TEHRAN, April 17: A claim by Iran’s president that the country is conducting tests on a more sophisticated type of nuclear enrichment centrifuge could — if true — mean Iran has a quicker ability to make fuel for either electrical plants or bombs, analysts familiar with the technology said on Monday.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told students on Wednesday that the Islamic republic was testing the P-2 centrifuge — a more sophisticated type. A day earlier, he had trumpeted Iran’s success in enriching a small amount of uranium using a less-sophisticated type of centrifuge.
The president’s words were Iran’s first acknowledgement that it is working with the faster P-2 — after the country told the UN nuclear watchdog it had given up all such work three years ago. It is not clear if Iran had been doing work all along on the more-sophisticated model, or had recently restarted such work.
Either way, the president’s assertion is sure to raise concerns that Iran might have a more-sophisticated programme than thought. The UN nuclear watchdog and some independent groups have long questioned if Iran has a parallel, secret nuclear programme that is farther along.
On the other hand, analysts familiar with the country’s technology also say Iran’s president seems to be deliberately exaggerating the country’s capabilities in recent weeks — perhaps to boost domestic political support or to persuade the UN watchdog to back off.
International Atomic Energy Agency officials refused to comment on Monday in Vienna. But a Vienna-based diplomat familiar with the IAEA’s investigation of Tehran’s nuclear programme said Mr Ahmadinejad’s comments about the P-2 would come up in discussions between Iranian and agency officials later this week.
“Our centrifuges are P-1 type. P-2, which has quadruple the capacity, now is under the process of research and test in the country,” Mr Ahmadinejad told the students in Khorasan in northeastern Iran. His comments were subsequently posted on the official presidential website.
Another Vienna-based diplomat said it was unclear how far along Iran’s P-2 work was. But if Mr Ahmadinejad’s comments are confirmation that Tehran has secretly developed its P-2 programme over the past few years, that could mean that it will be able to produce weapons-grade enriched uranium faster and in greater quantities than thought up to now, he said.—AP/Reuters
