Secret Iranian nuclear plant uncovered

[Dara bhur gCara]

US, Britain and France are to accuse Iran of building a secret uranium enrichment plant outside the holy city of Qom

Stunning news out of Pittsburgh. I have just been on the phone to the IAEA and they are running around trying to put a coherent line together, but they confirm the main facts of story, saying the best account of them to date is David Sanger's in the New York Times.

This changes every equation on Iran. All the estimates about how long it would take Iran to build a nuclear arsenal are built on the assumption that the process of enriching uranium was being closely monitored by the array of IAEA cameras and inspections in Natanz. IAEA inspectors calculated how fast Iran was producing Low Enriched Uranium Iran (it had amassed 1,508 kg by the last report in August) on the basis of the number of centrifuges it had installed there (8,000 by last count). The whole timeline was based on Natanz. So was Russia and China's claim that there was still a lot of time for diplomacy to play out. Natanz was being watched, they argued, so any shift to produce Highly Enriched Uranium for weapons would be seen coming a long way ahead.

All the estimates about Iran carried the caveat that there might be other, secret, enrichment facilities. The concern was heightened by the fact that IAEA inspectors were not allowed to visit the plant where the centrifuges were being manufactured, so they could not gauge if all of them were going to Natanz.
This explains why Dmitry Medvedev emerged from his meeting with Obama in New York an apparently changed man, conceding that "in some cases, sanctions are inevitable".

Iran admits secret uranium enrichment plant

Iran has admitted the existence of a secret uranium plant revealed by US officials this morning, bringing the long crisis over the country's nuclear programme to a head.

Iran sent a letter to Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Monday, saying it had established a second pilot uranium enrichment plant, parallel to the one monitored by the IAEA in Natanz.

According to western officials, the letter was only sent after the Iranian government discovered the secret plant had been discovered by western intelligence.

Barack Obama, flanked by Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, is expected to deliver an ultimatum to Iran on the fringes of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh later today.

[I'mNotDedalus]

A team of U.N. inspectors went to Iran on Saturday to visit a recently revealed nuclear site, amid new efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency experts are slated to examine an unfinished uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom to verify it is for peaceful purposes. Disclosure of its existence last month raised international suspicion over the extent and aim of the country's nuclear program.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...WBdKAD9BHK4400

[MapleLeaf]

I read IAEA as "IKEA", and I was very impressed that Iran managed to assemble a nuclear facility using nothing but an allen key.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by MapleLeaf

I read IAEA as "IKEA", and I was very impressed that Iran managed to assemble a nuclear facility using nothing but an allen key.

Plus the premade parts (at least one of which will be left over). Do you want the Bloemquist or the Jonathan reactor?