Vienna, September 25: Iran has said it built a second uranium enrichment plant, the UN nuclear watchdog said Friday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had sent a letter on September 21 to inform the watchdog “that a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction in the country,” agency spokesman Marc Vidricaire said in a statement.
The New York Times reported that the facility was being built inside a mountain near the holy city of Qom, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Tehran. Iran already has one enrichment plant at Natanz.
Vidricaire said: “the IAEA has requested Iran to provide specific information and access to the facility as soon as possible.”
No nuclear material has yet been introduced into the new enrichment plant under construction, the IAEA said.
Furthermore, Iran told the agency that “the enrichment level would be up to 5.0 percent,” which is a low level of enrichment and not sufficiently high to make the fissile material for an atomic bomb.
Low enriched uranium is used to make nuclear fuel.
“Iran assured the agency in the letter that ‘further complementary information will be provided in an appropriate and due time’,” Vidricaire said.
The Natanz plant comprises a huge underground hall, under daily surveillance by IAEA inspectors, where more than 8,000 centrifuges are installed, machines that rotate at supersonic speed to refine uranium.
More than half of the centrifuges — nearly 5,000 — are currently actively enriching uranium.
The existence of Natanz, was long concealed by Iran, until the National Council of Resistance of Iran blew the whistle in 2002.
President Barack Obama of the United States, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France were to demand an international inspection of the site before the six powers hold nuclear talks with Iran on October 1, officials said.
The French Foreign Ministry accused Iran of committing a “serious violation” of UN resolutions with the admission of a second uranium plant.
Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States are to hold nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva.
Pressure has increased with Russia indicating that it could agree to tougher sanctions.
The UN Security Council has already imposed three rounds of sanction on Iran for refusing to stop uranium enrichment.
Iran stopped providing the IAEA with advance information on nuclear site designs last year in retaliation for the UN sanctions.
Iran insists it has the right to develop nuclear technology, which it says is aimed at generating energy for its growing population.
Although Iran has oil, it is still dependent on petrol imports to meet about 40 percent of domestic consumption.
Observers say due the strong Jewish and pro-Israel lobbies in the US and some European countries, these countries have taken a hypocritical stance in relation to nuclear issues in the region.
—Agencies