The Bushehr nuclear power station, a 915-MWe facility, came on line in 2013. It is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant. (Photo: Bushehr NPP)
A ceremonial ground-breaking event took place last week at the site where the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says four new nuclear reactors will be built over the next 20 years.
The Fordow fuel enrichment site in Iran. (Source: MDAA)
Iran has begun enriching uranium to a purity level of 20 percent using advanced IR-6 centrifuges at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, a pilot facility located underground near the city of Qom. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran made the public announcement on June 10, although it reported the news to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency two weeks before, according to NBC News.
IAEA Director General Grossi presented concerns to the agency’s board about Iran’s implementation of its nuclear-related commitments to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general, called on Iran on March 9 to cooperate immediately and fully with the IAEA and to provide prompt access to locations that it has refused to let agency inspectors visit. “The agency has identified a number of questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at three locations that have not been declared by Iran,” Grossi said in his first address to the IAEA’s Board of Governors since being named director general in December.