One of Iran’s main nuclear facilities is undergoing a massive expansion that could triple or quadruple the country’s production of enriched uranium, providing Tehran with new options for quickly developing a mass arsenal of nuclear weapons, leaked documents have revealed.
The major project inside Iran’s most fortified nuclear site, the Fordow enrichment plant, would significantly accelerate Iran’s nuclear mission, according to confidential documents and analysis obtained by the Washington Post.
The revelation comes days after inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed the construction activities at Fordow, and following Tehran’s formal notification to the nuclear watchdog that it planned to substantially upgrade the enrichment facility.
Tehran also said it planned to expand production at its enrichment plant near the city of Natanz.
The expansion at Fordow alone could allow Iran to amass enough nuclear fuel for several atomic bombs each month.
According to private communications between European diplomats and the IAEA last week, Fordow is being prepared for nearly 1,400 centrifuges, the machines used to make enriched uranium. The Islamic Republic intends to complete the process within four weeks, doubling the number of active centrifuges at the site, according to a leaked draft of the plan initially reported by Reuters.
Fordow is smaller than Iran’s other two enrichment sites, but its deep underground location inside a mountain in north-central Iran makes it nearly impenetrable by aerial bombardment.
The plant ceased making enriched uranium under the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement and resumed after the Trump administration withdrew from the accord in 2018.
Since then, Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile has been increasing.
The Fordow material could be used for nuclear power plants and, with further processing, for nuclear weapons.
Addressing Iran’s planned expansion, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said: “Iran aims to continue expanding its nuclear program in ways that have no credible peaceful purpose.”
The Biden administration spokesman warned, “These planned actions further undermine Iran’s claims to the contrary. If Iran implements these plans, we will respond accordingly.”
The 1,400 centrifuges would increase Fordow’s capacity by 360 per cent, according to analysis provided to the Washington Post by David Albright, a nuclear weapons expert and president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
The weapons experts told the Post that Fordow’s new machines could generate about 320 pounds of weapons-grade uranium – enough for at least five nuclear bombs – and the stockpile could climb to nearly 500 pounds in two months.
“Iran would achieve a capability to breakout quickly, in a deeply buried facility, a capability it has never had before,” Albright said.
Iran’s plans for the Natanz plant include adding thousands of centrifuge machines of a different type. Allbright said this would increase the site’s production capacity by 35 per cent.
He added: “We have no idea what they’ve been doing with centrifuges. We’ll know their capability fully only after they’ve installed the machines.”
