uranium enrichment

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Iranian Move a 'Challenge' to World's Nonproliferation

Per IRNA, nation is enriching uranium to 60% purity, a step away from weapons-grade levels

(Newser) - Iran has begun producing enriched uranium at 60% purity at the country's underground Fordo nuclear plant, official media reported Tuesday, describing it as a response to a resolution by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. The increased enrichment, reported by the official news agency IRNA, was seen as a significant...

Iran: We Could Build a Nuke If We Wanted To

Comment from Khamenei adviser comes soon after Biden's Middle East trip

(Newser) - Iran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb, though the country hasn't yet decided whether it will do so, according to a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60% and we can...

Iran Has Defiant Response to Attack on Nuclear Site

Tehran will significantly increase its uranium enrichment

(Newser) - After an attack on one of its nuclear facilities , Iran is more than doubling down. A Tehran official announced Tuesday that the nation will begin enriching uranium to 60%—a significant increase from its earlier mark of 20% and much closer to the 90% required for weapons-grade material, reports the...

A 'Worrisome' Development: Iran 'Has a Pathway to a Bomb'

IAEA reports say Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile has tripled

(Newser) - When the Trump administration took the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the idea was to instead impose sanctions to pressure Iran to stop developing its nuclear program. Now, "the numbers suggest a different reality"—that Iran "now has a pathway to a bomb,"...

Site Meant for Research Has Been Enriching Uranium: UN Watchdog

It looks like Fordo underground facility is in violation of 2015 nuclear deal

(Newser) - The United Nations' nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Iran is now enriching uranium at its underground Fordo facility, a move prohibited by the 2015 nuclear deal. That's according to a confidential quarterly report that was distributed to member states and seen by the AP on Monday. Iran invited inspectors...

Iran Begins Uranium Gas Injections Into Centrifuges

Move is major step away from nuclear deal

(Newser) - Iran injected uranium gas into centrifuges at its underground Fordo nuclear complex early Thursday, taking its most-significant step away from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers . Tehran also acknowledged blocking an official from the International Atomic Energy Agency from visiting its nuclear site at Natanz last week, the first...

Iran Thumbs Nose at Nuclear Deal—Again

Tehran, wanting to ease sanctions, says uranium enrichment is 'reversible'

(Newser) - Iran is continuing to back away from its nuclear deal with world powers following US withdrawal over a year ago. On Tuesday, President Hassan Rouhani announced that uranium gas would be injected into centrifuges at the underground Fordo facility beginning Wednesday. A rep for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran...

Iran Breaches Uranium Limits
Iran Breaches Uranium Limits

Iran Breaches Uranium Limits

It's now enriching uranium to 4.5%

(Newser) - Iran on Monday began enriching uranium to 4.5%, just breaking the limit set by its nuclear deal with world powers, while it is still seeking a way for Europe to help it bypass US sanctions amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington. The acknowledgement by the spokesman of the...

Iran Had an 'Unwelcome Milestone.' Now, a New Defiance

Uranium enrichment will be 'as much as we want it to be,' President Hassan Rouhani says

(Newser) - Iran announced an "unwelcome milestone" this week: It has 660 pounds of low-enriched uranium stockpiled, a violation of the 2015 nuclear deal the US pulled out of last year. The Washington Post notes that reserve on its own doesn't bring the country much closer to being able to...

Iran Pulls Back From Nuclear Deal
Iran Pulls Back
From Nuclear Deal

Iran Pulls Back From Nuclear Deal

Country says it will start keeping excess uranium

(Newser) - Iran's president said Wednesday that the country will begin keeping its excess uranium and heavy water from its nuclear program, setting a 60-day deadline for new terms to its nuclear deal with world powers before it will resume higher uranium enrichment. Hassan Rouhani's address to the nation came...

Pompeo Lays Out Stiff New Demands on Iran
US Gives Iran New
List of Demands

US Gives Iran New List of Demands

Secretary of state Pompeo wants Tehran to pull all troops out of Syria, among other things

(Newser) - Now that the US has withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, what would it take to strike a new deal? A lot, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed Monday in a speech outlining US demands, reports the Wall Street Journal , the AP , CNN , and Al Jazeera . Pompeo...

North Korea Will Soon Have the Makings for 20 Nukes
North Korea
Will Soon Have
the Makings
for 20 Nukes
NEW REPORT

North Korea Will Soon Have the Makings for 20 Nukes

It's producing 330 pounds of enriched uranium per year: report

(Newser) - If it doesn't already , North Korea will have the makings for 20 nuclear bombs by the end of the year, experts predict in a new report. The country is believed to be producing 330 pounds of highly enriched uranium per year at one or two sites—enough for six...

Clock Ticking, Ayatollah Deals Blow to Iran Nuke Deal

Appears to undercut negotiators in new speech

(Newser) - A Sunday deadline is looming for Iran to strike a nuclear deal with six world powers under a plan set in motion last year —but with just days to go, Iran's supreme leader has made the chances of a deal being forged in time look supremely unlikely. In...

Iran Could Have Bomb in a Month: Report

But negotiators point to progress in talks

(Newser) - In just a month, Iran could have enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb, a US expert says. "Breakout times"—a reference to the period needed to get weapons-grade uranium from low-enriched uranium—"are currently too short and shortening further." The findings, from the Institute...

Iran Rolls Out 2 New Nuclear-Linked Projects

Uranium mine, processing plant opened after talks fail

(Newser) - Iran has inaugurated two key nuclear-related projects just days after another round of talks with world powers seeking to limit its atomic program ended in another stalemate. Operations are now under way at Iran's biggest uranium mine and a uranium ore concentrate production plant, according to state media. Neither...

Seoul Lobbies US Hard for OK to Make Nuclear Fuel

Fear move could spark regional arms race

(Newser) - In a move unlikely to calm nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula, South Korea is pushing the US hard for permission to start creating its own nuclear fuel. The request comes amid a renegotiation of Seoul's 1972 nuclear cooperation pact with the US but while South Korea stresses it...

Iran's Nuclear 'Plan B': Plutonium

Until now, international powers have been focusing on uranium

(Newser) - The Telegraph has details today of what it calls Iran's "Plan B," a second path to creating a nuclear bomb: New satellite images show that Iran has activated its Arak heavy-water production plant; heavy water could eventually power a nuclear reactor that would produce plutonium for bomb-making....

Iran's Nuke Centrifuges Getting Massive Upgrade

New generation plants to process uranium 5 times faster

(Newser) - Iran insists its uranium enrichment program is just for peaceful purposes—and now it is poised to start making a lot more of it. Tehran plans on mounting as many as 3,132 new-generation, IR-2m centrifuges; the machines are capable of enriching uranium five times faster than its current equipment,...

Irate North Korea Suggests New Nuke Test Is Coming

And there's no possibility of denuclearization talks

(Newser) - The UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution yesterday expanding sanctions against North Korea as punishment for its December rocket launch , and Pyongyang did not take the news lying down. It responded angrily today by promising to strengthen its nuclear weapons program and suggesting it would carry out a third...

Iran Accelerating Nuclear Work: Report

Window closing for diplomacy or military intervention, warn analysts

(Newser) - Negotiations related to Iran's nuclear program are nearly dead in their tracks; the same can't be said of the country's nuclear progress, according to a soon-to-be-released report by international nuclear inspectors cited by the the New York Times . The report claims that Iran has stepped up its...

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