Global atomic monitors reported Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium swelled to a record in the last three months and that inspectors are still trying to clarify how uranium enriched to just below weapons-grade was produced at a nuclear facility.
The International Atomic Energy Agency report is the latest warning about a rapidly expanding Iranian nuclear program that Central Intelligence Director Bill Burns says has grown more worrisome. Uranium particles enriched to 84% purity were detected at the end of January during an inspection of its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, according to the IAEA.
“The agency informed that these findings were inconsistent with the level of enrichment” officially declared by Iran, read the 14-page restricted report seen by Bloomberg. “Iran informed the agency that ‘unintended fluctuations in enrichment levels may have occurred.’ Discussions between the the agency and Iran to clarify the matter are ongoing.”
“These events clearly indicate the capability of the agency to detect and report in a timely manner changes in the operation of nuclear facilities in Iran,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the IAEA, said.
Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% levels of purity rose to 193 pounds (87.5 kilograms) from 137 pounds (62.3 kilograms). Inventories of 20%-enriched material rose to 435 kilograms from 386 kilograms.
It’s the ninth consecutive quarter that Iranian engineers increased the country’s volume of nuclear fuel enriched to just below the grade needed for weapons, despite suffocating U.S. sanctions.
