could have been accidental, this spike is relatively large.
The traces were found in the product from the two interconnected cascades, or clusters, of advanced centrifuges at Fordow that are enriching to up to 60%. The International Atomic Energy Agency chided Iran in an earlier report for making substantial changes to those cascades without informing it.
“Regarding the origin of the particles enriched above 60% U-235, identified after the implementation of the new cascade configuration at FFEP, discussions with Iran are still continuing,” the confidential IAEA report to member states said.