Iran upgrades uranium enrichment despite US warning

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

13 February 2013 Last updated at 13:15 GMT

Iran upgrades uranium enrichment despite US warning

The Iranian atomic energy chief has announced an upgrade to uranium enrichment machines in a move the US has called an "escalation".

New uranium enrichment centrifuges began to be installed at the Natanz site last month, Fereydun Abbasi-Davani was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Monitors say the new machines could significantly reduce the time needed to make a nuclear bomb.

Iran has long denied its nuclear programme is weapons-related.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21442875

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1. And yet - Iran says it is converting uranium, easing bomb fears.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran acknowledged on Tuesday that it was converting some of its higher-grade enriched uranium into reactor fuel, a move that could help to prevent a dispute with the West over its nuclear program hitting a crisis in mid-2013.

Conversion is one way for Iran to slow the growth in its stockpile of material that could be used to make a bomb. That stockpile is currently projected to reach a level intolerable to Israel in mid-year, just as Iran's room for negotiation is being limited by a presidential election in June.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was asked at a weekly news conference about a Reuters report that Iran has converted small amounts of its 20-percent enriched uranium into reactor fuel.

"This work is being done and all its reports have been sent to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a complete manner," he was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.

http://news.yahoo.com/iran-says-converting-uranium-easing-bomb-fears-031809409.html