Nuclear monitor says Iran made furtive changes to Fordo centrifuges

VIENNA, Austria — The UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that Iran had substantially modified an interconnection between two centrifuge clusters enriching uranium to up to 60 percent at its Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), without declaring it to the agency.

During an unannounced inspection at the Fordo plant on January 21, the International Atomic Energy Agency detected that “two IR-6 centrifuge cascades… were interconnected in a way that was substantially different from the mode of operation declared by Iran to the agency”, according to a confidential report seen by AFP.

Since late last year, the two centrifuge cascades have been used to produce uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, the report to member states added.

After the IAEA carried out the inspection at Fordo, Iran “subsequently informed the Agency that it had switched to this mode of operation on 16 January.”

The agency did not specify what kind of changes were made to the interconnection between the centrifuge cascades. READ MORE